Dybbuk and the Yiddish Imagination: A Haunted Reader (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780815628729)

he most famous play in the Yiddish repertoire, S. Ansky's The Dybbuk has been made into two films and three operas and has been staged all over the world. As an extraordinary product of the Yiddish imagination, however, its literary and religious roots have never been thoroughly explored.

With a new translation of Ansky's play that conveys its brilliant supernatural poetry, this anthology comprises thirty highly diverse literary masterpieces dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Beginning with the first Yiddish tale about a possession (1602), these works influenced Ansky or formed a cultural and spiritual network that shows us how the era and tradition precipitated the drama. The result is a literary mosaic that shows a vast array of styles, from the earthy simplicity of homespun folk tales to the delicacy and elegance of polished literary expression.

Joachim Neugroschel brings together a wide variety of stories, verse narratives, and even modern melodrama--many never before translated into English.

Author: Joachim Neugroschel
ISBN-10: 0815628722
ISBN-13: 9780815628729
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2000
Pages: 436
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.09d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2001 pg. 1623