Between Two Worlds : Evening Book Club

The book club will discuss The Zelmenyaners by Moyshe Kulbak, a classic of Yiddish literature and one of the great comic novels of the twentieth century. The Zelmenyaners describes the travails of a Jewish family in Minsk in the late 1920s and early 1930s as the family adapts to the new Soviet reality.  We are reading the translation by Hillel Halkin.

Four generations are depicted in riveting and often uproarious detail as they face the profound changes brought on by the demands of the Soviet regime and its collectivist, radical secularism. The resultant intergenerational showdowns—including disputes over the introduction of electricity, radio, or electric trolley—are rendered with humor, pathos, and a finely controlled satiric pen. 

Newcomers are welcome to attend the book club.  The group is moderated by a librarian and copies of the book are available at the front desk.  Light refreshments will be served at this meeting.

This event is presented as part of the Yiddish Book Center's Public Libraries Program, a partnership with the American Library Association. Made possible by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.