Yekl and the Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Anthologies, History, Jewish, Fiction & Literature, Cultural Heritage
Cover of the book Yekl and the Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto by Abraham Cahan, Dover Publications
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Abraham Cahan ISBN: 9780486122571
Publisher: Dover Publications Publication: March 7, 2012
Imprint: Dover Publications Language: English
Author: Abraham Cahan
ISBN: 9780486122571
Publisher: Dover Publications
Publication: March 7, 2012
Imprint: Dover Publications
Language: English

"No American fiction of the year merits recognition more than this Russian's stories of Yiddish life. … [Mr. Cahan] is a humorist, and his humor does not spare the sordid and uncouth aspects of the character whose pathos he so tenderly reveals." — William Dean Howells
Yekl (1896), the novel upon which the highly successful film Hester Street was based, was written by Abraham Cahan, editor of the prestigious Jewish Daily Forward for half a century. It is probably the first novel in English that had a New York East Side immigrant as its hero; reviewing it, Howells hailed Cahan as "a new star of realism." The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories came two years later.
The Jews that Sholem Aleichem described in their little old-world shtetl had emigrated; other tale-tellers were needed to describe the Jewish experience in the tenements and garment factories of New York. Cahan was one of the first to write about them in English. His book gives a better picture than most works of non-fiction of what immigrant life was like at the turn of the century. Cahan clearly delineates the clash of cultures and shows the innumerable problems, crises and dilemmas of acculturations.
In Yekl, the central problem derives from a social condition: the urgent desire of the hero to become a real American, to be less a "greenhorn"; but the play of events is around an emotional crisis; Yekl no longer loves the wife he left behind, who has now rejoined him in the new land, and who seems to him shockingly European.
In The Imported Bridegroom, the issue is apparently religious, a clash between traditional faith and secularism; but we are left wondering whether philosophy has not become commingled with sociology. Other stories deal with sweatshop life, romance in the slums, a wedding in the ghetto.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"No American fiction of the year merits recognition more than this Russian's stories of Yiddish life. … [Mr. Cahan] is a humorist, and his humor does not spare the sordid and uncouth aspects of the character whose pathos he so tenderly reveals." — William Dean Howells
Yekl (1896), the novel upon which the highly successful film Hester Street was based, was written by Abraham Cahan, editor of the prestigious Jewish Daily Forward for half a century. It is probably the first novel in English that had a New York East Side immigrant as its hero; reviewing it, Howells hailed Cahan as "a new star of realism." The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories came two years later.
The Jews that Sholem Aleichem described in their little old-world shtetl had emigrated; other tale-tellers were needed to describe the Jewish experience in the tenements and garment factories of New York. Cahan was one of the first to write about them in English. His book gives a better picture than most works of non-fiction of what immigrant life was like at the turn of the century. Cahan clearly delineates the clash of cultures and shows the innumerable problems, crises and dilemmas of acculturations.
In Yekl, the central problem derives from a social condition: the urgent desire of the hero to become a real American, to be less a "greenhorn"; but the play of events is around an emotional crisis; Yekl no longer loves the wife he left behind, who has now rejoined him in the new land, and who seems to him shockingly European.
In The Imported Bridegroom, the issue is apparently religious, a clash between traditional faith and secularism; but we are left wondering whether philosophy has not become commingled with sociology. Other stories deal with sweatshop life, romance in the slums, a wedding in the ghetto.

More books from Dover Publications

Cover of the book Mrs. Spring Fragrance by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Integral Equations by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Arabic Geometrical Pattern and Design by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book A History of Greek Mathematics, Volume I by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book The Winter's Tale by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book New Russian-English Dictionary by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book From Alchemy to Chemistry by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Rootabaga Stories by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Vampires and Vampirism by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book The Dwellers on the Nile by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Principles & Practice of Ornamental or Complex Turning by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Authentic American Indian Beadwork and How to Do It by Abraham Cahan
Cover of the book Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood by Abraham Cahan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy