The man who would become S. An-sky ethnographer, war
correspondent, author of the best-known Yiddish play, "The Dybbuk"
was born Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport in 1863, in Russia s Pale of
Settlement. His journey from the streets of Vitebsk to the center
of modern Yiddish and Hebrew theater, by way of St. Petersburg,
Paris, and war-torn Austria-Hungry, was both extraordinary and in
some ways typical: Marc Chagall, another child of Vitebsk, would
make a similar transit a generation later. Like Chagall, An-sky was
loyal to multiple, conflicting Jewish, Russian, and European
identities. And like Chagall, An-sky made his physical and cultural
transience manifest as he drew on Jewish folk culture to create art
that defied nationality.
Leaving Vitebsk at seventeen, An-sky forged a number of
apparently contradictory paths. A witness to peasant poverty,
pogroms, and war, he tried to rescue the vestiges of disappearing
communities even while fighting for reform. A loner addicted to
reinventing himself at times a Russian laborer, a radical orator, a
Jewish activist, an ethnographer of Hasidism, a wartime relief
worker An-sky saw himself as a savior of the people s culture and
its artifacts. What united the disparate strands of his life was
his eagerness to speak to and for as many people as possible,
regardless of their language or national origin.
In this first full-length biography in English, Gabriella
Safran, using Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and French sources,
recreates this neglected protean figure who, with his passions,
struggles, and art, anticipated the complicated identities of the
European Jews who would follow him.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
