Yiddish Modernist Manifestos

• In Event: The Social Landscape of Yiddish Literature

Abstract

Jewish modernist aesthetics are multilingual and multinational. Yiddish modernism in particular speaks not only to the surrounding linguistically or culturally dominant creative endeavors (be it Russian, French, Polish or English). By juxtaposing two examples of determined yet fleeting modernist endeavors in Yiddish - the Warsaw ALBATROS and Lodz YUNG YIDDISH - I hope to elucidate not only the Yiddish contribution to European expressionism, futurism and social realism "in general," but also to tease out the relations between these Yiddish modernist circles.

author

• Alexandra Hoffman, University of Michigan