Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son
Sholem Aleichem, Aliza Shevlin (trs.)
Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son
Tevye is the compassionate, lovable, Bible-quoting dairyman from Anatevka, and Tevye the Dairyman is a heartwarming and poignant account of life in turn-of-the-century Russia. Through the workaday world of a rural dairyman, his grit, wit, and heart, his daughters’ courtships and marriages, and the eventual menace of the pogroms, Sholem Aleichem reveals the fabric of a now-vanished world. Motl is the clear-eyed, spirited, mischievous boy who narrates Motl the Cantor's Son, a comic novel about his emigration with his family from Russia to America. It is a journey that mirrors a larger exodus, telling the story of the disintegration of traditional Jewish life and the beginning of a new chapter of Jewish history in America.
5.0 out of 5 based on 1 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
Classic Fiction |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
416 |
| RRP |
£9.99 |
| Date of Publication |
May 2009 |
| ISBN |
978-0143105602 |
| Publisher |
Penguin Classics |
| |
Tevye is the compassionate, lovable, Bible-quoting dairyman from Anatevka, and Tevye the Dairyman is a heartwarming and poignant account of life in turn-of-the-century Russia. Through the workaday world of a rural dairyman, his grit, wit, and heart, his daughters’ courtships and marriages, and the eventual menace of the pogroms, Sholem Aleichem reveals the fabric of a now-vanished world. Motl is the clear-eyed, spirited, mischievous boy who narrates Motl the Cantor's Son, a comic novel about his emigration with his family from Russia to America. It is a journey that mirrors a larger exodus, telling the story of the disintegration of traditional Jewish life and the beginning of a new chapter of Jewish history in America.
Reviews
The Independent
Boyd Tonkin
“His virtuoso monologues soar way above the cosy folklore and endearing eccentricities of a lost Jewish world. This superb new translation (by Aliza Shevrin) deserves an ovation. Beyond all the wit and charm, the volume (including Aleichem's stories of emigration to the US, Motil the Cantor's Son) depicts Tevye and his kin as torn souls in transit between worlds, not a timeless peasantry.”
26/06/2009
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