Beginnings of Ladino Literature

Moses Almosnino (1518-1580), arguably the most famous Ottoman Sephardi writer and the only one who was known in Europe to both Jews and Christians, became renowned for his vernacular books that were admired by Ladino readers across many generations. While Almosnino's works were written in a style similar to contemporaneous Castilian, Olga Borovaya makes a strong argument for including them in the corpus of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) literature. Borovaya suggests that the history of Ladino literature begins at least 200 years earlier than previously believed and that Ladino, like most other languages, had more than one functional style. With careful historical work, Borovaya establishes a new framework for thinking about Ladino language and literature and the early history of European print culture.

This book is heartily recommended for anyone wishing to learn more not only about one fascinating rabbi, traveller and author, but about the nature and development of a fascinating literary culture, and the world of two dynamic Ottoman cities., With detailed notes, bibliography, and an index, this work is a critical addition to the growing body of research on the importance of Ladino literature today., [Olga Borovaya's] labor of many years resulted in a superb and insightful book, which approaches the classics of Sephardi literature from a perspective different from the one adopted until now, and thus teaches us to explore new paths. It should be read and savored slowly, because one is sure to encounter there an intriguing fact that will open a gold mine where one will discover new approaches to the study of sixteenth-century Sephardi literature, a virgin field never before plowed in depth. We need many works like this one by Olga Borovaya.

Olga Borovaya is Visiting Scholar in the Mediterranean Studies Forum at Stanford University. She is author of Modern Ladino Culture: Press, Belles Lettres, and Theater in the Late Ottoman Empire (IUP).