Yiddish: Turning to Life

Yiddish: Turning to Life
Author: Joshua A. Fishman
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 534
Release: 1991-08-16
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027274304

Worldwide interest in Yiddish has often concentrated on its secular forms of expression: its literature, its theater, its journalism and its political-party associations. This all-encompassing study, covers these phenomena as well as investigating the demographic and political mushrooming of Yiddish-speaking Ultra-Orthodoxy, both in America and in Israel. As the title suggests, this volume attempts to show that Yiddish is now finally on the path towards recovery. The volume consists of 17 papers grouped into five sections: Yiddish and Hebrew: Conflict and Symbiosis; Yiddish in America; Corpus Planning: The ability to change and grow; Status Planning: The Tshernovits Conference of 1908; Stock-taking: Where are we now? Each section is prefaced by an introduction. In addition there are also five papers written in Yiddish. The work emphasises an empirical and theoretical approach to the growing Ultra-Orthodox sector, that until now, has largely been ignored. Fishman's interest in Yiddish (among other Jewish languages) has previously been difficult to access and it is hoped that the appearance of this book will go some way toward alleviating this situation. The volume also includes a statistical appendix bringing together data on Yiddish for the past 100 years from the Czarist Empire, the USSR, Poland, Israel, the USA, and other parts of the world. This extensive and enlightening study should be of interest to sociolinguists and all those engaged in efforts on behalf of small languages everywhere.

Finding the Jewish Shakespeare

Finding the Jewish Shakespeare
Author: Beth Kaplan
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0815651759

Born of an Anglican mother and a Jewish father who disdained religion, Kaplan knew little of her Judaic roots and less about her famed great-grandfather until beginning her research, more than twenty years ago. Shedding new light on Gordin and his world, Kaplan describes the commune he founded and led in Russia, his meteoric rise among Jewish New York’s literati, the birth of such masterworks as Mirele Efros and The Jewish King Lear, and his seething feud with Abraham Cahan, powerful editor of the Daily Forward. Writing in a graceful and engaging style, she recaptures the Golden Age and colorful actors of Yiddish Theater from 1891-1910. Most significantly she discovers the emotional truth about the man himself, a tireless reformer who left a vital legacy to the theater and Jewish life worldwide.

Yiddish Theatre

Yiddish Theatre
Author: Author Joel Berkowitz
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2008-03-06
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1909821225

This collection of essays conveys a broad range of fundamental ideas about Yiddish theatre and its importance in Jewish life as a reflection of aesthetic, social, and political trends and concerns. The contributions cover such topics as the Yiddish repertoire, including the purimshpil and the relationship between Yiddish drama and the broader European dramatic tradition; the historiography of the Yiddish theatre; the role of music; censorship, both by governmental authorities and from within the Jewish community; and the politics of Yiddish theatre criticism. Taken as a whole, these essays make a significant contribution to our understanding of Jewish literature and culture in eastern Europe and the United States.

New York’s Yiddish Theater

New York’s Yiddish Theater
Author: Edna Nahshon
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2016-03-08
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0231541074

In the early decades of the twentieth century, a vibrant theatrical culture took shape on New York City's Lower East Side. Original dramas, comedies, musicals, and vaudeville, along with sophisticated productions of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Chekhov, were innovatively staged for crowds that rivaled the audiences on Broadway. Though these productions were in Yiddish and catered to Eastern European, Jewish audiences (the largest immigrant group in the city at the time), their artistic innovations, energetic style, and engagement with politics and the world around them came to influence all facets of the American stage. Vividly illustrated and with essays from leading historians and critics, this book recounts the heyday of "Yiddish Broadway" and its vital contribution to American Jewish life and crossover to the broader American culture. These performances grappled with Jewish nationalism, labor relations, women's rights, religious observance, acculturation, and assimilation. They reflected a range of genres, from tear-jerkers to experimental theater. The artists who came of age in this world include Stella Adler, Eddie Cantor, Jerry Lewis, Sophie Tucker, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers. The story of New York's Yiddish theater is a tale of creativity and legacy and of immigrants who, in the process of becoming Americans, had an enormous impact on the country's cultural and artistic development.

An East End Legacy

An East End Legacy
Author: Colin Holmes
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-08-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317301145

An East End Legacy is a memorial volume for William J Fishman, whose seminal works on the East End of London in the late nineteenth century have served as a vital starting point for much of the later work on the various complex web of relations in that quarter of the capital. A variety of leading scholars utilise the insight of Fishman’s work to present a wide range of insights into the historical characters and events of the East End. The book’s themes include local politics; anti-alienism, anti-Semitism and war; and culture and society. In pursuing these topics, the volume examines in great depth the social, political, religious and cultural changes that have taken place in the area over the past 120 years, many of which remain both significant and relevant. In addition, it illustrates East London’s links with other parts of the world including Europe and America and those territories "beyond the oceans." This book will prove valuable reading for researchers and readers interested in Victorian and twentieth century British history, politics and culture.

Encyclopedia of American Jewish History [2 volumes]

Encyclopedia of American Jewish History [2 volumes]
Author: Stephen H. Norwood
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 881
Release: 2007-08-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1851096434

Written by the most prominent scholars in American Jewish history, this encyclopedia illuminates the varied experiences of America's Jews and their impact on American society and culture over three and a half centuries. American Jews have profoundly shaped, and been shaped by, American culture. Yet American history texts have largely ignored the Jewish experience. The Encyclopedia of American Jewish History corrects that omission. In essays and short entries written by 125 of the world's leading scholars of American Jewish history and culture, this encyclopedia explores both religious and secular aspects of American Jewish life. It examines the European background and immigration of American Jews and their impact on the professions and academic disciplines, mass culture and the arts, literature and theater, and labor and radical movements. It explores Zionism, antisemitism, responses to the Holocaust, the branches of Judaism, and Jews' relations with other groups, including Christians, Muslims, and African Americans. The encyclopedia covers the Jewish press and education, Jewish organizations, and Jews' participation in America's wars. In two comprehensive volumes, Encyclopedia of American Jewish History makes 350 years of American Jewish experience accessible to scholars, all levels of students, and the reading public.

Stardust Lost

Stardust Lost
Author: Stefan Kanfer
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2007-09-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400078032

In Stardust Lost, Stefan Kanfer brings the colorful Yiddish stage roaring back to life. Born of ancient traditions stretching back to the drama of the Old Testament, the Yiddish theater was a vibrant part of the immigrant experience. Kanfer invokes the energy, belief, and pure chutzpah it took to establish and run the thriving, influential theaters. He reveals the nightly drama and comedy that played out behind the scenes as well as onstage, and introduces all the players—actors, divas, playwrights, directors, and producers—who made it possible. A richly evocative chronicle of its brief but dazzling existence in America, this is both an elegy for and a tribute to Yiddish theater—lost, but not forgotten.

International Bibliography Of Jewish Affairs, 1976-1977

International Bibliography Of Jewish Affairs, 1976-1977
Author: Elizabeth E. Eppler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2019-04-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0429724403

This bibliography, a project of is intended as an aid to research on and cultural aspects of contemporary ship between Jews and the non-Jewish material published in 1976 and 1977. the Institute of Jewish Affairs, the historical, social, political, Jewish life and on the relationworld. The present volume covers The Bibliography includes primarily nonfiction works published outside Israel by both Jewish and non-Jewish authors; it excludes belles lettres (with the exception of documentary novels and memoirs) and religious studies. Entries are arranged by subject, with cross-references wherever applicable; a cumulative index of names and a list of periodicals are provided at the end of the volume.