Joseph Opatoshu: A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America

Gennady Estraikh; Mikhail Krutikov; Sabine Koller

Joseph Opatoshu
A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America

Edited by Sabine Koller, Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov

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Joseph Opatoshu (1886-1954), Russian/American novelist

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Jewish Studies

30 other titles

Studies In Yiddish 11

Legenda

25 September 2013 • 282pp

ISBN: 978-1-907975-60-8 (hardback) • RRP £80, $110, €95

ModernYiddishCentralRussianFiction

At the turn of the twentieth century East European Jews underwent a radical cultural transformation, which turned a traditional religious community into a modern nation, struggling to find its place in the world. An important figure in this ‘Jewish Renaissance’ was the American-Yiddish writer and activist Joseph Opatoshu (1886-1954). Born into a Hassidic family, he spent his early childhood in a forest in Central Poland, was educated in Russia and studied engineering in France and America. In New York, where he emigrated in 1907, he joined the revitalizing modernist group Di yunge - The Young. His early novels painted a vivid picture of social turmoil and inner psychological conflict, using modernist devices of multiple voices and mixed linguistic idioms. He acquired international fame by his historical novels about the Polish uprising of 1863 and the expulsion of Jews from Regensburg in 1519. Though he was translated into several languages, Yiddish writing always fostered his ideas and ideals of Jewish identity.

Although he occupied a key position in the transnational Jewish culture during his lifetime, Opatoshu has until recently been neglected by scholars. This volume brings together literary specialists and historians working in Jewish and Slavic Studies, who analyse Opatoshu's quest for modern Jewish identity from different perspectives.

The contributors are Shlomo Berger (Amsterdam), Marc Caplan (Baltimore, MD), Gennady Estraikh (New York), Roland Gruschka (Heidelberg), Ellie Kellman (Boston), Sabine Koller (Regensburg), Mikhail Krutikov (Ann Arbor, MI), Joshua Lambert (Amherst, MA), Harriet Murav (Urbana-Champaign, IL), Avrom Novershtern (Jerusalem), Dan Opatoshu (Los Angeles), Eugenia Prokop-Janiec (Krakow), Jan Schwarz (Lund), Astrid Starck (Basel/Mulhouse), Karolina Szymaniak (Krakow) and Evita Wiecki (Munich).

Reviews:

‘The collection marks an important milestone in Slavic-Jewish Studies... a reader of this volume leaves with the satisfaction of being able to not only trace the literary, ideological, and cultural trajectory of Opatoshu, but also to better understand the course of modern Jewish history.’ — Naya Lekht, Slavic and East European Journal 59.1, Spring 2015, 135-37

Contents:

1-17	Joseph Opatoshu’s Search for Yidishkayt Gennady Estraikh, Sabine Koller, Mikhail Krutikov	Cite
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18-34	In New York Velder: Yosef/Joseph Opatoshu — Constructing a Multinational, 20th Century, (very) Modern Yiddish Identity Dan Opatoshu	Cite
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35-54	Soviet Dreams of a Cultural Exile Gennady Estraikh	Cite
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55-67	Faint Praise: The Early Critical Reception of Joseph Opatoshu’s In poylishe velder Ellen Kellman	Cite
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68-85	The Two Souls of Mordkhe: In poylishe velder Sabine Koller	Cite
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86-96	In poylishe velder and The Brothers Karamazov: A Comparative Study Harriet Murav	Cite
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97-111	‘Such a Rag-Bag’: The Historical Novel as Spectacle, neo-Hasidic Hagiography, and Pseudo-territory Jan Schwarz	Cite
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112-126	A tog in Regensburg and Elye Bokher: Opatoshu’s 1933 Vision of Early Yiddish and Medieval Ashkenazi Culture, his Scholarly-Yiddishist Models, and Means of Representation Roland Gruschka	Cite
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127-136	A tog in Regensburg: Scholarly Research and a Novel’s Outline Shlomo Berger	Cite
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137-159	The Flesh and the Spirit: Opatoshu’s novel Di tentserin (The Dancer) Avraham Novershtern	Cite
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160-171	Cityscapes of Yidishkayt: Opatoshu’s New York Trilogy Mikhail Krutikov	Cite
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172-183	Opatoshu’s Eroticism, American Obscenity Josh Lambert	Cite
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184-198	Yiddish Exceptionalism: Lynching, Race, and Racism in Opatoshu’s Lintsheray Marc Caplan	Cite
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199-214	Mentshn un khayes (1938): Snapshots of Jewish life in America and Europe Astrid Starck-Adler	Cite
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215-230	Literature for Children? The Case of Joseph Opatoshu Evita Wiecki	Cite
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231-266	Bibliography of Joseph Opatoshu Holger Nath	Cite
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Cite this volume in standard MHRA style

Bibliography entry:

Koller, Sabine, Gennady Estraikh, and Mikhail Krutikov (eds), Joseph Opatoshu: A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America, Studies In Yiddish, 11 (Cambridge: Legenda, 2013)

First footnote reference: ³⁵ Joseph Opatoshu: A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America, ed. by Sabine Koller, Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov, Studies In Yiddish, 11 (Cambridge: Legenda, 2013), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: ³⁷ Koller, Estraikh, and Krutikov, p. 47.

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Cite this volume in MHRA author-date style

Bibliography entry:

Koller, Sabine, Gennady Estraikh, and Mikhail Krutikov (eds). 2013. Joseph Opatoshu: A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America, Studies In Yiddish, 11 (Cambridge: Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Koller, Estraikh, and Krutikov 2013: 21).

Example footnote reference: ³⁵ Koller, Estraikh, and Krutikov 2013: 21.

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This Legenda title was first published by Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing but rights to it are now held by Modern Humanities Research Association and Routledge.

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Permanent link to this title:

www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Joseph-Opatoshu
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/siy-11

Joseph OpatoshuA Yiddish Writer between Europe and America

Edited by Sabine Koller, Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov

Joseph Opatoshu
A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America