The Poetry of Dovid Hofshteyn
Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (Must register with valid university email address)
This is a live, online course held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, assignments, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.
Instructor: Eugene Orenstein
Who should take this course?
This course is appropriate for Yiddish students at the high intermediate/low advanced level.
Course Description:
Dovid Hofshteyn (1889-1952) was one of the most remarkable of the modern Yiddish poets, and of the Soviet Yiddish poets in particular, because of the great range of his European cultural knowledge along with the depth of his knowledge of Hebrew literature and medieval Hebrew poetry. Hofshteyn’s poetry displays a sophisticated intertwining of German, Ukrainian, and Russian literary traditions with biblical and modern Jewish influences. We will analyze selected texts in order to appreciate the genius of his poetics and the synthesis of his Jewishness and universalism.
די פּאָעזיע פֿון דוד האָפֿשטײן
דוד האָפֿשטײן (1889־1952) איז געװען אײנער פֿון די מערקװירדיקסטע מאָדערנע ייִדישע פּאָעטן בכּלל און פֿון די סאָװעטיש־ייִדישע בפֿרט צוליב דעם גרױסן פֿאַרנעם פֿון זײַן אײראָפּעיִשער קולטור און, גלײַכצײַטיק, זײַן בקיאות אין תּנ״ך און אין דער מיטל־עלטערישער העברעיִשער פּאָעזיע. האָפֿשטײנס פּאָעזיע שטעלט מיט זיך פֿאָר אַ ראַפֿינירטן צונױפֿפֿלעכט פֿון דײַטשישע, אוקראַיִנישע און רוסישע ליטעראַרישע טראַדיציעס מיט תּנכישע און מאָדערנע ייִדישע השפּעות. מיר װעלן אַנאַליזירן געקליבענע טעקסטן כּדי אָפּצושאַצן זײַן פּאָעטישע נאָװאַטאָרישקײט און דעם סינטעז פֿון זײַן ייִדישקײט און אוניװערסאַליזם.
Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.
Course Materials:
All course materials will be provided by the instructor digitally via Canvas, including the Soviet Yiddish literature anthology A shpigl oyf a shteyn, which is the primary text for this course. It is recommended that students purchase a hard copy of A shpigl oyf a shteyn if they are able (Purchase). If no more copies are available, please email jstauber@yivo.org about purchasing the book through YIVO.
Other texts for this class include:
- Jordan Finkin, “The Consolation of Sadness: The Curious Exile of Dovid Hofshteyn’s ‘Troyer’, Leket (Yiddish Studies Today), Volume 1, 2012, pp. 91-107. (Link)
- Feige Hofstein, Mit libe un veytik: vegn Dovid Hofshteyn, (Tel-Aviv: Reshafim, 1985). (Link)
- Brett Winestock, “Museums of Shame: Dovid Hofshteyn’s Vision of Holocaust Remembrance,” ZfL Blog, 2022. (Link)
Eugene Orenstein taught Modern Jewish History for 39 years in the Department of Jewish Studies at McGill University with particular emphasis on the Jewish labor and socialist movement in Eastern Europe and North America and the development of modern Yiddish culture. He is an author of numerous publications including bio-bibliographical studies in Der leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur (“Biographical Dictionary of Modern Yiddish Literature”). Eugene has been teaching Yiddish at various intensive Summer Programs including YIVO and Tel-Aviv.
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