Fantastic Journeys: A Free New Online Course Taught by YIVO’s Executive Director Jonathan Brent, Starting April 20

(New York, NY) – YIVO is pleased to announce Fantastic Journeys, a free new online course taught by Executive Director Jonathan Brent, starting April 20, 2020.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, YIVO is offering this course free of charge.

Conducted online via Zoom over eight weeks (Mondays & Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00pm EDT), this course will investigate the great historical transitions and transformations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Eastern Europe and Russia through the avant-garde literature of those lands that may be called the literature of the “fantastic.”  Not realism, nor fantasy (e.g., Harry Potter), nor science fiction (e.g., War of the Worlds), the genre of the fantastic that sprang to life throughout this part of the world in Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine and elsewhere brought about a radical questioning of experience, “values,” the nature of human consciousness, tradition, language and norms of logic. Of special interest to this class will be the Jewish dimension of this literature and the signal role that Jewish thinkers and writers played in its development. The course will cover works by Kafka, Ansky, Capek, Schulz, and more.

Learn more and register for Fantastic Journeys with Jonathan Brent.

This course joins YIVO’s growing and robust line-up of digital offerings, including our Shine Online Educational Series, which is now being offered for free. This series includes a new course, A Seat at the Table: A Journey into Jewish Food, launching May 1, as well as courses that delve into the evolution of Yiddish theater, the rich history of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, Ashkenazi folklore and much more.

Also follow our regular digital updates via Facebook Live, our free online YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, and the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections.

YIVO remains committed to educating its global community of students in 48 states across the USA and 48 countries around the world in these trying times.

For more information contact:
Ben Kaplan
Director of Education

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story