Adam Mahler on Shem Tov Ardutiel’s Moral Proverbs and Other Old Castilian Poems of Jewish Authorship

In this episode, Adam Mahler discusses his translation of Shem Tov Ardutiel’s Moral Proverbs and Other Old Castilian Poems of Jewish Authorship (forthcoming from the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library at Harvard University Press). This collection captures the flourishing of Jewish poetry written in Old Spanish during the medieval period. Adam delves into the linguistic texture of this Old Castilian verse, inflected by folk wisdom, Hebrew poetics, and Maimonidean philosophy. He discusses his choice to prioritize line length and communicability over rhyme scheme, and he recounts his decisions regarding a 900-line devotional poem to Joseph, each line ending hypnotically with the same name. At the end of the episode, Adam makes a case for endnotes as windows into these texts’ layered, associative meanings.