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Hardcover, $36.00
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PROLETPEN,
America’s Rebel Yiddish Poets
Edited
by Amelia Glaser and David Weintraub
Out of tumultuous
political times facing the United States in the first half of
the last century, a vast treasure chest of poetry blossomed, developed
by working class poets during the 1920’s through the 1950’s,
better known as the PROLETPEN. These
poets wrote exclusively in Yiddish depicting working class conditions
in the sweatshops, attacks on freedom of expression during the
world wars, labor unrest in the nation’s heartland, and
the early battles of the civil rights movement. They also wrote
about nature, love and more. The passion and vibrancy of their
poetry depicted with beauty and fervor created an enthusiastic
following unparalleled for American poetry. Their poetry inspired
music, art and helped to further the cause for civil rights.
Published
in Yiddish and English for the first time are poems about Saco
and Vanzetti, the Scottsboro Boys, sweatshop conditions, the
Spanish-Civil War and much more. This is a “must have”
collection for anyone interested in Yiddish literature, American
poetry, U.S. history or a perspective not found in any other
anthology that includes Yiddish poetry. This volume begins to
put back into Yiddish letters what had been left out for too
many years.
University
of Wisconsin Press, 2005
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