Bovo book

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Title page of the Bovo book, around 1541. Transcription: Bovo d'Antona haysst the book ... men know Elia Bachurs gmacht ... it is printed to Isny ​​in the city ...

The Bovo Book ( Yiddish בָּבָא-בּוּך, בּוֹבוֹ-בּוּך) by Elijah Levita is the most famous chivalric novel in Yiddish . The book was written 1507–1508 and was printed in Isny in 1541 as the first non-religious publication in this language. It consists of 650 stamps and, according to the American linguist Sol Liptzin, is "generally considered the most extraordinary poetic work in Old Yiddish."

The name of the protagonist is derived from the Anglo-Norman novel Bevis of Hampton from the 14th century and was reproduced in an Italian, repeated transmission with Buovo d'Antona .

In the following centuries, the novel saw at least 40 new editions and was considered the favorite book of Jewish women . The book title changed to Bove-maysse in the 18th century , later to Bobe maysse in the sense of "grandmother-stories", i.e. H. " Old wives' tale " modified.

action

Bovo's young mother conspires to kill her husband, the old king, while hunting. The conspiracy goes as planned and she is married to a murderer. Fearing that Bovo will avenge his father's death as soon as he grows up, the couple try unsuccessfully to poison him. As a teenager, Bovo fled Antona, was kidnapped and brought to Flanders . He serves the Flemish king as a groom and the king's daughter Drusiana falls in love with him.

The pagan Sultan of Babylon arrives at the Flemish court, supported by ten thousand warriors. He demands that Drusiana marry his ugly son Lucifer - and is rejected. In the war that followed, the King of Flanders was taken prisoner. On his magic horse Pumele, equipped with the magic sword Rundele, Bovo defeats the army of the King of Babylon, slays Lucifer, frees the King of Flanders and is promised Drusiana. However, he is kidnapped to Babylon, where he is held captive for a year before he can escape. In the meantime Drusiana believes that Bovo is no longer among the living and agrees to marry the knight Macabrun.

On Drusiana and Macabrun's wedding day, Bovo arrives disguised as a beggar. He and Drusiana flee from Macabrun, who follows them, first to the palace, then to the forest. In the middle of the forest, Drusiana gives birth to twins.

Now Bovo tries to find a way back to Flanders. Drusiana concludes that Bovo fell victim to a lion. She sets out alone with her twins and makes it to Flanders happily. After the wandering Bovo has found neither Drusiana nor the twins, he in turn believes that they have fallen victim to a wild animal. In desperation, he joins an army that is besieging his native Antona. He kills his stepfather, sends his mother to the monastery and demands the crown he deserves. The novel ends with the reunion with Drusiana, who becomes his queen.

Modern editions

  • In 1931 Max Weinreich published a report in YIVO, which he co-founded, on a copy of the first edition of the Bovo book that he had found in the Zurich Central Library .
  • Bovo d'Antona by Elye Bokher. A Yiddish Romance. A Critical Edition with Commentary. Edited by Claudia Rosenzweig. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2016 (=  Studies in Jewish History and Culture 49), ISBN 978-9-004306-84-4 .
  • Elia Levita Bachur's Bovo-Buch: A Translation of the Old Yiddish Edition of 1541 with Introduction and Notes . English translation and notes by Jerry C. Smith. Fenestra Books 2003. ISBN 1-58736-160-4 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ YIVO-Bletter 2, 1931, pp. 280-284. Table of contents

literature

Web links