Prophets and Dreamers : A Selection of Great Yiddish Literature

by WEINSTEIN, MIRIAM

• ISBN13: 9781586420475
• ISBN10: 158642047X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Zoland Books

Summary

This anthology of short stories, folk songs, and poems from the late 19th century represents the full spectrum of Yiddish culture, in which writers range from shtetl dwellers and sweatshop poets to modernists and political activists. The book's Introduction, together with thumbnail biographies of the contributors, is particularly geared toward readers discovering Yiddish literature for the first time.

Author Biography

MIRIAM WEINSTEIN is the author of Yiddish: A Nation of Words (Steerforth 2001, Ballantine 2002). A freelance journalist whose features have won several awards from the New England Press Association, Weinstein grew up in the Bronx following World War II, a time and place where Yiddish was standard fare. She now lives in Manchester, Massachusetts with her husband, and has two grown children.

Table of Contents

Fishke the Lame	p. 17
And maybe even higher	p. 43
Bontshe Shvayg	p. 47
Three gifts	p. 55
The miracle on the sea	p. 65
A Yom Kippur scandal	p. 77
Eternal life	p. 83
Mendl Turk	p. 106
Isaac Bashevis Singer	p. 135
Growing old	p. 138
The bus	p. 144
Bread and tea	p. 174
To my beloved	p. 175
Autumn leaves	p. 176
Seventeen moons	p. 180
From Nakhman of Bratslav to his scribe	p. 181
Like a mouse trap	p. 186
My tent	p. 187
War	p. 192
Untitled, from Poems from my diary 1974-1985	p. 193
Deer at the Red Sea	p. 194
To my wife, Narocz Forest, September 30, 1944	p. 195
I am lying in this coffin. Vilna, August 30, 1941	p. 197
On the death of Yanova Bartoszewicz who rescued me	p. 198
Folk songs	p. 199
Potatoes	p. 202
Rose, rose	p. 203
Now it's time for singing	p. 204
Don't want a husband yet	p. 205
@A toast to life	p. 206
On the hill	p. 207
Tumbalalaika	p. 208
We are here	p. 209
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