Between Revolution and Slumber: Yiddish Writers, Utopian Ideology, and the Kibbutz

Join us for a lecture in Yiddish by Dr. Adi Mahalel (Harvard University), accompanied by slides in English and Yiddish and followed by an English Q&A. This program is presented in partnership with the Chicago YIVO Society.

Hanan Ayalti and Yosl Birshteyn, two Yiddish writers whose lives sometimes ran parallel and other times diverged sharply, had something particular in common: They are the only Yiddish writers to devote a whole novel or large parts of one to the theme of the kibbutz. Through a comparative analysis of Ayalti’s Boom and Chains (“Bum” un keytn, 1936) and Birshteyn’s On Narrow Sidewalks (Oyf shmale trotuarn, 1958)—both of which are based on their authors’ own experiences of living on kibbutzes—Dr. Mahalel will discuss the concept of anti-utopian writing while shedding light on the turbulence of Yiddish political culture before and after the second world war and the founding of the state of Israel. 

Please register in advance and bring a state- or federally-issued photo ID for check-in in the 150 N. Michigan building lobby. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Adi Mahalel teaches Yiddish Studies at Harvard University. He earned his PhD from Columbia University and is the author of The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism (SUNY Press) and the translation and scholarly introduction of Hanan Ayalti’s Boom and Chains: A Yiddish Novel Set in Israel/Palestine (Wayne State University Press). Adi is a scholar of modern Jewish cultures whose areas of interest include modern Hebrew and Yiddish literatures, Jewish cultures in modern times, and the crossroads between culture and politics. He has published articles and translations on these subjects in Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, and has taught at Columbia University, the University of Maryland, McGill University, and the YIVO Institute in New York.