Yiddish Literature - Modern Yiddish Literature - Contemporary Writing in Yiddish and Influenced By Yiddish Literature

Contemporary Writing in Yiddish and Influenced By Yiddish Literature

The last prewar European-born writers who are still publishing include the Canadian authors Chava Rosenfarb, Simcha Simchovitch, and Grunia Slutzky-Kohn; the Israeli writers including Tzvi Ayznman, Aleksander Shpiglblat, Rivke Basman Ben-Hayim, Yitzkhok Luden, Mishe Lev, Yente Mash, Tzvi Kanar, Elisheva Kohen-Tsedek and Lev Berinsky; and American poet-songwriter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and poets and prose masters Yonia Fain and Moyshe Szklar (editor of the Los Angeles Yiddish literary periodical Khezhbn) as well as the prolific feuilletonist and playwright Miriam Hoffman. Writers of the "younger" postwar born generation comprising those born in the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s (many hailing from the former Soviet Union) include Alexander Belousov (1948–2004), Mikhoel Felsenbaum, Daniel Galay, Moyshe Lemster, Boris Sandler (current editor of the Yiddish "Forverts" edition of The Forward), Velvl Chernin, Zisye Veytsman, Heershadovid Menkes (pen name of Dovid Katz), and Boris Karloff (pen name of Dov-Ber Kerler, editor of "Yerusholaymer Almanakh"). A younger generation of writers who began to come to the fore in the 21st century includes poets Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub and Yoel Matveyev in the US, Yisroel Nekrasov in Saint Petersburg, Haike Beruriah Wiegand in London, Thomas Soxberger in Vienna, and the prose writers Boris Kotlerman in Israel and Gilles Rozier (editor of "Gilgulim") in Paris. The earlier works of some of the younger generation authors were collected in the anthology "Vidervuks" (regrowth), published in 1989. Recent works of many of contemporary authors appeared in 2008 in Paris (Gilgulim: naye shafungen) and Jerusalem (Yerusholaymer Almanakh). The poet Irena Klepfisz hails from Poland; she now teaches at Barnard.

A new generation of Yiddish writers has emerged from the Hasidic and Haredi movements of contemporary Orthodoxy. The author known only by the pseudonym Katle Kanye writes blistering satire of current halakhic literature as well as poetry and thoughtful commentary on Hasidic life. Another example of a Haredi Yiddish blog-writer is Naturlich. Spy thrillers in Yiddish have become a popular genre within Hasidic communities.

European literatures have had a strong influence on Yiddish literature, but until the late 20th century there was little return flow into English, except through bilingual writers who chose to write in English, such as Anzia Yezierska and Ab Cahan. Currently, many young writers with little knowledge of Yiddish have been influenced by Yiddish literature in translation, such as Nathan Englander and Jonathan Safran Foer. An exception is Dara Horn, who has studied both Yiddish and Hebrew and draws on both of these traditions in her English-language novels.

The last Yiddish language writers in the former Soviet Union were Aleksandr Bejderman in Odessa and Yoysef Burg in Chernivtsi; both have passed.