TALES OF MENDELE THE BOOK PEDDLER

by S.Y. Abramovitsh ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

New translations of two flavorful long stories by a classic writer (1836-1917) of Hebrew and Yiddish fiction whose lively tales (written in Yiddish), recounted by the eponymous Mendele, of the hardships endured by members of a Russian shtetl possess much of the comic vitality many will associate with the beloved figure of Tevye the Dairyman--and undoubtedly influenced such now better-known writers as Sholom Aleichem and S.Y. Agnon. ""Fishke the Lame,"" actually a full-length novel, is a sardonic anatomy of a brawling Russian-Jewish community enthralled and unsettled by a pair of comically star-crossed lovers; and ""The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third"" reimagines with agreeable ethnic brio the adventures--and the relationship--of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Both stories are clearly the work of an important and seminal writer.

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Schocken

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION