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Now in paperback
Classic Yiddish Stories of S. Y. Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and I. L. Peretz
Edited by Ken Frieden
Translated by Ken Frieden, Ted Gorelick, and Michael Wex
Paper $16.95s
| 978-0-8156-3291-7
| 2011
"[Frieden] enriches us again with this volume. . . . Abramovitsh’s
Fishke the Lame, Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye tales, and Peretz’s
Hasidic stories have never been so well rendered into English as
they are here."—Harold Bloom, author of Genius: A Mosaic of
One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds
"Ken Frieden has the ear of a poet and busts open the door
to a whole new range of Yiddish literature in this collection.
Terrific book—should be required reading."—Mary Karr,
author of Lit: A Memoir
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Ken Frieden is the B. G. Rudolph Professor and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at Syracuse University.
Professor Frieden has published numerous books and essays on Yiddish and Hebrew literature. His acclaimed study Classic Yiddish Fiction is the companion volume to the anthology Classic Yiddish Stories.
Frieden received his doctorate in comparative literature at Yale University.. He has taught at Syracuse University and Emory University and has been a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, Heidelberg University, and the University of California Davis. He has also received major fellowships for research at Harvard University, Oxford University, the Free University of Berlin, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Frieden’s previous work as an editor resulted in the anthologies Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler and Sholem Aleichem’s Nineteen to the Dozen: Monologues and Bits and Bobs of Other Things. He edits the Syracuse University Press series, Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art.
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Two early works by S.Y. Abramovitsh introduce the reader to Abramovitsh’s alter ego Mendele the Book Peddler. Mendele narrates both The Little Man and Fishke the Lame. In different voices, he also presents a diverse cast of characters including Isaac Abraham as tailor’s apprentice, choirboy, and corrupt businessman. Reb Alter tells of his matchmaking mishap and Fishke relates his travels through the Ukraine with a caravan of beggars.
Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye reemerges from new translations of "Hodel" and "Chava" in all of his comic splendor. Notes enable students to follow Tevye’s uneven steps through Bible quotations. Four of Sholem Aleichem’s other eloquent monologists come back to haunt us in scintillating translations.
The selections from Peretz include his finest stories about the hasidim, such as "Kabbalists," "Teachings of the Hasidim," and the ironic tale "The Rebbe’s Pipe." A fresh rendering of Peretz’s masterpiece "Between Two Mountains" represents the meeting of an inspirational rebbe and an awe-inspiring rabbi.
Following the translations are three biographical essays about these giants of modern Yiddish literature.
View other series books on Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art
6 1/8 x 9 1/2, 304 pages, glossary, bibliography
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