The First Hebrew Shakespeare Translations: A Bilingual Edition and Commentary

By Lily Kahn

This first bilingual edition and analysis of the earliest Shakespeare plays translated into Hebrew – Isaac Edward Salkinson’s Ithiel the Cushite of Venice (Othello) and Ram and Jael (Romeo and Juliet) – offers a fascinating and unique perspective on global Shakespeare. Differing significantly from the original English, the translations are replete with biblical, rabbinic, and medieval Hebrew textual references and reflect a profoundly Jewish religious and cultural setting. The volume includes the full text of the two Hebrew plays alongside a complete English back-translation with a commentary examining the rich array of Hebrew sources and Jewish allusions that Salkinson incorporates into his work. The edition is complemented by an introduction to the history of Jewish Shakespeare reception in Central and Eastern Europe; a survey of Salkinson’s biography including discussion of his unusual status as a Jewish convert to Christianity; and an overview of his translation strategies. The book makes Salkinson’s pioneering work accessible to a wide audience, and will appeal to anyone with an interest in multicultural Shakespeare, translation studies, the development of Modern Hebrew literature, and European Jewish history and culture.

Praise for The First Hebrew Shakespeare Translations

'A concise but solid foundation for understanding Salkinson’s translations and their Hebrew literary context ...beautifully formatted, For all readers, Kahn provides an admirably readable translation of a translation, with commentary that highlights both the accomplishments and the shortcomings of Ithiel and Ram and Jael.'
Hebrew Studies

'Kahn's background, particularly her expertise in Hebrew linguistics and philology, allows her to move fluently between Salkinson's distinct layers of Hebrew in a way that many modern Hebrew readers no longer can.'
Journal of Jewish Studies

'This is a fascinating volume from which much can be learnt about translation, differing perceptions of Shakespeare in eclectic cultures and traditions. Kahn and the publishers are to be congratulated. Hopefully their volume will receive the wide circulation and attention that it deserves.'
Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance

• Language: English
• Publisher: UCL Press
• Release date: Jul 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781911576006

Lily Kahn

Lily Kahn is Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Languages at UCL. Her main research areas are Hebrew in Eastern Europe, Yiddish, and other Jewish languages. Her publications include The Verbal System in Late Enlightenment Hebrew (2009), Colloquial Yiddish (2012), The Routledge Introductory Course in Biblical Hebrew (2014), A Grammar of the Eastern European Hasidic Hebrew Tale (2015), Handbook of Jewish Languages (co-edited with Aaron Rubin, 2016) and North Sámi: An Essential Grammar (with Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, 2017).