Chava Rosenfarb and The Art of Storytelling
Urszula Ula Chowaniec and Jan Schwarz
- Syllabus and Reader (online)
docs.google.com/document/d/1AZzwoFPay-ctCd8qO-uHdXwfgZyf8EWR0CSpRGkpgkc/edit
- Teachers: Ula Urszula Chowaniec, Jan Schwarz
Photo: Chava Rosenfarb, the photo from the 1947 book: Di Balande fun Nekhtikn Vald
Google doc with schedule here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AZzwoFPay-ctCd8qO-uHdXwfgZyf8EWR0CSpRGkpgkc/edit?usp=sharing
Course email: [email protected]
Reader: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing
Days: Thursdays 7.15-9.15pm / Torsdagar: 7/3 (U&J), 14/3 (J), 21/3 (U), 28/3 (U), 11/4 (J), 18/4 (U), 25/4 (J), 2/5 (U), 16/5 (U&J), 30/5(U&J)
Session 1 (7/3) - Chava Rosenfarb writing/ Confessions. Introduction. Welcome (leading session: Ula and Jan)
All participants of the course are asked to read the texts we discussed in the class, after the introductory lectures, we invite you to the discussion and share your ideas, you will also participate in the break-out rooms, where you will discuss some of the questions asked in the introductory talk. If you have time for the first session to prepare the essay – that would be wonderful, but we will also prepare fragments to read and discuss in the small groups (hervrutahs) in break-out rooms. |
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Session 2 (14/3) – Chava and the Yiddish Literary Tradition. (leading session: Jan) Jan introduces the figure of Chava Rosenfarb’s mentor Simkha-Bunim Shayevitch. Reading 2: Simkha-Bunim Shayevitch: Poet of the Lodz Ghetto. Essay (Texts 2 in the Reader here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing Available also: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/the-last-poet-of-lodz Reading 2a: Also Shayevitch’ poems from the Lodz Ghetto (from: Literature of Destruction ed. David Roskies) |
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Session 3 (21/3) – Chava’s Art of Storytelling and the Yiddish Women Writers (leading session: Ula)
Ula talks about art of the short story – a Yiddish women’s tradition. Introduction to the genre and overview of Found Treasure and Yiddish Women’s Writer books ad well as new publication (Fradl Shtok, Kadie Molodowski). Reading 3: The Greenhorn - Introduction to the short stories (Texts 3 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing |
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Session 4 (28/3) - Last Love. The Memory of the Khurbn. (leading session: Ula)
Ula introduces to our discussions on emotions, family stories, the memory of the Khurbn Reading 4: Last Love – a short story (Texts 4 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing Listen to the story- Chava Rosenfarbs reads Di Letste Live, די לעצטע ליבע: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/audio-books/smr-chava-rosenfarb-di-letste-libe-000 |
Last Love
די לעצטע לידע
Presentation - questions and context
Irving Howe as a context to the story"
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Session 5 (11/4) – Chava and Other Polish Yiddish Writers (leading session: Jan)
Chava’s writing is a continuation of Yiddish tradition as well as a rebellion against it. Let’s discuss. Reading 5: Sholem Asch and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Essay (Texts 5 in the Reader here: Reading 6: Masterpiece (in the Reader under the first English title The Laurentian Mountain: (Texts 6 in the Reader here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing Chava and Other Polish Yiddish Writers 11/4 - Jan Schwarz's questions
‘Scholem Asch and Isaac Bashevis Singer’
“The Masterwork” or “A Cottage in The Laurentian Mountains
“I live mostly in myself and with myself. But I am aware that in this way I sacrifice something, I destroy my connection to real life. Sadly, I don’t have much time to spare so I must choose between company on the one hand and my work on the other. I choose my work, fully aware of the sacrifice that I’m making. And I do it with regret. I believe that art is a cruel master.” (Letter from Chava to Zenia Larsson, June 29, 1962.
In a diary entry written in the DP camp June 30, 1945, Chava articulates her misgivings about using the novel in its conventional artistic forms for a depiction of life in the Lodz ghetto: “Is it not a mask covering the rawness and directness that are required to approach this theme? Is the genre of an artistic novel too elegant, too peaceful, too calm, and comfortable? I feel that would be an insult to my dear ones and myself.”
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Chava Rosenfarb speaks in Yiddish about Asch and Bashevis Singer here:
Yiddish Book Centre: www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/archival-recordings/frances-brandt/fbr-775_4774/sholem-asch-and-i-b-singer-parallel-chava-rosenfarb
Presentation: here Ula sends you some other contexts of the story and essays:
The speech of Sholem Ash
The speech (in Yiddish) of Bashevis Singer
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Session 6 (18/4) - Jan. Edgia’s Revenge. The startling story of a woman kapo. (leading session: Jan )
Edgia’s Revenge (Texts 8 in the Reader here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing Also: Goldie Morgentaler's essay in Tablet about Chava and Zenia: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/chava-and-zenia ”Edgia’s Revenge”: The Startling Story of a Woman Kapo – April 18 - Jan
Quotes and Questions 1: “I am ready to submit, ready to surrender to the perverse law which still seems to rule over the psyches of those survivors whose souls remained trapped in the concentration camps and who will never break free. I refer to the law which says that for every life saved another must be sacrificed.” 61 How do you understand ‘the perverse law’ and how does it relate to Edgia’s revenge? 2. “Don’t modern intellectuals, who were never there, speak about the banality of evil?” 62 What does Hannah Arendt’s concept “The Banality of Evil” refer to and how is it rejected in the story?” 3.”…that each survivor is afflicted by an immense feeling of guilt for the simple fact of having survived.”93 How does the theme of ‘survivor guilt’ figure in the story? 4. “But nobody tried to get to the bottom of the particular tragedy of the Jewish kapos.” 97 How does Rosenfarb’s story address the Jewish kapo in comparison with other Jewish holocaust writers (Elie Wiesel, Avrom Sutzkever)? 5. “In this manner, we became bound to one another in a singular friendship – our reward and punishment for having survived.”104 How does this relate to Chava’s life-long friendship with the Swedish writer Zenia Larsson? 6. “Sometimes I believe that I am just such a cross and that I carry my Jesus on my back.” 134 How does Jesus figure as a metaphor and martyrological model in the story? 7. “I no longer want your friendship, and I no longer want to give you mine. It was a sick, poisonous, an impossible friendship.” 61 |
עדזשעס נקמה
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Session 7 (25/4) - Zenia/Chava Correspondence. Introduction to Edgia’s Revenge (leading session: Ula)
Ula will bring a selection of letters written by Chava and her friends from Lodz and then, from Sweden Zenia Larsson. We will read fragments and discuss the importance of friendship in the post-war lives of these two women writers.
Reading: Ramblings through Inner Continents: Notes from a Life// essay (Texts 7 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing
Also: Chava’s essay ‘Feminism and Literature: A Personal Approach’ – Ula will present it.
Questions:
1.What is the significance of "Yerushe" (the proud Jewish roots) and the narrative of the ancestors that may have an influence on Chava's literary journey?
2.How are the women recalled and reflected upon in the memories associated with the Kinsk shtetl?
3.How is Chava and Zenia Marcinkowska'schildhood presented, along with their experiences before the war?
4.What narratives emerge from the ghetto?
5.How did life unfold for Zenia/Chava in the aftermath of the war?
Ula will bring a selection of letters written by Chava and her friends from Lodz and then, from Sweden Zenia Larsson. We will read fragments and discuss the importance of friendship in the post-war lives of these two women writers.
Reading: Ramblings through Inner Continents: Notes from a Life// essay (Texts 7 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing
Also: Chava’s essay ‘Feminism and Literature: A Personal Approach’ – Ula will present it.
Questions:
1.What is the significance of "Yerushe" (the proud Jewish roots) and the narrative of the ancestors that may have an influence on Chava's literary journey?
2.How are the women recalled and reflected upon in the memories associated with the Kinsk shtetl?
3.How is Chava and Zenia Marcinkowska'schildhood presented, along with their experiences before the war?
4.What narratives emerge from the ghetto?
5.How did life unfold for Zenia/Chava in the aftermath of the war?
Session 8 (2/5) - Letters to God// El Khanun Kadia Molodowski (leading Jan and Ula)
Reading: Letters to God El Khanun/ Merciful God by Kadia Molodowski (Texts 10 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing |
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Session 9 (16/5) – Yiddish and Translation? Chava on Translation.
Reading: A Yiddish Writer Reflects on Translation (Texts 11 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing
Reading: A Yiddish Writer Reflects on Translation (Texts 11 in the Reader here:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fP24M3rs0raXupu6qz_c3MwwtraPXR8J?usp=sharing
Session 10 (30/5) – The Art of Storytelling... OVERVIEW and Our Favourite Texts from the course on Chava Rosenfarb?
Feedback, and our favorite texts, and why?
Feedback, and our favorite texts, and why?
Course Description:
This course offers a deep dive into the literary world of Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011), a celebrated poet and novelist known for works such as the "The Tree of Life" trilogy. Through the lens of eight of her captivating short stories, students will gain a profound understanding of her craft and storytelling prowess.
Chava Rosenfarb articulates in her work, "I was never a Sunday scribbler. Writing was never a mere hobby or a casual pursuit for me, intended to fill idle hours. On the contrary, it held an indispensable role in my life, akin to the very essence of life itself. It served as a sanctuary, a surrogate for existence, a means of self-confrontation, and a mode of confession. Above all, it represented a compelling necessity that imbued my life with a coherent motif, an underlying melody" (Rosenfarb, Chava. "Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays," p. 3, McGill-Queen's University Press). This course is designed to conduct an in-depth analysis of Chava Rosenfarb's profound passion for writing as expressed in her literary works.
Instructors Ula and Jan will not only provide an illuminating introduction to Chava Rosenfarb's life and writing but also paint a vivid picture of her unique friendship with the Jewish Swedish writer Zenia Larson. The heart of the course lies in the exploration of these carefully selected short stories, including her renowned masterpiece, "Edgia’s Revenge" (1989).
Ula and Jan offer diverse perspectives, interpretation angles, and lively discussions, creating a polyphony of literary analysis. They will underscore the importance of Chava Rosenfarb's contributions to Yiddish women's writing within the context of contemporary literature.
Teaching Methods:
Bibliography for additional research:
In the Land of the Postscript. The Complete Short Stories of Chava Rosenfarb, ed. by Goldie Morgentaler, White Goat Press, Yiddish Book Centre 2023.
Chava Rosenfarb, Confessions of A Yiddish Writerand Other Essays By Chava Rosenfarb.
About Rosenfarb Chava:
Caufield, Catherine. 2021. “Unreliable Narrator: A Literary Study of Traumatic Experience through Chava Rosenfarb’s Rella Character.” Religious studies and theology 40.2.
Kremer, S. Lillian. 2004. “Evolving Paradigms of Jewish Women in Twentieth-Century American Jewish Fiction: Through a Male Lens/Through a Female Lens,” Berger, A. L., & Cronin, G. L. (Eds.). (2004). Jewish american and holocaust literature : Representation in the postmodern world. State University of New York Press, 201-221.
Pirozhenko, Ekaterina. 2010. “Gendered Experience in the Concentration Camp and the Construction of the Kapo Identity in ‘Edgia’s Revenge’ by Chava Rosenfarb.” Canadian Jewish Studies 18–19: 179‒206.
The chapter about Chava Rosenfarb in Jan Schwarz’s book: Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture after the Holocaust, 2015, p.44-67
Women’s Writing:
Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, ed. Frieda Forman, Ethel Raicus, Sarah Silberstein Swartz and Margie Wolfe (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1997), 159-185.
Faith Jones: How to Supress Yiddish Women’s Writing (2022): https://ingeveb.org/blog/how-to-suppress-yiddish-womens-writing
Notion of Shtetl in Women’s Literature:
Jonas-Maertin, Esther. 2010. “THE SHTETL IN NEW YORK: THE POET MALKA LEE.” European Judaism 43.1, 48–62.
This course offers a deep dive into the literary world of Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011), a celebrated poet and novelist known for works such as the "The Tree of Life" trilogy. Through the lens of eight of her captivating short stories, students will gain a profound understanding of her craft and storytelling prowess.
Chava Rosenfarb articulates in her work, "I was never a Sunday scribbler. Writing was never a mere hobby or a casual pursuit for me, intended to fill idle hours. On the contrary, it held an indispensable role in my life, akin to the very essence of life itself. It served as a sanctuary, a surrogate for existence, a means of self-confrontation, and a mode of confession. Above all, it represented a compelling necessity that imbued my life with a coherent motif, an underlying melody" (Rosenfarb, Chava. "Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays," p. 3, McGill-Queen's University Press). This course is designed to conduct an in-depth analysis of Chava Rosenfarb's profound passion for writing as expressed in her literary works.
Instructors Ula and Jan will not only provide an illuminating introduction to Chava Rosenfarb's life and writing but also paint a vivid picture of her unique friendship with the Jewish Swedish writer Zenia Larson. The heart of the course lies in the exploration of these carefully selected short stories, including her renowned masterpiece, "Edgia’s Revenge" (1989).
Ula and Jan offer diverse perspectives, interpretation angles, and lively discussions, creating a polyphony of literary analysis. They will underscore the importance of Chava Rosenfarb's contributions to Yiddish women's writing within the context of contemporary literature.
Teaching Methods:
- Engaging lectures and story introductions
- Dynamic and interactive discussions
- Breakout sessions for in-depth exploration and collaborative learning opportunities
Bibliography for additional research:
In the Land of the Postscript. The Complete Short Stories of Chava Rosenfarb, ed. by Goldie Morgentaler, White Goat Press, Yiddish Book Centre 2023.
Chava Rosenfarb, Confessions of A Yiddish Writerand Other Essays By Chava Rosenfarb.
About Rosenfarb Chava:
Caufield, Catherine. 2021. “Unreliable Narrator: A Literary Study of Traumatic Experience through Chava Rosenfarb’s Rella Character.” Religious studies and theology 40.2.
Kremer, S. Lillian. 2004. “Evolving Paradigms of Jewish Women in Twentieth-Century American Jewish Fiction: Through a Male Lens/Through a Female Lens,” Berger, A. L., & Cronin, G. L. (Eds.). (2004). Jewish american and holocaust literature : Representation in the postmodern world. State University of New York Press, 201-221.
Pirozhenko, Ekaterina. 2010. “Gendered Experience in the Concentration Camp and the Construction of the Kapo Identity in ‘Edgia’s Revenge’ by Chava Rosenfarb.” Canadian Jewish Studies 18–19: 179‒206.
The chapter about Chava Rosenfarb in Jan Schwarz’s book: Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture after the Holocaust, 2015, p.44-67
Women’s Writing:
Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, ed. Frieda Forman, Ethel Raicus, Sarah Silberstein Swartz and Margie Wolfe (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1997), 159-185.
Faith Jones: How to Supress Yiddish Women’s Writing (2022): https://ingeveb.org/blog/how-to-suppress-yiddish-womens-writing
Notion of Shtetl in Women’s Literature:
Jonas-Maertin, Esther. 2010. “THE SHTETL IN NEW YORK: THE POET MALKA LEE.” European Judaism 43.1, 48–62.
Course leaders: