SCHEINDLIN, RAYMOND P.
The Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi's Pilgrimage
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008. xii, 310 pp. As new. Hardcover with dustjacket. Judah Halevi (ca 1085-1141), the best-known and most beloved of premodern Hebrew poets, abandoned his home and family in Spain and spent the last year of his life traveling to the Land of Israel, where he hoped to die amid its sacred ruins. The Song of the Distant Dove tells the story of Halevis journey through selections from the documents, some never before available in English, and explores its meaning through discussions of his stirring poetry, presented in new verse translations with full commentary. In the course of the discussion, we meet Halevis circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in Islamic Spain and Egypt, examine their way of life, and learn about their place in Arabic and Islamic culture, then at its height. We learn that Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate his contemporaries hybrid Judeo-Arabic culture and return to a purely Jewish way of life; ISBN: 9780195315424
Antiquariaat Spinoza
Professional sellerBook number: 50027
€ 32.70 [Appr.: US$ 35.38 | £UK 28 | JP¥ 5550]