More than a literary survey, this introduction to the history of late and Neo-Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) covers the works of the past several centuries. Macuch begins with the post-Mongolian period to the end of the 18th century. After providing a general ecclesiastical-political layout of the era, he looks at the literature of the Syrian Orthodox and Church of the East traditions, the School of Alqosh, and the Maronites. Moving forward in time, he considers the Neo-Aramaic folk-language from the beginning of the 19th century. Here he examines anonymous literature, spiritual poetry, and catechetical literature. For the 19th century itself, Macuch considers the situation of the Assyrians in this period, including the American missionary enterprise in Urmia, both Catholic and Evangelical, as well as the Anglican and Russian Orthodox missions, noting the writers of the foreign missions. For the twentieth century, the Assyrians in the two world wars, and the authors from the period of the wars up to the 1970s, Neo-Aramaic writers in America and those who wrote in foreign languages, including periodical literature. Turning his final attention to the material in classical Syriac over the last two centuries, he considers various East-Syriac and West-Syriac authors of the Chaldean and Church of the East, and Syrian Orthodox and Maronite traditions, respectively. The study concludes with a presentation of the Syrian literature of Malabar in southern India. In general the material is laid out with the author being listed and a brief accounting for the written works being presented. This useful handbook, previously out of print, will be welcomed by those who wish to remain current with the past and on-going work in the Syriac literary heritage.

Rudolf Macuch (1919-1993) was a Slovakian Orientalist. He studied at Bratislava before moving to Iran to gain firsthand experience of his interests. He eventually moved on to Oxford and Berlin, where he taught. He is best known for his extensive and groundbreaking work on the Mandaean language.