Sonia Gollance

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

From the Jewish Provinces is a valuable and highly readable addition to Yiddish literature in translation.

Dec 15, 2022

Faith Jones’ analysis of the strategies used to suppress Yiddish women’s writing (based on Joanna Russ’s 1983 essay) help us understand the ways that Tea Arciszewska’s male contemporaries all too often belittled and dismissed her contributions.

Jun 02, 2022

This essay offers for the first time infor­ma­tion ver­i­fied by our own comedic sensibilities about Shomer Aleichem’s significant and influential corpus.

Mar 16, 2022

Yiddish literature abounds with #MeToo moments — representations of sexual exploitation and misconduct. If our list here, which is by no means complete or exhaustive, uncovered so many troubling scenes, how many more of these scenes unsettle Yiddish literature as a whole? And what does the proliferation of such scenes tell us about the role these dynamics played in the lives of Yiddish speakers –– what they expected from, feared, or experienced in the workplace?

Nov 02, 2021

A tour through the more surprising moments of mixed dancing in Yiddish literature, from dancing with the dead to dancing with a pickle.

Jun 01, 2021

On Wednesday, February 26, President Joseph R. Biden announced in a press briefing that he will be hosting Asch Wednesday 2022 at the White House.

Feb 25, 2021

Nineteenth-century German attitudes toward Jewish speech are a powerful way to understand the pervasiveness and normalization of antisemitism in German society even at a time when genocide was unthinkable. 

Jun 17, 2019

A sweatshop worker finds temporary respite from reality at a relative's wedding.

Dec 03, 2017

Gollance reconsiders Fradel Shtok’s oeuvre and literary reception in the context of her translation of Shtok’s short story “A tants” (A dance).

Dec 03, 2017

Austrian shepherd Hans Breuer on driving refugees across the border, and getting famous for singing Yiddish songs. 

Feb 23, 2016

At Yiddish academic conferences in Israel, English is often the language of scholarship and conversation. Why? 

Nov 10, 2015