The Shtetl: A Creative Anthology of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe [Paperback]

Joachim Neugroschel (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

"The initiated and the uninitiated . . . both will benefit from the selection and quality here." (New York Times Book Review)

"These stories constitute a lively-and sometimes tragic-history of a vanished civilization." (Chicago Tribune)

This marvelous collection of Yiddish classics, some never before translated into English, offers the full and wonderfully vivid panoply of shtetl life from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Written by such masters as Sholom Aleichem, Yisroel Aksenfeld, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Yitzik Leyb Peretz, Rabbi Nakhman, and Der Nister, this unique collection includes not only early religious writings and engaging Hasidic yarns but also colorful stories of latter-day realism, fantasy, and satire. Humor and suffering, faith and rationalist parody, romantic love and sordid cruelty-a panorama of shtetl life unfolds before us, conjuring up all the colors of a vanished world.

Translated and Edited by Joachim Neugroschel

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Translator of more than 130 books and twice winner of the Goethe House/P.E.N. Translation Prize, Neugroschel offers tales religious, realistic, fantastic, and satirical to paint a portrait of Jewish life in the shtetls of Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Much of the material is here translated into English for the first time.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English, Yiddish (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 584 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879513802
• ISBN-13: 978-0879513801
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #500,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Jewish

More About the Author

Elfriede Jelinek was born in Austria in 1946 and grew up in Vienna where she attended the famous Music Conservatory. The leading Austrian writer of her generation, she has been awarded the Heinrich B?ll Prize for her contribution to German literature. The film by Michael Haneke of The Piano Teacher won the three main prizes at Cannes in 2001. In 2004, Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.