A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural [Paperback]

Tony Kushner (Author), Joachim Neugrochel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1997

A stunning adaptation of S. Ansky's mystical dramatic legend The Dybbuk with previously unpublished folklore.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Remember the graveyard dream scene in Fiddler on the Roof? Dybbuks, troubled spirits who try to enact their ascent into the afterlife by borrowing someone else's life, played an important instructional role in Jewish mythology as messengers, judges, or scolds. This collection contains the novella-sized drama "A Dybbuk or Between Two Worlds," plus 13 shorter tales of the spirit world. In the title story, a deceased man possesses the body of his beloved Leah. As Leah comes to realize what has happened, she resolves to sacrifice herself in order to be with her intended bridegroom. His shroud of death becomes sunlight when Leah finally joins him. In "God on Trial," God gets in trouble for, among other things, the destruction of the Temple, which He had decreed. The judges decide that God made a mistake and had inspired the emperor to issue the order. Upon God's recanting of the edict, the emperor concurs, and all is well again. "The Creation Melody" is a the folktale of a song performed for completion of structures. It was composed during a fundraiser in which the congregation of a synagogue found that they no longer had the funds for completion of construction. The rabbi was challenged, for a price, to come up with a new song within five minutes. When he did, the challenge was paid and the synagogue was finished. Each story in this collection depicts a piece of an ancient culture with a rich literary heritage. --SusanSwartwout

From Booklist

Because of his multiple-award-winning Angels in America (1993^-94), Kushner is about the hottest ticket in American theater. Highly interested in his Jewish heritage, he is also an experienced adapter of classic plays in other languages. Considering all those qualities, he seems a natural to renovate the greatest Yiddish theatrical classic for modern American sensibilities. His version, based on Neugroschel's translation, of S. Ansky's melodrama about a young bride invaded by the soul of the man who should have been her husband is operatically intense and spooky, of a piece with contemporary popular entertainments that powerfully mix passion and mysticism--The Exorcist comes immediately to mind, but A Dybbuk is more refined and more disturbing in the questions it provokes about the flesh and the spirit. The play is of normal length, so this volume is nicely filled out by a selection of Ansky's verse and prose that includes folktales, religious fables, and a Jewish apocalyptic prophecy that the Christian John of Patmos could not make more severe. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group; First Edition edition (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559361379
• ISBN-13: 978-1559361378
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Yiddish
  • #74 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Jewish

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great play and some interesting ancillary material, April 21, 2004

By 

J. Ott "John Ott" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural (Paperback)

If Harold Bloom, in his afterword to the play, is to be believed, Tony Kushner has taken great liberties in adapting this 'classic of Yiddish theater.' Unfamiliar with the source material, I can only comment on how wonderful Kushner's version is.

A DYBBUK is the story of a gifted rabbinical student named Chonen who begins dabbling in the mystical text of the Kabbalah. He seeks to use it to prevent the arranged marriage of the girl he is in love with, Leah. Instead, it causes him to die and to inhabit her body. What follows is a wonderful supernatural investigation as to why Chonen has become 'a dybbuk' and how to seperate him from Leah without killing her. I really enjoyed it.

I'm a Kushner fan, and that's what led me here. I thoroughly admired what he did in freely adapting Pierre Cornielle's L'ILLUSION COMIQUE into THE ILLUSION. This DYBBUK another triumph of translation. As a goy (a non-Jew), I had no problem following the parts of the play that delved into Chassidic (their spelling) culture and Jewish law.

Speaking of translation, several other short stories by -- and folk tales collected by -- S. Ansky are included. They are interesting and provide a sort of background to the play. They are bittersweet in that most of them are joyful and about songs, but they are also final traces of a European Jewish culture that, after the terrors of Hitler, can never exist as it once did.

The stories are only a few pages each and read as if they were originally written in English, which is the best you can ask of a translation. Two are in trocaic tetrameter. One is a take off on the book of Revelations. Many of them deal with the origin of songs, or legends about Baal Shem Tov.

But the play is the main thing. It's a great story and Kushner overlays it with philosophical and theological dimensions that will please fans of ANGELS IN AMERICA. For those interested in Yiddish theater, and those who are fans of Kushner, I wholeheartedly recommend A DYBBUK. 5/5 stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE dybbuk, July 27, 2005

By 

Larry Dilg (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural (Paperback)

This is THE version of the play to read. I've tried to read several other translations, and this is the first time I've made it all the way through, thanks to Kushner's adaptation, which is lean and poetic. At no point did I space out because I didn't understand the tradition or the arcana. Chonen's dabbling in Kabbalah feels timely and even appropriate given the rapidly changing world in which he lives. The horrors of the twentieth century are knocking on the doors of the Jews of Brinnitz and Mirapol, Poland is heading over the brink, and an old way of life is doomed not just by historical forces but by the wavering faith of its leaders. Against the lukewarm spirit of the rabbis and community leaders stand the love of Chonen and Leah and the spiritual betrothal which guides them. Condemned to live in two worlds, they take the ultimate step beyond life into the darkness where opposites not only unite, but fuse in a soul-marriage. The mystical rapture they achieve makes the practical, ethical religion of the elders seem faint and puny, but they must die to the world to achieve their hearts' desire. This is a romantic form of tragedy that's stirring to the soul but also troubling for those of us who have opted for life. In classic tragedy, the protagonist walks on, wounded but wiser; with this play, the reader is the tragic hero. You leave this play with the sense of having seen something long hidden and obscured. I don't want what Leah and Chonen found, but I want to keep the candle of their love alight in my soul as I try to manage the treacherous currents of reality. Reading this play is like going to the crossroads with Robert Johnson -- it's important to see it, to know it, and to dance there, but you must finally choose your own road and walk into your own life to really play the blues.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haunting, beautiful and rich in soul, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dybbuk and Other Tales of the Supernatural (Paperback)

truly amazing, i wish i could understand the orginal language it was written in for i'm sure that it would be even more incredible. I'm very excited to audition for this play at the Unviersity, i would be truly honored to be a part of it. Beautiful imagry...