The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century

A vivid portrait of nineteenth‑century Yiddish literature unfolds through the eyes of a devoted collector who set out in 1898 to map a world that had long been scattered and under‑documented. His journey takes him from the bustling bookstalls of Warsaw to the dim cellars of Moscow’s libraries, from the scholarly halls of Oxford to the hidden shelves of St. Petersburg, meeting the era’s writers and rescuing rare volumes along the way.

The narrative blends travelogue with scholarly investigation, revealing how pseudonyms, missing catalogues, and even theft have clouded the record of this vibrant literary tradition. Listeners will hear stories of aging poets, lively literary societies, and the painstaking work of piecing together a fragmented bibliography. By the end of the first act, the groundwork is laid for a deeper understanding of the writers, newspapers, and cultural forces that shaped Yiddish prose and poetry before the turn of the century.