Masterpieces of Yiddish Literature in Translation

A Seminar with Curt Leviant 6 Thursdays: October 13, 20, 27; November 3, 17; Sixth date TBA Tuition: YIVO members**: $250 Non-members: $325 Registration is closed. Sign up for YIVO's email list to receive announcements of upcoming classes. For inquiries about this course, contact: Ben Kaplan Director of Education (212) 294-6153

Join us for a survey of the greatest Yiddish literary works written in the late 19th and early 20th century, including the Tevye stories and little known comic monologues by Sholem Aleichem, poignant tales by Avraham Reisen, the Ogden Nash-like comic rhymed fables of Eliezer Shtaynbarg, revealing autobiographical tales by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the world-famous drama, The Dybbuk by An-ski, scenes from two of Chaim Grade's famous novels, The Agunah and The Yeshiva, and a newly translated novella, one of Grade's most moving tales, that focuses on elderly Jews in Vilna becoming students again.

We will also read some other Yiddish writers from the anthology Great Yiddish Stories, edited by Howe and Greenberg, as well as stories by the great Russian short story writer and playwright (and friend of Sholem Aleichem), Anton Chekhov, to show how he influenced works by Sholem Aleichem and Avraham Reisen.

This seminar is open to students of all levels. Students will be asked to read selections from week to week and to answer in writing the assigned theme questions. 

Curt Leviant has taught Hebrew, Yiddish and Jewish literature and culture at Rutgers University for many years and at YIVO for the past several years. He has written/edited/translated more than thirty books, including translations of Sholem Aleichem, Chaim Grade, S.Y. Agnon, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, and is the critically acclaimed author of ten works of fiction, several of which have been translated into various European languages. His most recent novels, published in 2016, are King of Yiddish and Kafka’s Son.

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