“Stories of Exile” Yiddish Literature in Translation & Film Discussions

The Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” is a reading and discussion program designed to engage teens and adults in thinking about experiences of displacement, migration, and diaspora.

Using Yiddish literature as a portal, the “Stories of Exile” Book Group at Rochambeau Library features works in translation that explore narratives which address the notions of homelands, journeys, identity, and belonging. We will conclude with a book that takes place in the mid-20th century by a contemporary writer from a more recent immigrant group.

The discussions started last spring with The Glatstein Chronicles, by Jacob Glatstein, a heavily autobiographical novel about a Polish Jewish immigrant returning to his homeland for the first time after 20 years in America in order to see his dying mother.

The October sessions will focus on a short-story anthology, In the Land of the Postscript, by Chava Rosenfarb, and the movie Enemies: A Love Story, based on the book by I.B. Singer, about a Holocaust survivor living in New York City. Please watch the movie at home and we will discuss it together on October 17.

In November, we will discuss On the Landing, by Yenta Mash, and the final book, The Namesake, by Jumpa Lahiri, which portrays a family of first and second generation Americans from India. All three books, as well as the movie, address issues of identity, assimilation, and remembering and forgetting the past.

All sessions will take place 2- 3:30 pm. The schedule is as follows:

 October 3- In the Land of the Postscript

October 17- Discussion of Enemies: A Love Story (watch at home)

November 7- On the Landing

November 21- The Namesake

 Please register at rocadults@clpvd.org.

 You can pick up copies of On the Landing and In the Land of the Postscript, at the Reference Desk at Rochambeau Library. Those titles, as well as The Namesake, are also available as eBooks on Hoopla, which is available free through the Library. The movie Enemies: A Love Story, can be requested on DVD from the Library or streamed on Kanopy, also free through the Library, but you must set up an account with your Library card number and password.

Visit the Yiddish Book Center online for more information on “Stories of Exile” and the many online resources available for free, such as oral histories.