El Mizeravle de Samuel Saadi Halevi: Descripción y Presentación

Abstract

The novel El Mizeravle (1902), written by Samuel Saadi Halevi (1870–1959), one of the most prolific Separdic authors, was described by its own author as a work of imajinasyon, a term he used both in the dedication and preface of the novel, and implicitly in a letter addressed to Pulido in 1904. Originally published in the pages of the Salonican newspaper La Epoka (1875-1911) between May 16 and either September 19 or 26, 1902, it appeared during a period of intense debate among Ottoman Sephardic journalists regarding the status of Judeo-Spanish. El Mizeravle, considered to be either the second or third novel of imajinasyon — that is, an original work — by Halevi, was explicitly dedicated to the detractors of the language, particularly to David Fresko (1853–1933), one of its fiercest critics. With this dedication, Halevi sought to affirm the legitimacy of Judeo-Spanish, which he regarded as a genuine language, albeit one that could be improved and perfected. Twenty-four years later, in December 1926, the novel was republished in Salonica: first as a serialized piece in the socialist newspaper La Verdad (1875-1911), where it was again presented as a work of imajinasyon aimed at attracting readers, and shortly thereafter in book form.