WEEKEND PROGRAM | Yiddish Women Writers Reclaimed

Start Date:
End Date:
Location:
Yiddish Book Center
1021 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
United States


With Professor Anita Norich

Registration for this program is closed.

womens writers

Women wrote poems, essays, plays, novels, and every other literary genre known to Yiddish literature. They wrote about love, family, politics, economics, class, sexuality, and the lure of the modern world and its dangers. Perhaps the most surprising thing about their writing is how little of it is known today. 

Join Professor Anita Norich of the University of Michigan for an exploration of Yiddish poetry and prose written by women, and discover how these women claimed a place for themselves as modern Jewish writers. 

LECTURES:

Lecture 1: "Breaking Silences"

Yiddish women writers have been known primarily as poets. Why? What is it about poetry or about Yiddish that has encouraged this view? What else did they write? Often, they wrote about the urge to speak, to be heard, to refuse others’ expectations of them.  

Lecture 2: "What's Love Got to Do with It?"

Women’s writing about love is often—perhaps surprisingly—erotic, unsentimental, addressed to men, women, family, and God. We’ll look at the ways in which women gave voice to their physical and emotional desires in their writing.

Lecture 3: "War and Peace"

Far from writing what some readers have criticized as “domestic” prose and poetry, women confronted the horrifying news about the Holocaust, revolution, and pogroms as these events unfolded. They also wrote about the hopes for peace and how a post-war Jewish world might welcome the survivors and prepare a home for them and for Yiddish.

Lecture 4: "(Jewish) Civilization and Its Discontents"

Writing in a variety of styles and genres ranging from midrash to modernist poetry and prose, women confronted the changes wrought by modernization and immigration. We will consider the ways in which modernity was embraced, questioned, and distanced in these writings.

COST:

$350 for Yiddish Book Center members; $425 for nonmembers. Join or renew your membership now to take advantage of the member discount. Then return here to continue the registration process. Registration closes April 23.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations by April 27, 2018 will be refunded, minus a $30 administration fee per registered participant. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide a refund for cancellations after April 27.

HOTEL INFORMATION:

Due to various university events happening in the Amherst area, hotels tend to fill up quickly, so we encourage you to make arrangements for accommodations as soon as possible. The local Holiday Inn Express (413-582-0002) and Econo Lodge (413-582-7077) are offering our participants discounted rates, pending availability at the time you call.

Please contact these hotels directly and mention that you are part of our event and would like the "Yiddish Book Center rate." If they have availability, they will give you the discounted rate.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

Friday, May 4

5:30 p.m. — Check in

6:00 p.m. — Shabbos dinner

7:30 p.m. — Lecture 1: "Breaking Silences"

Saturday, May 5

10:00 a.m. — Coffee and nosh

10:30 a.m. — Lecture 2: "What's Love Got to Do with It?"

12:00 p.m. — Lunch and free time

2:00 p.m. — Lecture 3: "War and Peace"

3:30 p.m. — Tour the Yiddish Book Center's exhibits and book repositories

4:30 p.m. — Film

6:15 p.m. — Dinner

Sunday, May 6

10:00 a.m. — Coffee and nosh

10:30 a.m. — Lecture 4: "(Jewish) Civilization and Its Discontents"

12:00 p.m. — End of program

The lectures in this weekend program will be filmed and presented online in the future. 

FACULTY BIO:

Anita Norich is the Tikva Frymer-Kensky Collegiate Professor of English and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan.  She is the author of Writing in Tongues: Yiddish Translation in the 20th Century (2013), Discovering Exile: Yiddish and Jewish American Literature in America During the Holocaust (2007), The Homeless Imagination in the Fiction of Israel Joshua Singer (1991); translator of Kadya Molodovsky’s Fun Lublin biz Nyu York (forthcoming); and co-editor of Languages of Modern Jewish Cultures: Comparative Perspectives (2016), Jewish Literatures and Cultures: Context and Intertext (2008), and Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literatures (1992).  She translates Yiddish literature, and teaches, lectures, and publishes on a range of topics concerning modern Jewish cultures, Yiddish language and literature, Jewish American literature, and Holocaust literature.  

Questions? Contact Education Program Assistant Phoenix Wyatt at education@yiddishbookcenter.org or 413-256-4900, ext. 144.

Writing in a variety of styles and genres ranging from midrash to modernist poetry and prose, women confronted the changes wrought by modernization and immigration. We will consider the ways in which modernity was embraced, questioned, and distanced in these writings.

We're sorry, the deadline for buying tickets for this event has passed.