Yiddish Short Stories
Course of Yiddish Literature in Translation
Tutor: Urszula (Ula) Chowaniec, prof. in literature and culture.
Any question: [email protected]
The course offers introductory lectures and discussions of selected short stories by Yiddish authors. Among the authors are: Mendele Moykher Sforim, Sholem Aleichem, Kadia Maladowski and Chaim Grade, and others.
The course is designed as a taster of a vibrant world of 20th-century Yiddish literature. Each author will be discussed during two classes:
• each author will be first introduced, followed by a discussion on chosen excerpts from the author and the class devoted to the given short story.
• place: Zoom, online classes.
• methods: Lectures with close – reading and discussion about the selected texts.
• material: the students will be offered the reading material over email.
Central themes for these Yiddish Stories. Belonging. Freedom, Economy.
We discuss the questions of
• identity,
• negotiating the national and religious belongings,
• economic status,
• and freedom.
There are the main topics of the course. East meeting deals with one short story, usually concise, devoted to the close reading of the story based on the selected themes and questions.
The course offers much space for discussions and challenging common beliefs and conceptions.
The course takes us to the end of the 19th century, and we move to our times: from the questions of what it meant to be an Ashkenazi Jew in the Tsar Empire to what it means to be a Yiddish (women) writer today.
Wednesdays: 1/3, 8/3, 22/3, 29/3, 19/4, 26/4, 3/5, 10/5, 17/5, 24/5 31/5.
Time: 19:00-21:00 (2 h)
Dates:
Any question: [email protected]
The course offers introductory lectures and discussions of selected short stories by Yiddish authors. Among the authors are: Mendele Moykher Sforim, Sholem Aleichem, Kadia Maladowski and Chaim Grade, and others.
The course is designed as a taster of a vibrant world of 20th-century Yiddish literature. Each author will be discussed during two classes:
• each author will be first introduced, followed by a discussion on chosen excerpts from the author and the class devoted to the given short story.
• place: Zoom, online classes.
• methods: Lectures with close – reading and discussion about the selected texts.
• material: the students will be offered the reading material over email.
Central themes for these Yiddish Stories. Belonging. Freedom, Economy.
We discuss the questions of
• identity,
• negotiating the national and religious belongings,
• economic status,
• and freedom.
There are the main topics of the course. East meeting deals with one short story, usually concise, devoted to the close reading of the story based on the selected themes and questions.
The course offers much space for discussions and challenging common beliefs and conceptions.
The course takes us to the end of the 19th century, and we move to our times: from the questions of what it meant to be an Ashkenazi Jew in the Tsar Empire to what it means to be a Yiddish (women) writer today.
Wednesdays: 1/3, 8/3, 22/3, 29/3, 19/4, 26/4, 3/5, 10/5, 17/5, 24/5 31/5.
Time: 19:00-21:00 (2 h)
Dates:
- 1/3 Introduction. About the course and its readings and structures. And the overview of the introduction to Yiddish Fiction and Crisis of Modernity. Fragments in the Reader. Part 1. (materials below)
- 8/3 Mendele Mokher Sforim The Little Man; or, Portrait of a Life, Fishke the Lame. Part 2.
- 22/3 Hersh Dovid Nomberg. Part 3.
- 29/3 Hersh Dovid Nomberg Part 4
- 19/4 Sholem Ash A quite Garden Spot, IB Singer, The Little Shoemakers. Part 5
- 26/4 Advice by Sholem Aleichem Part 6
- 3/5 Chava Rosenfarb. Part 7
- 10/5 Kadia Molodowski. Part 8
- 17/5 Chava Slucka Kestin. Part 8
- 17/5 Rikudah Potah. Part 8
- 24/5 Chaim Grade. Part 9
- 31/5 Overview: new discourses, new films, new books.
MATERIALS:
1. Yiddish Fiction and Crisis of Modernity
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2. Mendele Mocher Sforim The Little Man; or, Portrait of a Life, Fishke the Lame. Part 2.
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