Home > Authors > Marc Michael Epstein > Dreams of subversion in medieval Jewish art & literature
Dreams of subversion in medieval Jewish art & literature
Europe's Jewish minority culture was subjected to a barrage of public images proclaiming the dominance of the Christian majority. This book is the first to explore the Jewish response to this assault in the development of a visual culture through which Jews could affirmatively construct their identity as a people. It demonstrates how medieval Jews gave voice to messages of protest and dreams of subversion by actively appropriating and transforming the quintessential symbols of the dominant culture. Using a variety of methodologies drawn from art history, cultural studies, and the history of mentalités, this work illuminates aspects of the inner landscape of medieval Jewry as reflected in animal symbolism in text and iconography, a very rich and hitherto undiscovered realm. Marc Michael Epstein examines the ubiquitous hare-hunt and the cryptic iconography of elephants flanking the ark...
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