The Dybbuk and the Yiddish Imagination by Joachim Neugroschel

The Dybbuk is arguably the most famous play in the Yiddish repertoire and plays an intrinsic part in the cultural system that created the Yiddish imagination. Along with this new translation, this text offers a variety of literary works spanning the 17th to the 20th centuries.

The most famous play in the Yiddish repertoire, S. Ansky™s The Dybbuk has been made into two films and three operas and has been staged all over the world. As an extraordinary product of the Yiddish imagination, however, its literary and religious roots have never been thoroughly explored. With a new translation of Ansky™s play that conveys its brilliant supernatural poetry, this anthology comprises thirty highly diverse literary masterpieces dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Beginning with the first Yiddish tale about a possession (1602), these works influenced Ansky or formed a cultural and spiritual network that shows us how the era and tradition precipitated the drama. The result is a literary mosaic that shows a vast array of styles, from the earthy simplicity of homespun folk tales to the delicacy and elegance of polished literary expression. Joachim Neugroschel brings together a wide variety of stories, verse narratives, and even modern melodrama”many never before translated into English.

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