Contemporary Jewish Writing in Poland: An Anthology (Jewish Writing in the Contemporary World) - Hardcover

"For the non-Polish reader, the superb introduction alone makes the book worthwhile. The editors, Brandeis professor Antony Polonsky and University of Lublin professor Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, have included a number of Polish Jewish writers who wrote in Polish and dealt with Jewish topics. Although several writers, including Ida Fink, left Poland, most stayed. Some, such as Stryjkowski and Adolph Rudnicki, had begun to write before the war. Like Ms. Krall and Michal Grynberg, others were children or adolescents during the Holocaust. All these writers take a hard and realistic look at Polish-Jewish relations during the war and give readers vital insight into the psychological dilemma of being a Jew in postwar Poland."-Forward * Forward * "The motif of silence that runs through many of the pieces is in keeping with the paradoxical nature of the book: the writers do after all speak, mute of the spoken but not of the written word. The translations are uniformly lucid and graceful, and the lengthy introduction provides a valuable frame to the book."-Choice * Choice * "An important series of contemporary Jewish writing abroad translated into English."-Library Journal * Library Journal *

Devoted to collecting the finest Jewish writing from around the world, the Jewish Writing in the Contemporary World series consists of anthologies, by country, that are designed to present to the English-speaking world authors and works deserving international consideration. As a series, the books permit a broad examination of the international crosscurrents in Jewish thought and culture. Contemporary Jewish Writing in Poland brings together the works of a broad range of modern Jewish writers, most of whom remained in Poland after the Second World War. Although the Nazi genocide wiped out nearly all of the Jewish population in the country, the aftermath of the war has not stifled Jewish writing in Poland but has given it a different direction. A complex body of literature describes Jewish life before the war, documents the Holocaust, and wrestles with its legacy-particularly the difficulties of living in a country where it occurred.