Sholom Aleichem est devenu une figure centrale de la littérature yiddish, réputé pour le naturel du discours de ses personnages et la précision de ses descriptions de la vie dans les shtetls. Ses récits capturaient habilement des moments authentiques de la vie juive, les premiers critiques soulignant souvent la gaieté de ses personnages comme un moyen de faire face à l'adversité. Des critiques ultérieurs ont toutefois discerné une profondeur tragique sous-jacente dans son écriture. Souvent qualifié de « Mark Twain juif » en raison de similitudes stylistiques et de l'utilisation de pseudonymes, son œuvre a trouvé un écho auprès du public adulte comme enfantin.
A tender Jewish tale follows the story of a young boy named Shimek who finds himself falling in love with Buzie, the daughter of his deceased brother, and due to shyness can only express his feelings through quoting the Bible. 15,000 first printing.
The 20 selections in this volume, lovingly translated by Curt Leviant with all the warmth and spirit of the original Yiddish, encomapss some of Sholom Aleichem’s finest tales, among them “Progress in Kasrilevke,” “Summer Romances,” “Birth,” “There’s No Dead,” “Someone to Envy,” “Three Widows,” “Homesick,” “On America,” “A Home Away from Home,” “To the Hot Springs,” and the title story.Filled with richly atmospheric details and accurate, affectionate characterizations, this collection is sure to delight devotees of this incomparable master of satire and wit.
Tewje è una delle figure più note e più vive della letteratura ebraica. Vende latte e latticini di casa in casa, in un distretto russo di fine secolo, ed intrattiene con i suoi clienti un rapporto fatto di riflessioni sagge, di storpiate citazioni bibliche e di comprensione per il dolore altrui. "Piccolo eroe positivo" vive la sua odissea quotidiana a contatto con le brutture della vita e della storia, che è quella della diaspora ebraica ma anche quella dell'uomo contemporaneo di fronte al disordine che lo circonda. Eppure Tewje non si scoraggia e affronta con humor arguto tutte le difficoltà, forte di uno stoicismo che trova nel senso comico la sua grande forza. Con prefazione di Gad Lerner.
Inside Kasrilevke is full of the special magic of Sholom Aleichem: the clear view, the kind of knowing that would break the spirit if it were not reported with a wry smile and a loving heart. It is written in the form of a guidebook to the author's small, legendary home town, revisited after years in the great world. The growing town has streetcars ("Where do we start?" "Today"). It has hotels ("But if it isn't just so, don't blame me"). It has restaurants, bars, a theater ("The one and only Adler from America"). But before these monstrous modernities befell the author, they had befallen the townspeople themselves, whose survival had come to depend on an indignant acceptance of indignity from fellow man and, let it be whispered, from God Himself. Ben Shahn's delightful drawings are not mere illustrations of incidents and a way of life; the people of the town are realized and project themselves off the page.