The Jewish King Lear Comes to America

by Jacob Gordin, Ruth Gay (Translator), Sophie Glazer (Editor)

The Jewish King Lear, written by the Russian-Jewish writer Jacob Gordin, was first performed on the New York stage in 1892, during the height of a massive emigration of Jews from eastern Europe to America. This book presents the original play to the English-speaking reader for the first time in its history, along with substantive essays on the play’s literary and social context, Gordin’s life and influence on Yiddish theater, and the anomalous position of Yiddish culture vis-à-vis the treasures of the Western literary tradition.
Gordin’s play was not a literal translation of Shakespeare’s play, but a modern evocation in which a Jewish merchant, rather than a king, plans to divide his fortune among his three daughters. Created to resonate with an audience of Jews making their way in America, Gordin’s King Lear reflects his confidence in rational secularism and ends on a note of joyful celebration.

Genres: Plays

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2007

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to Yiddish theater in eastern Europe and New York, seen through the prism of the playwright Jacob Gordin and his play "The Jewish King Lear," written in 1891 when it was not unusual to adapt plays from the European repertoire into Yiddish. The play was first performed on the New York stage in 1892, during the height of a massive emigration of Jews from eastern Europe to America.

The setting is the celebration of Purim and the plot shows the shifting of fortune between the older and younger generation, between traditionalism and modernity, between religion and secularism. In Gordin's view, the transition taking place on the stage is also taking place in the audience, as parents are suffering when their children no longer honor them.

Notes by Ruth Gay and Sophie Glazer convey Yiddish secular theater as a thrilling seductive experience, arousing passionate responses from the audience who saw 'realistic' situations portrayed in everyday language and were carried away to another world.

Also described is "Sappho," another play by Gordin, which presents out-of-wedlock pregnancy and a proud statement by the heroine Sophia: "I made a mistake; it is nobody's business; I take full responsibility; if I am to be a mother, I can care for my child by myself; I will be free and honorable in my actions, honorable the way I understand it, not Aunt Frade's way and Uncle Melekh's and all the rest."

In my new novel, I am thinking of showing the impact of Gordin's modern thinking and the spectacle of a riveting performance in the shtetl of Ciechanow, when a play written and first produced in America returns forty years later to its roots in eastern Europe.

[Riri · Rating 4 out of 5]

made me laugh! i support the message of independence and the importance of modern medicine!