Sholem Asch reconsidered / edited by Nanette Stahl.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Stahl, Nanette.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Yale University Library gazette. Occasional supplement ; 5.

The Yale University Library gazette. Occasional supplement ; 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asch, Sholem, 1880-1957--Criticism and interpretation--Congresses.

Asch, Sholem.

Asch, Sholem, 1880-1957.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xii, 303 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Conn. : Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 2004.

Summary:

Adored by readers around the world, Sholem Asch (1888-1957), the Yiddish novelist, essayist, and dramatist, found himself abandoned by his most devoted supporters-the famed editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, Abraham Cahan, among them-when he turned to the origins of Christianity as themes for three of his novels.

In the first half of the 20th century, Sholem Asch was famous as a Yiddish author and dramatist and was well known in non-Jewish literary circles as well. Born in Poland, he divided his time between Europe and the United States. He wrote in Yiddish but, thanks to the great popularity of both his novels and plays, Asch was translated into English and other languages from an early date on. At the height of his fame, he was a household name in the Yiddish-speaking world and was also well known on the world literary stage. With the publication of his "Christological" novels (The Nazarene, 1939; The Apostle, 1943; Mary, 1949), Asch's fortunes began to falter. His Yiddish-reading public-primarily in the United States-turned away from him and tragically he was never able to re-establish his bond with them.

The breach between Asch and his Yiddish readers peaked at the height of the Holocaust and during its aftermath. The raw emotions of that period have somewhat eased in the meantime and a more dispassionate evaluation of his work can now be undertaken. This volume provides just that. It is the first modern appraisal of Asch by some of the most distinguished Yiddish literary critics of our time.

Along with a discussion of the Christological novels, the topics examined are the author's drama focusing primarily on his God of Vengeance, his American fiction, and his novels that deal with the European Jewish reality of radical change and dislocation at the beginning of the 20th century. The book also includes an overview of Asch's life by his great-grandson, David Mazower.

Sholem Asch saw himself as a man of letters whose work belonged both in the Jewish world and in modern Western literature. He refused to be limited to either one or the other. His approach to religious faith was equally ecumenical; he declined to view Judaism as "us" and Christianity as the "other." In his own day, the majority of the Jewish readership was not ready for such inclusiveness, but attitudes have changed since then and this book begins the process of re-examining Asch's work and thought.

Contents:

Sholem Asch: images of a life / David Mazower

Asch, the Yiddish theater, and God of vengeance : the brothel as symbolic space in Yiddish drama / Joel Berkowitz

Staging tradition : piety and scandal in God of vengeance / Naomi Seidman

God of vengeance: the 1907 controversy over art and morality / Nina Warnke

Russia between myth and reality: from Meri to Three cities / Mikhail Krutikov

Power, powerlessness, and the Jewish nation in Sholem Asch's Af kidesh Hashem / Ellen Kellman

The city as cadre and character in Sholem Asch's Dray shtet / Seth l. Wolitz

God bless America : of and around Sholem Asch's East River / Dan Miron

The broken fortress : the Jewish family in America in the novels of Sholem Asch / Avraham Novershtern

Found in America : Sholem Asch and I.B. Singer / David G. Roskies

Sholem Asch and the Christian question / Anita Norich

Reactions of the Yiddish press to The Nazarene by Sholem Asch / Hannah Berliner Fischthal

Sholem Asch's true Christians : the Jews as a people of Christs / Matthew Hoffman.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Bibliography of Asch in English": pages 289-294.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0845731521

OCLC:

54279902