Recovering "Yiddishland": Threshold Moments in American Literature by Merle L. Bachman bilingual a weary traveler named Hershel

a weary traveler named Hershel of Ostropol eagerly approaches a village

and reveals a way of life shaped by both self-segregation and unwitting assimilation

one whose like the American Jewish community will probably never see again

Drawing upon long-neglected archival materials

Recovering "Yiddishland": Threshold Moments in American Literature by Merle L. Bachman bilingual a weary traveler named HershelAccording to traditional narratives of assimilation, in the bargain made for an American identity, Jews freely surrendered Yiddish language and culture. Or did they? Recovering "Yiddishland" seeks to return readers to a threshold where Americanization also meant ambivalence and resistance. It reconstructs Yiddishland as a cultural space produced by Yiddish immigrant writers from the 1890s through the 1930s, largely within the sphere of New York.