1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910777854703321

Autore

Sholem Aleichem <1859-1916.>

Titolo

The letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl : and, Motl, the cantor's son / / Sholem Aleichem ; translated and with an introduction by Hillel Halkin

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2002

ISBN

1-281-72190-5

9786611721909

0-300-12863-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (1 online resource (xxix, 325 pages)

Collana

New Yiddish library

Altri autori (Persone)

HalkinHillel <1939->

Sholem Aleichem <1859-1916.>

Disciplina

839/.133

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Translated from the Yiddish.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-325).

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Introduction -- The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl -- Motl, the Cantor's Son -- Notes

Sommario/riassunto

This volume presents an outstanding new translation of two favorite comic novels by the preeminent Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916). The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl portrays a tumultuous marriage through letters exchanged between the title character, an itinerant bumbler seeking his fortune in the cities of Russia before departing alone for the New World, and his scolding wife, who becomes increasingly fearful, jealous, and mystified. Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son is the first-person narrative of a mischievous and keenly observant boy who emigrates with his family from Russia to America. The final third of the story takes place in New York, making this Sholem Aleichem's only major work to be set in the United States. Motl and Menakhem-Mendl are in one sense opposites--the one a clear-eyed child and the other a pathetically deluded adult. Yet both are ideal conveyors of the comic disparity of perception on which humor depends. If Motl sees more than do others around him, Menakhem-Mendl has an almost infinite capacity for seeing less. Sholem Aleichem endows each character with an individual comic voice



to tell in his own way the story of the collapse of traditional Jewish life in modern industrial society as well as the journey to America, where a new chapter of Jewish history begins. This volume includes a biographical and critical introduction as well as a useful glossary for English-language readers.