The National Yiddish Book Center announced today its list of "The 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature," an initiative to identify and promote the most notable Jewish writing of the past one hundred and fifty years.
The list of books includes Jewish literature in all languages and will serve as a "re-definition of the Jewish canon," according to Book Center founder and president Aaron Lansky. "With this list," says Lansky, "we can begin to enrich Jewish education and Jewish creativity at every level."
The books were selected by a distinguished international panel of judges assembled by the Center, including Glenda Abramson of Oxford University; Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley; Hillel Halkin of Zichron Ya-akov, Israel; Gerson Shaked of Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times; Ilan Stavans of Amherst College; and Ruth Wisse of Harvard University.
"The need for the program arose out of our conviction that American Jews have failed to embrace modern Jewish writing -- the tens of thousands of novels, stories, plays, poetry and memoirs that have chronicled the transformation of Jewish life, from the old world to the new," Lansky explains. "Our goal is to carry the Jewish story forward -- from the Torah, Talmud and other traditional texts to the Jewish literature of our own time."
The list was developed over the past two years, with the judges working from an initial compilation of nearly 600 titles, plus recommendations by a group of distinguished nominators. Criteria for selection included intrinsic literary merit as well as Jewish authorship and explicit treatment of Jewish experience or sensibility. The judges evaluated each book for its theme and subject, the quality of writing, the depth of ideas, and its place in the Jewish canon.
Famous and widely read titles take their place beside lesser-known but equally important works. The list is alphabetical by author and is not ranked. The list includes novels, plays, poetry and memoirs in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, German and other languages.
Criteria for the list are straightforward: a "Jewish book" is defined as one that is written by a Jewish author and that elucidates Jewish experience or sensibility. "Modern" has been defined to include works written from the Enlightenment of the late-eighteenth century to the present. These definitions enabled the judges to select books from a field of brilliant authors, ranging from the grandfather of Yiddish literature, Mendele Moykher Sforim, to contemporary masters such as Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick, and Philip Roth.
Starting in January 2002, the Center will launch an outreach-and- distribution program for the books selected. Plans include:
commissioning new English translations (in collaboration with the Fund for the Translation of Jewish Literature and Yale University Press)
an online book club, "The Jewish Reader," that each month will read, study and discuss a book from the list
a symposium on April 23 in New York City at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater next to Symphony Space
promoting selected titles through live readings, radio productions, and books-on-tape
reissuing out-of-print Jewish books through the Center's Steven Spielberg Digital Library
The Center will also develop educational initiatives based on the books, in order to enhance the curricula of Jewish day schools, Hebrew schools, public schools, and adult education. Says Lansky, "The list is only the beginning -- the start of a whole new effort to strengthen knowledge and understanding among the American Jewish population, and beyond."
Funding for the Greatest Works project was provided by The Kaplen Foundation of Tenafly, NJ, with additional support from Jack and Bernice Hoffinger of New York City.
About the National Yiddish Book Center
The National Yiddish Book Center is a vibrant, non-profit organization working to rescue Yiddish and other modern Jewish books and celebrate the culture they contain. Since 1980, it has rescued 1.5 million Yiddish books and distributed them to libraries and individuals worldwide. Supported by 30,000 members, it is now the largest and fastest-growing Jewish cultural organization in America. The National Yiddish Book Center was founded in 1980 by Aaron Lansky, who received a MacArthur Fellowship for his work and who continues to lead the organization as its president.
The list, annotated and accompanied by essays written by members of the selection committee, is published in the new issue of Pakn Treger, the Center's English-language magazine.
The 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature
Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler by S.Y. Abramovitch (1869)
The Nag by S.Y. Abramovitch
Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve by Dannie Abse (1954)
A Guest for the Night by S.Y. Agnon (1939)
A Simple Story by S.Y. Agnon (1935)
Only Yesterday (Tmol shilshom, 1945) S.Y. Agnon
The Joy of the Poor by Nathan Alterman (1941)
Selected Poetry by Yehuda Amichai
Pioneers (Pionern, 1904-05) S. An-ski
The Dybbuk by S. An-ski (1911)
The Age of Wonders (Tor hapelaot, 1978) Aharon Appelfeld
Salvation by Sholem Asch (1934)
Collected Stories by Isaac Babel
The First Day and Other Stories by Dvora Baron (2001)
The Garden of the Finzi-Contini (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, 1962) Giorgio Bassani
Feathers (Notzot, 1979) Haim Be’er
Herzog by Saul Bellow (1964)
Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow (1970)
Selected Stories Michah Yosef Berdichevsky
Descent (Opgang, 1920) David Bergelson
Selected Poems H.N. Bialik
Breakdown and Bereavement (Shekhol vekishalon, 1920) Joseph Hayyim Brenner
The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan (1917)
The Memoirs (1977-1986) Elias Canetti
Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan (2000)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)
Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen (1968)
Tales in Praise of the Baal Shem Tov (Shivkhei Ha-Besht, 1814) Dov Ber of Linitz
Whither? (Lean, 1927) Mordecai Ze’ev Feierberg
Jud Süss (1925) Leon Feuchtwanger
The Journey by Ida Fink (1990)
The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Williamsburg Trilogy by Daniel Fuchs (1961)
The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas (Los gauchos judios, 1940) Alberto Gerchunoff
The Things We Used to Say (Lessico famigliare, 1963) Natalia Ginzburg
Selected Poems of Jacob Glatstein
Next To (Etzel, 1913) Uri Nisan Gnessin
The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner by Isaac Goldemberg (1978)
The Yeshiva (Tsemakh Atlas, 1967) Chaim Grade
Selected Poetry Uri Zevi Greenberg
See Under: Love by David Grossman(1986)
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman(1980)
The Victory by Henryk Grynberg (1969)
Selected Poems Moishe Leib Halpern
The Dweller in Gardens (Yoshevet baganim, 1943) Hayim Hazaz
Jewish Stories and Hebrew Melodies (1987) Heinrich Heine
Heschel’s Kingdom (1999) Dan Jacobson
The Castle by Franz Kafka
(1926)Collected Stories by Franz Kafka
The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)
A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin (1951)
Fateless by Imre Kertesz (1975)
The Second Scroll by A.M. Klein (1951)
Zelmenyaner (1928) Moyshe Kulbak
Hebrew Ballads and Other Poems (1902-1939) Else Lasker-Schüler
The Golem (Der Goylem, 1919) H. Leivick
If This Is a Man (Se questo e un uomo, 1946) [Survival in Auschwitz] Primo Levi
The Complete Stories by Bernard Malamud (1997)
Khumesh Lider and Selected Poems by Itzik Manger
Selected Poetry Peretz Markish
The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi (1953)
Victoria by Sami Michael (1993)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (1949)
Paper Bridges by Kadya Molodowsky (2000)
The Tales (Mayses, 1815) Nachman of Bratslav
The Family Mashber (Di mishpokhe mashber, 1939; 1943) Der Nister
Unto Death (Ad mavet, 1971) Amos Oz
The Pagan Rabbi by Cynthia Ozick (1971)
Selected Poetry of Dan Pagis (1989)
Collected Stories of Grace Paley
(1994)Selected Stories of I.L. Peretz
Revealer of Secrets (Megale temirin, 1819) Joseph Perl
Selected Poems Rakhel
Blood from the Sky (Le sang du ciel, 1961) Piotr Rawicz
Collected Poems (1937) Isaac Rosenberg
Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (1934)
Leviathan (Der Leviathan, 1940) Joseph Roth
The Counterlife by Philip Roth (1986)
Patrimony by Philip Roth (1991)
The Street of Crocodiles (Sklepy cynamonowe, 1934) Bruno Schulz
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938) Delmore Schwartz
The Centaur in the Garden (1980) Moacyr Scliar
Past Continuous (Zikhron Devarim, 1977) Yaakov Shabtai
The Blue Mountain (Roman rusi, 1988) Meir Shalev
The Jewish Government and Other Stories (1971) Lamed Shapiro
Menakhem-Mendl and Mottel Peyse the Cantor’s Son (Menakhem-Mendl, Mottel Peyse dem khazns, 1909) Sholem Aleichem
Tevye the Dairyman (Tevye der milkhiger, 1895-1914) Sholem Aleichem
Fables (Mesholim, 1932) Eliezer Shteynbarg
The Brothers Ashkenazi (Di brider ashkenazi, 1937) I.J. Singer
Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1935)
The Collected Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1953)
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman (1986)
As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (1939)
The Collected Poems of Abraham Sutzkever (1991)
Selected Poems Saul Tchernikhovsky
The Investigation (Die Ermittlung, 1965) Peter Weiss
Night by Elie Wiesel (1958)
Five Seasons (Molkho, 1987) A.B. Yehoshua
The Days of Ziklag (Yemei Ziklag, 1958) S. Yizhar
Selected Poetry Natan Zakh