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See also CULTURAL STUDIES, p.19
History of the Iziko South African
National Gallery, A
Reflections on art and national identity
A Tietze
Reb and the Rebel, The
Jewish narratives in South Africa 1892-1913
Editors: C Schrire & G Schrire
There is a vast and varied literature on the formation of 19th-century diasporic communities worldwide. Now, added to this are the previously unpublished autobiographical works of two members of the Schrire family, which form the core of The Reb and the Rebel, mainly covering the period 1892-1913. They comprise a diary, a poem and a memoir. The first two, written by Yehuda Leib Schrire (1851- 1912), chart his journey through a number of countries, including Lithuania, Holland, England and South Africa. The third is by his son, Harry Nathan (1895- 1980). The social history within these documents paints a lively picture of South African Jewish communities at the turn of the 20th century. The diary and poem were penned in pre-Ben Yehuda Hebrew, from which they have been translated into English. The voices of these two men differ. One is a foreign immigrant, the threads of his European Talmudic learning braided tightly through his writing. The other is a Cape-born native of South Africa whose words are studded with turn-of-the-century Cape Yiddish such as once echoed through the alleys and parlours of District Six. Binding these works together are essays on the South African context of the manuscripts and on their authors, as well as a genealogy in which many South African Jewish family names can be seen, a description of the documents relating to the manuscripts, and a glossary of Hebrew words. This is history at a microscopic level, but it is what makes history come alive.
2016
264 pages
Soft cover
Print: 978 0 79922 493 1 Web pdf: 978 1 48512 242 5 World rights available R316.00 / $28.95 / £19.50 BISAC: BIO006000
BIC: BGH