Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life

By: and and and

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Synopsis
When Everyday Jews was first published in Poland in 1935, the Jewish Left was scandalized by the sex scenes, and I. B. Singer complained that the novel was too bleak to be psychologically credible. Yet within two years, Perle’s novel was heralded as a modern Yiddish masterpiece. Offering a unique blend of raw sexuality and romantic love, thwarted desire and spiritual longing, Everyday Jews is now considered Perle’s consummate achievement. The voice of Mendl, the novel’s twelve-year-old narrator, is precisely captured by this artfully simple translation. Mendl’s impoverished and dysfunctional family struggles to survive in a nameless Polish provincial town. In this unsettled world, most ordinary people yearn to be somewhere else—or someone else. As Mendl journeys to adulthood, Perle captures the complex interplay of Christians and Jews, weekdays and Sabbaths, town and country, dream and reality, against a relentless and never-ending battle of the sexes.
Copyright:
2007

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
384 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781480440821
Publisher:
The New Yiddish Library
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
the Fund for the Translation of Jewish Literature and the National Yiddish Book Center
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Literature and Fiction, Religion and Spirituality
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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