The Image of the Shtetl and Other Studies of Modern Jewish Literary Imagination‪.‬

THE IMAGE OF THE SHTETL AND OTHER STUDIES OF MODERN JEWISH LITERARY IMAGINATION. By Dan Miron. Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art. Pp. xvii + 412. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Cloth, $49.95. Paper, $19.95. and MODERN HEBREW FICTION. By Gershon Shaked. Translated from the Hebrew by Yael Lotan. Jewish Literature and Culture. Pp. xvi + 287. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2000. Cloth, $45.00. The good news about writing in as ancient a language as Hebrew, distinguished novelist and commentator Shulamith Hareven has noted, is that, in theory at least, "one can delve into any linguistic layer ... to make your meaning or nuance more precise." There is "an immense richness of possibilities" even in ranging from a spiritually charged biblical idiom, for example, to a legalistic mode of the mishnah.