Buber. Storie e leggende chassidiche.

This edition of Martin Buber's Hasidic works focuses on a fundamental topic in Buber's complex and multifaceted production, i.e. his interpretation and translation for the German (and then international) reading public of the East-European Jewish mysticism, in particular as far as its folklore and narrative aspects are concerned. The volume presents two collections of Hasidic tales that Buber wrote at the beginning of the century, "The stories of Rabbi Nachman" (Die Geschichten des Rabbi Nachman, 1906) and "The Legend of the Baalschem" (Die Legende des Baal Shem 1908) with which the author introduced Hasidism into German culture. The two texts are followed by the autobiographical essay, "My way to Hasidism" (Mein Weg zum Chassidismus. Erinnerungen, 1918), with which Buber explained his early interest for Hasidism, and by his major work, "The Tales of the Hasidim" (Die Erzählungen der Hasidim, 1949), which recapitulates and includes his previous works on Hasidic lore. This edition is then completed by two theoretical writings of Buber's later career, in which he defends his previous work on Hasidism from the criticism coming from Gershom Scholem and other scholars (Zur Darstellung des Chassidismus, Noch einiges zur Darstellung des Chassidismus, 1963). The edition is forwarded by the editor's introductory essay, which reconstructs the complex layering of cultural and religious themes in Buber's translation of Hasidism for the German world. All of Buber's texts are prefaced by introductory essays that reconstruct the historical background of Buber's works, providing an overview of his religious and cultural importance for the Twentieth Century .