Where to find a history of the Purim Spiel?

March 4, 2015 5:53 PM

I know that the Purim Spiel (or "shpiel") dates back to late medieval times, but I haven't been able to find any English-language theater or other histories that describe its origins and evolution, nor have I found any early texts in any language. I assume that there are books on this form in the same way that there are books on miracle plays, but JSTOR and archive.org did not reveal any. Are there any out there?
posted by the sobsister to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

I'm puzzled by you dating this to the medieval era, so I'm probably missing something more academic. May I ask how you are searching? Are you using the terms "Megillah" or "Reading of the Megillah" in your searches?
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:02 PM on March 4, 2015

Why would "Megillah" be relevant? (That seems like asking if you're including the search term "menorah" when you're looking for the history of latkes. They're both associated with the same holiday and both can involve oil, but otherwise they're totally different things.)
posted by Shmuel510 at 7:19 AM on March 5, 2015

Not sure exactly what you're looking for, but this YIVO encyclopedia entry gives you a general starting point. I can definitely find more information if you're more specific.
posted by femmegrrr at 8:00 AM on March 5, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you for that link. After posting, I found a nice article in the Encyclopedia Judaica but using the spelling "Purimshpil."

Basically, I'm looking for a theater history-type description of the genesis and development of the form as it followed the diaspora, along with any surviving texts, both pre-modern and through the first decades of the 20th c.. I've seen references that I'm folowing up in books on the Yiddish theater, but nothing much more specific than that in terms of my search.
posted by the sobsister at 9:43 AM on March 5, 2015