About this episode

This episode discusses the legacy of Chaim Grade, a significant figure in Yiddish literature, through a panel featuring notable scholars.

Chaim Grade was born in 1910 in Vilna, Poland. In his youth, Grade was a student of the Novaredok Musar Yeshiva and of Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz. He was also a founding member of the Yung-Vilne literary group, known for its leftist politics, secular Jewish thinking, and literary influence. After losing both his mother and wife during the Holocaust, he emerged as one of the most prolific and defining Yiddish voices in post-war literature. Besides publishing several volumes of poetry, he is best known for his two acclaimed novels, The Agunah and The Yeshiva. In early 2023, YIVO and the National Library of Israel (NLI) completed the digitization of the Papers of Chaim Grade and Inna Hecker Grade. The collection helps to illustrate Grade’s literary development and impact on Yiddish literature, from his earliest poetic works written in Vilna and the Soviet Union to his prolific and accomplished prose work composed mainly in the United States. Join YIVO and NLI for a panel discussion of Grade’s legacy with Ruth Wisse, Ofer Dynes, and Curt Leviant, led by scholar and translator Justin Cammy. This panel discussion originally took place on November 15, 2023. Learn more about your ad…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Cammy

Guests: Ruth Wisse, Ofer Dynes, Curt Leviant

Topics covered

• Yiddish literature
• Holocaust
• Chaim Grade
• literary influence
• panel discussion

Keywords

• Chaim Grade
• Yiddish literature
• Holocaust
• panel discussion
• The Agunah
• The Yeshiva
• YIVO
• National Library of Israel

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: YIVO, National Library of Israel, Yung-Vilne

Books & works: The Agunah, The Yeshiva

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