Listening to the Languages of the People

Natalie Zemon Davis is Professor Emerita in the History Department at the University of Toronto.

• Note on TransliterationAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I. ROMANIAEarly Years: Studies and FriendshipsThe Field of LinguisticsFirst PublicationsThe Science of Judaism: Advancing EmancipationSemasiologyParis, Gaston Paris, and the Jours D’empruntLeipzig and the neogrammariansResearch on JiddishThe Dialectological Study of Judeo-GermanSpreading The Word on YiddishB.p. Hasdeu, anti-semitism and jewish relationsUniversity Lectures and New BooksV. A. Urechiǎ and the first rejection of naturalizationFavorable Reviews and MarriageBasmele RomȃneThe Basmele Wins a PrizeSecond Defeat of Request For NaturalizationSelf-Defense and Studies in FolkloreThe Dicționar UniversalNon-Zionist Jew and His Circle of FriendParis, London: Gaster and ZionismParis: Nordau and ZionismThe Rejection of Zionism, The Dreyfus AffairBaptism And Its ConsequencesThe Oriental Influence on Romanian Language and CultureȘǎineanu and Other JewsThe Last Months: Publication and DefeatRepairing And Describing His Life: The Philological CareerPART II. FRANCEThe New EmigréLiving and Making a Living; Some TranslationsJudeo-German for The French ScholarThe Popular Languages of FranceRabelaisLes Sources Indigènes and DisappointmentSumming UpLanguages And “The People” In The 1920s and 1930sTwo Jewish Critics on Sainéan’s LifeAbbreviationsBibliographyIndex

"Davis quotes Sainéan’s own assessment of his situation at the end of his long career: ‘indeed, here, in regard to social relations, I am always still “the intruder”’. One of the virtues of her book is that she does not seek to hide her subject’s foibles—including a somewhat thin-skinned insistence on his own rightness, a certain defiant self-regard, a pragmatism that didn’t always do him much good. Rather, Davis goes constantly in search of more complex motives behind Sainéan’s scholarly preoccupations and life choices: this renders us a very human figure, whose story serves as a litmus for the atmosphere of the times through which he lived." (The review is complemented by the author's response.)https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2472