The Correspondents (1987)
1. About Blume Lempel
1907–October 20, 1999
Blume Lempel used stream-of-consciousness, flashback, and free association in her writing to create unique stories with themes rarely seen in Yiddish literature: eroticism, incest, and rape. Born in Galicia, Lempel began to write while living in Paris between 1929 and 1939. However, her brother discouraged her from publishing her work, citing her lack of formal education. In 1939 Lempel immigrated with her husband and two children to New York, where she began writing again. Her first short story was published in Der Tog in 1943, and her first novel was serialized in the Morgn Frayhayt newspaper in 1947. |
2. Discovery of Blume Lempel
by Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub
"Loneliness was a besetting problem for many Yiddish writers in the late twentieth century, as the ranks of Yiddish readers and fellow writers diminished. Story writer Blume Lempel overcame it in her own way: her astonishingly wide network of correspondents included many of the greatest Yiddish authors of her time. Now, thanks to family archives generously shared with Pakn Treger, that story can be told in all its richness and complexity.
Blume Lempel was one of the most private of Yiddish writers—and one of the most sociable. She wrote alone at her home on Long Island and largely absented herself from the New York Yiddish literary scene. That self-imposed separation seems to have been an essential condition for her to create her bold, intimate, and taboo-breaking stories."
More and source: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/modern-in-autumn-blume-lempel
"Loneliness was a besetting problem for many Yiddish writers in the late twentieth century, as the ranks of Yiddish readers and fellow writers diminished. Story writer Blume Lempel overcame it in her own way: her astonishingly wide network of correspondents included many of the greatest Yiddish authors of her time. Now, thanks to family archives generously shared with Pakn Treger, that story can be told in all its richness and complexity.
Blume Lempel was one of the most private of Yiddish writers—and one of the most sociable. She wrote alone at her home on Long Island and largely absented herself from the New York Yiddish literary scene. That self-imposed separation seems to have been an essential condition for her to create her bold, intimate, and taboo-breaking stories."
More and source: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/modern-in-autumn-blume-lempel
3. The Fate of Yiddish Writer
די יידישע מערכה
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The Fate of Yiddish Writer
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Questions for The Correspondents:
1. When is the action of the short story happening? Where?
2. Who is the narrator? What do we know about her? How do we discover its story? How do we see her psyche through the development of the narrative?
3. What is the importance of the violin episode? What is happening there?
4. Where does the violin/music appear in the story/ what is its power, and what is the music accused of?
5. Who is the young man with the violin?
6. Small elements: the cat and kittens story? Arnove?
7. Why is the narrator tearing up the letter?
8. Who is the addressee of the letter? Why the title of the story?
9. What does epilogue mean? What does it bring to the story?
1. When is the action of the short story happening? Where?
2. Who is the narrator? What do we know about her? How do we discover its story? How do we see her psyche through the development of the narrative?
3. What is the importance of the violin episode? What is happening there?
4. Where does the violin/music appear in the story/ what is its power, and what is the music accused of?
5. Who is the young man with the violin?
6. Small elements: the cat and kittens story? Arnove?
7. Why is the narrator tearing up the letter?
8. Who is the addressee of the letter? Why the title of the story?
9. What does epilogue mean? What does it bring to the story?