The Empire of Kalman the Cripple (Library of Modern Jewish Literature) [Hardcover]

Yehuda Elberg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

The Empire Of Kalman The Cripple ($26.95; May 5, 1997; 330 pp.; 0- 8156-0448-3): A later (1983) novel set in a Polish shtetl on the eve of the Second World War, this is a masterly character study of an embittered, crafty shopkeeper who by sheer force of will transforms himself from ``a thief and a lecher . . . [into] an upstanding citizen and a philanthropist.'' Both Kalman's Balzacian appetite for life and his forebears' frustrated struggles for security are explored in convincing depth in a many-leveled narrative that accomplishes the difficult feat of eliciting our compassionate empathy with its disagreeable antihero. Once again (see above), Elberg tacks an anticlimactic moralizing finale onto a story that is otherwise a triumph. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Yiddish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Sd); 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815604483
• ISBN-13: 978-0815604488
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,401,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a student of the Translator, April 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Empire of Kalman the Cripple (Library of Modern Jewish Literature) (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, the reviewer from Kirkus does not appreciate classic Yiddish Literature. Kalman the Cripple is a wonderful story about events in a small town leading up to WWII. The beauty in Elberg's writing is the reader's constant conflict of trying to decide whether to feel sympathy or hatred for the main character. As far as the reviewer's opinion is concerned about the ending, although maybe lacking on the surface, it only serves to magnify what is really going on in the story and in the world around Elberg as he first wrote the story. All praise to Dr. Barbara E. Galli for making the translation both full of color and life as well as retaining the original feel as Elberg intended!