Amy Levy’s writings belong to a tradition in Jewish literature characteristic of the modern Diaspora. This marginalized literature was formulated in the context of the Haskalah and the rise of Zionism and political emancipation. Levy’s writing, expressed in the vernacular beyond the typical Yiddish and Hebrew, was further influenced by her national context of imperialism, social Darwinism, and insidious antisemitism. Her novels, short stories, poetry, and essays thus reflect not only Levy’s sense of being Jewish, but also her struggle with hegemonic Christianity, antisemitism, and nationalist social, political, and literary cultures. In placing this collection – which includes many texts that will be new not only to readers but also to scholars interested in Levy’s life – in its diasporic, modern, and late-Victorian context, we continue the process of piecing together and further understanding Levy’s biography and her complex relationship with her Jewish identity and Jewish history, with biblical and literary traditions, and with Anglo-Jewish communal politics. In addition to reinspiring interest in Levy, her multi-layered writings, and her incisive sense of humour, Collected Writings aims to provide something that Levy perhaps never enjoyed in her own lifetime: a sense of belonging to a tradition of modern Jewish literature.
