Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
thorsasdiferentastheanonymouseditors
oftheHebrewSefershivheiha-besht,acol-
lectionofhagiographiclegendsaboutthe
Ba’alShemTov;theJewishhereticJacob
Frank;thefatherofmodernYiddishlitera-
ture,YitskhokLeybushPeretz;themasterof
HebrewlanguageShmuelAgnon;theGer-
manphilosopherMartinBuber;theYiddish
womenpoetsKadyeMolodovskyandRa-
chelH.KornandPolish-Yiddishwriterand
poetDvoraVogel;PolishpoetJulianTuwim;
Polish-Yiddishpoet,essayist,anddiaristRa-
chelAuerbach;theHebrew-Yiddishwriter
andauthorofthrenodiesfromthetimeof
theHolocaustYitzhakKatzenelson;andPol-
ishwritersofJewishorigin-BrunoSchulz,
JulianStryjkowski,andStanisławLem.
JewishliteratureandtheJewishcontri-
butiontocivilization,bothPolishandglobal,
aretightlyconnectedtotheidentity,nation-
alafiliation,ideologicalchoices,anddegree
ofacculturationorassimilationoftheirau-
thors.Whowerethey,whodidtheyconsid-
IsaacBashevisSinger.NewYork,1960s.
erthemselvestobe,whodidtheywishthey
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hadbeen?Howweretheyperceivedbytheir
non-Jewishneighbors,bythepartitionstates,
theSecondPolishRepublic,andthepostwarPeople’sRepublicofPoland?Whatdegree
oflibertydidtheyenjoy?WhoweretheyfortheentireJewishnation?Inwhichculture
didtheygrowup,andtowhichdidtheyaspire?Wewouldhavetoposethesequestions
toeachindividual,steeringclearofgeneralizations.Anidentityisrarelyarepertoryof
elementssetinstone.Quitetheopposite-identityevolvesandchangesthroughout
one’slife.Someelementslosetheirsignificance,whileotherscometothefore,oftenas
aresultofdramaticeventsorideologicalchoices.Accountingforthiscomplexitywould
beimpossibletoachieveinoneshortessay,butwecanpointtoanumberofissues,pose
somequestions,andprovidesomeexamples.
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Letusbeginwithgeography.WhenwespeakofPolishJews,towhomarewerefer-
ring?TheinhabitantsoftheterritoryoftheformerPolish-LithuanianCommonwealth?
ThoselivinginpostwarPoland,itsbordersredrawntoexcludeterritorytotheeast,
whichincludedVilna,andincludetheformereasternterritoriesofGermany,theso-
calleduRecoveredTerritories,”whichincludedBreslau(todayWrocław)?Thepeople
whoremainedwithinthePolishculturalsphere?ThosewhostayedinPolandbriefly
orwhowerebornhereandlateremigrated?OrperhapsthosewhostayedinPoland,
bothduringthepartitionperiodandintheSecondPolishRepublic,andwhobecome
famous?Eachcasewillleadtodiferentdestinationsandwithadiferentfocus.
Isaac(Yitskhok)BashevisSinger,a1978NobelPrizelaureate,oneofthemostprom-
inentJewishwritersfromEasternEurope,spentthefirstthreedecadesofhislifeinPo-
land.HemadehisdebutinWarsawandwasactiveinlocalliterarycircles.Hethentook
