Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
In Geveb; a Journal of Yiddish Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2020) 8 pp.
Keywords:
Sholem Aleichem,
;
Yiddish fiction History and criticism
;
Jewish women in literature
;
Love in literature
;
Sex role in literature
Abstract:
This article examines the representation of gendered approaches to emotive expression and love in Sholem Aleichem’s 1888 novel Stempenyu. In the novel, Sholem Aleichem demonstrates a sensitivity to the different ways in which men and women could express themselves. The novel also shows Sholem Aleichem’s artistic and ideological conservatism. Despite offering forays into the possibilities of romantic love, the novel ultimately questions the possibility of a Jewish woman escaping the arranged marriage. The male protagonist seemingly has access to a broader range of expression and experience, but he is still restricted within the confines of Yiddish. Even so, he can transcend these limitations through pre-linguistic or extra-linguistic forms of expression, such as music. In traditional Jewish society, both men and women had to struggle to express their inner world to its full extent, but the communicative possibilities open to a man were infinitely more variegated than those available to a woman.
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