Please register online\, in person or by calling \;330.836.1081. Those who are registered for t he reading group will receive a copy of "The Glatstein Chronicles" to read and return to the Library after the book discussion.
\nThe Akron Su mmit County Public Library has been selected as a participating library fo r the Yiddish Book Center's "Stories of E xile" Reading Groups for Public Libraries for 2023.
\nAt this ev ent in the series\, we will discuss \;"The Glatstein Chronicles" by Ja cob Glatstein.
\nBook summary:
\nThis seminal American wor k from the Yiddish literary canon\, in a restored English edition\, offers the luminous narrative of the author&rsquo\;s journey home to his Polish birthplace.
\nIn 1934\, with World War II on the horizon\, writer Jacob Glatstein (1896-1971) traveled from his home in America to hi s native Poland to visit his dying mother. One of the foremost Yiddish poe ts of the day\, he used his journey as the basis for two highly autobiogra phical novellas (translated as "The Glatstein Chronicles") in which he int ertwines childhood memories with observations of growing anti-Semitism in Europe.
\nGlatstein&rsquo\;s accounts &ldquo\;stretch like a tightrope across a chasm\,&rdquo\; writes preeminent Yiddish scholar Rut h Wisse in the introduction. In Book One\, &ldquo\;Homeward Bound\,&rdquo\ ; the narrator\, Yash\, recounts his voyage to his birthplace in Poland an d the array of international travelers he meets along the way. Book Two\, &ldquo\;Homecoming at Twilight\,&rdquo\; resumes after his mother&rsquo\;s funeral and ends with Yash&rsquo\;s impending return to the United States \, a Jew with an American passport who recognizes the ominous history he i s traversing.
\nThe Glatstein Chronicles \;is at once i nsightful reportage of the year after Hitler came to power\, reflection by a leading intellectual on contemporary culture and events\, and the close st thing we have to a memoir by the boy from Lublin\, Poland\, who became one of the finest poets of the twentieth century.
\nAbo ut the Stories of Exile Series:
\nThe Yiddish Book Center&r
squo\;s &ldquo\;Stories of Exile&rdquo\; Reading Groups for Public Librari
es is a reading and discussion program to engage teens and adults in think
ing about experiences of displacement\, migration\, and diaspora. In this
program\, librarians organize reading groups to discuss three books of Yid
dish literature in translation\, and one book related to the experience of
a community served by their library. \;
\;
The Yiddish
Book Center&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;Stories of Exile&rdquo\; Reading Groups for
Public Libraries is made possible by a gift from Sharon Karmazin.
Programs in the series include:
\nBook Discussion: "The Bes t We Could Do" by Thi Bui \;(Graphic Novel)
\nFires tone Park Branch Library
\nThursday\, September 7\, 6:30 pm \;\n
B ook Discussion: "In the Land of the Postscript: Short Stories" by Chava Ro senfarb
\nNorth Hill Branch Library \;
\nMond ay\, October 2\, 12:30 pm
\nBook Discussion: &ldquo\;The Gla tstein Chronicles&rdquo\; by Jacob Glatstein\, a restored English edition originally translated from Yiddish
\nNorthwest Akron Branch \;
\nMonday\, October 18\, 6 pm
\nBook Discussion: &ldquo\;On the Landing: Stories&rdquo\; by Yenta Mash
\nMain Library (Meeting Room 1)
\nWednesday\, November 1\, 6:30 pm
\nMain Event: Many Voices With \;Yiyun Li
\nMain Lib rary (Auditorium)
\nMonday\, November 6\, 6:30 pm
\nImmigrant Perspect ives on Film
\nMain Library (Auditorium)
\nThursd ays\, September 7\, 14\, 21\, 28\, 6:30 pm
\n