Awards

• Commended for National Jewish Book Award (Biography/Autobiography) 2013

Overview

The first comprehensive biography of one of the most beloved authors of all time- the creator of Tevye the Dairyman, the stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof. Part of the Jewish Encounters series The first comprehensive biography of one of the most beloved authors of all time- the creator of Tevye the Dairyman, the collection of stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof. Novelist, playwright, journalist, essayist, and editor, Sholem Aleichem was one of the founding giants of modern Yiddish literature. The creator of a pantheon of characters who have been immortalized in books and plays, he provided readers throughout the world with a fascinating window into the world of Eastern European Jews as they began to confront the forces of cultural, political, and religious modernity that tore through the Russian Empire in the final decades of the nineteenth century. But just as compelling as the fictional lives of Tevye, Golde, Menakhem-Mendl, and Motl was Sholem Aleichem's own life story. Born Sholem Rabinovich in Ukraine in 1859, he endured an impoverished childhood, married into fabulous wealth, and then lost it all through bad luck and worse business sense. Turning to his pen to support himself, he switched from writing in Russian and Hebrew to Yiddish, in order to create a living body of literature for the Jewish masses. He enjoyed spectacular success as both a writer and a performer of his work throughout Europe and the United States, and his death in 1916 was front-page news around the world; a New York Times editorial mourned the loss of ""the Jewish Mark Twain."" But his greatest fame lay ahead of him, as the English-speaking world began to discover his work in translation and to introduce his characters to an audience that would extend beyond his wildest dreams. In Jeremy Dauber's magnificent biography, we encounter a Sholem Aleichem for the ages. (With 16 pages of black-and-white illustrations)

Full Product Details

Author:   Jeremy Dauber
Publisher:   Schocken Books
Imprint:   Schocken Books
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 22.10cm
Weight:   0.706kg
ISBN:  

9780805242782

ISBN 10:   0805242783
Pages:   464
Publication Date:   08 October 2013
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Overture: In Which We Set the Stage Act I. The Youth 1. In Which We Begin Near the Very End (1915-1859) 2. In Which Our Hero Is Born, Spends His Early Years, and Faces Personal Tragedy (1859-1872) 3. In Which Our Hero Gets-and Gives-an Education (1872-1877) 4. In Which Our Hero Suffers the Ecstasies and Agonies of Love (1877-1880) 5. In Which Our Hero Finds the Two Loves of His Life (1881-1884) Act II. The Man of Business 6. In Which Our Hero Gains a Fortune, and an Enemy (1884-1887) 7. In Which Our Hero Publishes a Trial, and Endures the Trials of Publishing (1888) 8. In Which Our Hero, Writing About an Artist, Becomes One (1888) 9. In Which Our Hero Loves His People, Mourns His Father, and Dreams of Zion (1888-1890) 10. In Which Our Hero Loses His Fortune and Gains His First Great Character (1890-1894) 11. In Which Our Hero Meets a Dairyman (1894) Act III. The Spokesman 12. In Which Our Hero Returns to Zion and Other Old Preoccupations (1895-1899) 13. In Which Our Hero Reads the Newspapers in Yiddish and Becomes a Media Star (1899-1903) 14. In Which Our Hero Spends the Holidays with Us, Visits a Town He Has Created, and Fails to Get a Word in Edgewise (1900-1907) 15. In Which Our Hero Confronts Pogroms and Politics (1900-1905) 16. In Which Our Hero Gets Caught Up in Someone Else's Solution (1902-1905) 17. In Which Our Hero Suffers a Revolution and Makes a Decision (1905) Act IV. The Wanderer 18. In Which Our Hero Takes Longer Than He Thought (1905-1906) 19. In Which Our Hero Enters, and Exits, a New Stage (1906-1907) 20. In Which Our Hero Has Joyous Meetings and Tragic Partings, and Seeks a Buried Treasure (1907-1908) 21. In Which Our Hero Falls Ill (1908) 22. In Which Our Hero Rides the Rails, and Returns to the Stage (1909) 23. In Which Our Hero Looks Backward (1909-1911) 24. In Which Our Hero Fights Back Against Libels of a Frivolous and Tragic Nature, and Encounters His Alternate Selves (1911-1913) 25. In Which Our Hero Adapts (1913-1914) Act V. The Old Man 26. In Which Our Hero Sees War and Warsaw (1914) 27. In Which Our Hero Makes His Farewells to His Vanished World, and Feels the Pain of Children (1914-1916) 28. In Which Our Hero's Story Comes to an End, and a Beginning (1915-1916) Epilogue: An Afterlife in Ten Scenes Scene 1. New York/Washington, 1916 Scene 2. New York/London, 1912-1922 Scene 3. The Soviet Union, 1921-1929 Scene 4. New York, 1917-1939 Scene 5. Vilna, 1942 Scene 6. New York, 1943 Scene 7. New York, 1949-1959 Scene 8. New York, 1962-1964 Scene 9. Everywhere, 1964-2005 Scene 10. The Cloud, 2013 Acknowledgments Bibliographical Notes Index

Reviews

Dauber brings to his task a comprehensive knowledge not only of Sholem Aleichem's life but also of the contexts--historical and literary--in which he wrote and thrived. His prose is swift, clean, and clear, and the portrait that emerges is sharply focused. <br> -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)<br> <br> Sholem Aleichem invented Tevye and his daughters, but if you think Fiddler on the Roof is the only reason we should remember him, just wait until you read The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem . In a warm and witty style suited to his subject, Dauber tells the story of the writer known as the 'Yiddish Mark Twain' and shows why Sholem Aleichem is one of the most important figures in modern Jewish culture. His story encompasses riches and poverty, revolution and emigration, Russia and America, literature and theater and journalism---all the opportunities and pressures of Jewish life in the modern world. This is the major biography Sholem Aleichem deserves. <br> --Adam Kirsch, author of Why Trilling Matters

Author Information

JEREMY DAUBERis a professor of Yiddish literature at Columbia University, where he also serves as director of its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and teaches in the American Studies program. His previous books include In the Demon's Bedroom- Yiddish Literature and the Early Modern and Antonio's Devils- Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature. He lives in New York City.

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