Landmark Yiddish Plays: A Critical Anthology (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture) [Hardcover]

Jeremy Asher Dauber (Author, Editor), Joel Berkowitz (Editor)

Book Description

Series: S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture | Publication Date: July 6, 2006

Introduces readers to comic and tragic masterpieces spanning 150 years of Yiddish drama.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Offering snapshots of a pivotal era in which the Jews of Europe made the transition from a traditional to a more modern world, the Yiddish plays translated and collected here wrestle with issues that continue to concern us today: changing gender roles, generational conflict, class divisions, and religious persecution. In their introduction to the volume, Joel Berkowitz and Jeremy Dauber place the plays in the context of the development of modern drama and Yiddish drama and examine their treatment of social, political, and religious issues. The many ways in which the plays address these issues make them transcend their own time, exciting a new generation of readers and theatergoers.

"This is one of the freshest, liveliest works I have seen in contemporary Yiddish studies. The plays are important, yet little known, adding immeasurably to Jewish literature in translation. The introduction would be valuable as an independent work—it is the finest essay on the Yiddish theater currently available in English." — Ruth R. Wisse, author of The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey through Language and Culture

"This book presents these plays to English-speaking audiences for the first time. Such a translation is well overdue. The translators place the development of Yiddish theater within the context of the Enlightenment from which it emerged and demonstrate the relationship between the changing mores of Jewish society and the theater that reflected these changes." — Jeffrey Veidlinger, author of The Moscow State Yiddish Theater: Jewish Culture on the Soviet Stage

About the Author

Joel Berkowitz is Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He is the author of Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage and the editor of Yiddish Theatre: New Approaches. Jeremy Dauber is Atran Assistant Professor of Yiddish at Columbia University. He is the author of Antonio’s Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 356 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791467791
• ISBN-13: 978-0791467794
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 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: #4,003,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Fresh New Translations, October 31, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Landmark Yiddish Plays: A Critical Anthology (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

Towards the end of the nineteenth century fundamental changes in being a Jew in Europe were under way. There was a movement within the German Jewish intellectuals that began to integrate more closely with the non-Jewish society. As with all times of change, this was a time of confusion as the changes filtered through Jewish society. And this change was reflected in the plays that were being written, in Yiddish of course.

This book is both a new translation of some of these plays, and a critical analysis of these plays in conjunction with the history of those times. Surprisingly the plays, now available in English for the first time show a freshness and timelessness that is surprising in the light of all that has gone on since.

This is a welcome addition to modern Jewish literature as befits the SUNY series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture.