Unlike most other ancient European, Near Eastern, and Mediterranean
civilizations, Jewish culture surprisingly developed no early epic tradition:
while the Bible comprises a broad range of literary genres, epic is not
among them. Not until the late medieval period, Beginning in the fourtheeth
century, did an extensive and thriving epic tradition emerge in Yiddish.
Among the few dozen extant early epics, there are several masterpieces,
of which ten are translated into English in this volume. Divided between
the religious and the secular, the book includes eight...