Poets of Pain and Passion

Like winds of the autumn, your lives’ Withered melodies chase after me. Kadye Molodowsky, Tr. K. Hellerstein.

In this course, we shall look at the work of two great poets, Kadya Molodowsky and Anna Margolin, who forged new paths for women in Yiddish literature. While examining their work, we shall see how they addressed topics that are personal, political and sometimes uniquely Jewish. We shall also see how they struggled to reconcile the opposing forces of religion and modernity that vied for their souls. (The course will be conducted in Yiddish)