Articles

Examining Rose Shomer Bachelis and Miriam Shomer Zunser in the context of their famous shund-writing family, this article argues that their operetta “Der liebes tants” -- a love triangle with an Apache dance motif -- should be read against the grain to emphasize the importance of sisterhood.

Apr 21, 2023

As the opening of the special issue on shund theater, this introduction situates the four articles and two translations in the history of the study of shund.

Apr 21, 2023

While Hebrew cultural discourse tended to treat Yiddish theatre as a kind of “outside” culture, light entertainment shows in Yiddish reveal close engagement with the central icons and themes of Israeli society.

Apr 21, 2023

The case study of Yente Telebende is merely one example of popular Yiddish culture — theater, pulp fiction, and newspapers — that strove for commercial success by appealing to the tastes of its audience, shaped by American culture’s vocabulary and images of Blackness.

Apr 21, 2023

From the 1920s until the 1950s, Yiddish Buenos Aires hosted a thriving theatrical landscape. Critics complained that the public’s adoration of “stars” propelled a preponderance of shund at the expense of “better” (literary) plays.

May 02, 2021

Hertz Grosbard’s “word concerts” were an embodiment of “Jewspeak,” performances that sought to give life to the Yiddish literary tradition.

Jun 23, 2020