Modern Yiddish Verse

Features the works of six major Yiddish poets and selections from the work of thirty-three others with Yiddish and English on facing pages

"In preparing this book we have weighed the competing claims of enlightenment and entertainment, consistency and common sense." With that goal, the editors produced an anthology of over 200 poems by 39 poets, arranged chronologically and with extensive biographical and textual notes. The poets range from Yitskhok Leybush Perets (1852-1915), considered a master of modern Yiddish literature, to the inventive Abraham Sutzkever (born in Vilna in 1913 and still writing in Israel). The poems themselves, all beautifully translated by a variety of translators, with themes ranging from old-country folk tales to American sweatshops, are accompanied by the originals. While Howe and Greenberg's Treasury of Yiddish Poetry (1976) covers some of the same material, it does not include the original Yiddish. Highly recommended. Marcia G. Fuchs, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.