Ordinary Jews Contributor(s): Perle, Yehoshue (Author), Kumove, Shirley (Translator), Kumove, Shirley (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 1438435509 ISBN-13: 9781438435503 Publisher: Excelsior Editions/State University of New Yo OUR PRICE: $26.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Jewish |
Dewey: FIC |
LCCN: 2010031859 |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.08" W x 9.02" (1.11 lbs) 358 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Since its original publication in 1935, Ordinary Jews has come to be regarded as one of the masterpieces of Yiddish literature. In his portrayal of the lives of ordinary Polish Jews in a small provincial city at the end of the nineteenth century, Yehoshuah Perle offers a glimpse at a way of life that was already changing by the time of the novel's publication and would soon be brutally exterminated in the Holocaust. Through the eyes of the novel's young protagonist, Mendl Shonash, we are introduced to an intricate society of housewives, beggars, tailors, doctors, maidservants, tavern keepers, teachers, gravediggers, rabbinical students, and a whole range of people living close to the bottom of the social scale, as well as the various social hierarchies, shady dealings, pretensions, grotesqueries, and superstitions that color and order their world. Like a star whose light is visible to us light years after its creation, Ordinary Jews provides a glimpse into a particular culture and unique way of life that might otherwise be lost to history. |