The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

"It Was the Poem Itself": The Aim of Translating Yiddish Poetry

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Richard Fein, poet and translator, discusses his goal when translating Yiddish poetry: to make the poem come alive and work in English. He eschews ascribing any larger purpose of "reviving" Yiddish being part of his work.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Richard Fein.

This excerpt is in English.

Richard Fein was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1929.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"Yiddish Took On a Physicality": Conflicting Associations With Yiddish

3 min 30 sec

"Yiddish Was For Me To Be Born Again": Coming Back to Yiddish

3 min 22 sec

Discovering Yiddish Literature: Aleichem, Glatstein, and Other Yiddish Favorites

5 min 42 sec

Richard Fein Reads "The Northeast Corridor"

3 min 10 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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