Pioneers: A Tale of Russian-Jewish Life in the 1880s

by S. A. An-sky, Michael R. Katz (Translator)

Overview

S. A. An-sky's novel dramatizes the dilemmas of Jewish young people in late Tsarist Russia as they strive to throw off their traditional religious upbringing to adopt a secular and modern identity. The action unfolds in the town of M. in the Pale of Settlement, where an engaging cast of characters wrestles with cultural and social issues. Their exploits culminate in helping a young Jewish woman evade an arranged marriage and a young Russian woman leave home so she can pursue her studies at a European university. This startling novel reveals the tensions and triumphs of coming of age in a revolutionary time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253012098
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	02/27/2014
Series:	Jewish Literature and Culture Series
Pages:	164
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

S. A. An-sky, pseudonym of Shloyme-Zanvl Rapoport (1863-1920), was a Russian Jewish writer, ethnographer, and cultural and political activist. He is best known today for his play The Dybbuk.

Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He is author of Dreams and the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction and is translator of a dozen Russian novels, including works by Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Note on Translation

List of Principal Characters

Pioneers

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

"Pioneers demonstrates An-sky's sharp eye for detail, his clear gaze–frankly sympathetic though often ironic—at these provincial Jews . . . This book is unique in offering in English this sort of picture of the experiences of an important generation of Russian Jews. . . . A unique work of art and an important document of its time."

Brian Horowitz]]>

Katz has done a fine job preserving the multi-lingual environment and conveying the speech of those heder boys now turned into messengers of enlightenment and radicalism . . . pulling from his translator's toolbox the appropriate instrument to render into English the twang of the Russian-Yiddish-Hebrew creole.

Gabriella Safran]]>

Pioneers demonstrates An-sky's sharp eye for detail, his clear gaze–frankly sympathetic though often ironic—at these provincial Jews . . . This book is unique in offering in English this sort of picture of the experiences of an important generation of Russian Jews. . . . A unique work of art and an important document of its time.

Gabriella Safran

Pioneers demonstrates An-sky's sharp eye for detail, his clear gaze–frankly sympathetic though often ironic—at these provincial Jews . . . This book is unique in offering in English this sort of picture of the experiences of an important generation of Russian Jews. . . . A unique work of art and an important document of its time.

Brian Horowitz

Katz has done a fine job preserving the multi-lingual environment and conveying the speech of those heder boys now turned into messengers of enlightenment and radicalism . . . pulling from his translator's toolbox the appropriate instrument to render into English the twang of the Russian-Yiddish-Hebrew creole.

Editorial Reviews

"An-sky brilliantly captures a week in the life of young Jewish intellectuals fleeing their tiny villages to find the possibility of personal growth in larger towns where the enlightenment has begun to work its way."—Jewish Book Council

"Michael R. Katz's translation renders another Russian literary gem into fluid and lively English. . . . The publication of Pioneers in English . . . appears at an auspicious moment, for readers today may be more receptive than ever to narratives that convey the richness, complexity, and diversity of Jewish life in times of dynamic and decisive change."—Marginalia

"Katz has done a fine job preserving the multi-lingual environment and conveying the speech of those heder boys now turned into messengers of enlightenment and radicalism . . . pulling from his translator's toolbox the appropriate instrument to render into English the twang of the Russian-Yiddish-Hebrew creole."—Brian Horowitz, author of Empire Jews: Jewish Nationalism and Acculturation in 19th- and Early 20th-Century Russia

"Pioneers demonstrates An-sky's sharp eye for detail, his clear gaze–frankly sympathetic though often ironic—at these provincial Jews . . . This book is unique in offering in English this sort of picture of the experiences of an important generation of Russian Jews. . . . A unique work of art and an important document of its time."—Gabriella Safran, author of Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk's Creator, S. An-sky

From the Publisher

Michael R. Katz's translation renders another Russian literary gem into fluid and lively English. . . . The publication of Pioneers in English . . . appears at an auspicious moment, for readers today may be more receptive than ever to narratives that convey the richness, complexity, and diversity of Jewish life in times of dynamic and decisive change.

Marginalia

An-sky brilliantly captures a week in the life of young Jewish intellectuals fleeing their tiny villages to find the possibility of personal growth in larger towns where the enlightenment has begun to work its way.

Jewish Book Council

"Pioneers demonstrates An-sky's sharp eye for detail, his clear gaze–frankly sympathetic though often ironic--at these provincial Jews... This book is unique in offering in English this sort of picture of the experiences of an important generation of Russian Jews.... A unique work of art and an important document of its time." —Gabriella Safran, author of Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk's Creator, S. An-sky

Gabriella Safran

"Katz has done a fine job preserving the multi-lingual environment and conveying the speech of those heder boys now turned into messengers of enlightenment and radicalism... pulling from his translator's toolbox the appropriate instrument to render into English the twang of the Russian-Yiddish-Hebrew creole." —Brian Horowitz, author of Empire Jews: Jewish Nationalism and Acculturation in 19th- and Early 20th-Century Russia

Brian Horowitz