The House of Jacob

by Courtine-Denamy, Sylvie; Sayers, William; Kristeva, Julia

• ISBN13: 9780801440656
• ISBN10: 0801440653
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

In this touching and beautifully written book, Sylvie Courtine-Denamy traces her family's exile after their expulsion in 1492 at the time of Spanish unification. Their journey leads her to the exotic ports of Salonika, Constantinople, Bayonne, and Varna, to the cosmopolitan centers of Vienna and Paris, to America and Israel, and to Auschwitz. As she notes, while place and time separate us from those we love or never knew, something continues to link us. For Courtine-Denamy this "something" is, in part, language-the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) that is still spoken, whether on the banks of the Danube, on the Aegean Sea, or along the quays of the Seine. This powerful and moving history of one woman's family will strike a chord with those who have experienced exile and displacement. Julia Kristeva's foreword, which describes the book as being like a "refreshing spring shower," unearths a political intention in this carefully crafted story. One of the undercurrents in The House of Jacob, she notes, seems to be an implied criticism of the language policies of the State of Israel, in particular the imposition of the "sacred" language of Hebrew as a medium of everyday exchange, of domesticity, and of intimacy. Courtine-Denamy presents Sephardic culture as a counterpoint to the perceived prevalence of Ashkenazi culture in forming Jewish identity.

Author Biography

Sylvie Courtine-Denamy is Associate Researcher at the Centre des Religions du Livre, at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Languages as One's Only Homeland, by Julia Kristeva	ix
Acknowledgments	xvii
I IN THE LAND OF SEPHARAD	1	(26)
1. "Zakhor!"	3	(6)
2. Cuenca, the Memory of Origins	9	(18)
II INTO THE LANDS OF THE GRAND TURK	27	(44)
1. Varna: "Cuenca Brothers"	35	(7)
2. Salonika	42	(8)
Moise and Allegra	42	(5)
Mathilde and Marguerite	47	(3)
3. Constantinople	50	(21)
On the European Shore, in the Galatasaray Quarter	50	(9)
On the Asiatic Shore	59	(12)
III BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: A TIME FOR ALLIANCES	71	(26)
1. The Cuenca Michpaha	75	(13)
2. The Gabay Michpaha	88	(9)
IV DRANCY	97	(26)
1. The Return	99	(7)
2. From the Partisans to the Camps of Upper Silesia: Robert	106	(8)
3. Bayonne and Its Jews: Marie and Fortunée	114	(9)
V IN FRENCH TERRITORIAL WATERS	123	(24)
1. A Wedding Night at the Péra Palas	125	(5)
2. In the House of Jacob	130	(17)
Notes	147	(6)
Glossary	153	(8)
References	161	(4)
Index	165