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COMPLIT 106 /  YIDDISH 115 – The Yiddish Short Story: Folk Tales, Monologues, and Post-Apocalyptic Parables

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COMPLIT 106 /  YIDDISH 115 – The Yiddish Short Story: Folk Tales, Monologues, and Post-Apocalyptic Parables

Semester: Spring
Offered: 2024
Instructor: Saul Zaritt
Meeting Time: F 9:45am – 11:45am

Who are the storytellers of Yiddish literature? Where did their stories come from? Why did the short story become the central genre of modern Jewish literary culture? This course explores the genealogy of the Yiddish short story from the hasidic folk tale to the modernist sketch, from the monologues of Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer to the haunting narratives of David Bergelson and Der Nister. Stretching from the nineteenth century to the present, we follow the short story in its comparative contexts from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, Palestine/Israel, and the US.

Offered jointly with: Faculty of Arts & Sciences as YIDDISH 115.

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.