Yankel's Tavern


Book Description

In Yankel's Tavern, Glenn Dynner investigates the role of Jews in tavern-keeping in the Kingdom of Poland between 1815 and the uprising of 1863-4 and its aftermath.




Joseph Conrad--comparative Essays


Book Description

This collection of essays continues Adam Gillon's comparatist approach to Joseph Conrad, which he exhibited in three previous books: The Eternal Solitary: A Study of Joseph Conrad (1960 and 1964), Conrad and Shakespeare and Other Essays (1976), and Joseph Conrad (Tawyne English Authors Series), 1982. In the present collection, Gillon extends his perspectives by examining the affinities between Conrad's descriptive art and painting and film. Gillon presents a variety of new views and insights as he traces the connections between Conrad and such writers as Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov and compares Conradian characters Prince Roman and Peer Ivanovitch. Gillon's Polish background looms large in this collection. His mastery of the Polish language is apparent in the discussion of two Polish novels about Conrad's early life and in his translation of excerpts from these novels. The first and last chapters offer moving glimpses of Gillon's own Polish footprints, his initiation into Conrad lore, and the visit to his native land after a long absence. The intimacy and wry humor of these recollections are evident also in his essay about adapting Conrad to film, which is illustrated with excerpts from his scripts Under Western Eyes and Dark Country, his screenplay inspired by Heart of Darkness and Conradian themes. A native of Poland, Adam Gillon is professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at the State University of New York, New Paltz. He has lectured at universities in Canada, Israel, and Europe. His numerous publications include critical studies of Conrad, fiction, poetry, translations, articles, and reviews. He has written award-winning plays for screen, stage, and radio. He wrote, directed, and produced a feature film, The Bet. Gillon is president of the Joseph Conrad Society of America and founder and senior editor of its newsletter, Joseph Conrad Today.Raymond Brebach is an associate professor of humanities at Drexel University. He is a contributing editor for the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Joseph Conrad and he edits Joseph Conrad Today, the newsletter of the Joseph Conrad Society of America. He has written on the collaboration of Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford.




Russians on Russian Music, 1830-1880


Book Description

The volume reveals, through contemporary Russian eyes, how the foundations of the hugely popular Russian classical repertory were laid, providing a vivid picture of the musical life of the opera house and the concert hall from which this repertory sprang.




Holy Dissent


Book Description

Jewish and Christian studies scholars as well as historians of Eastern Europe will benefit from the analysis of Holy Dissent.




The Ridiculous Jew


Book Description

This book is a study devoted to exploring the use of a Russian version of the Jewish stereotype (the ridiculous Jew) in the works of three of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Rosenshield does not attempt to expose the stereotype—which was self-consciously and unashamedly employed. Rather, he examines how stereotypes are used to further the very different artistic, cultural, and ideological agendas of each writer. What distinguishes this book from others is that it explores the problems that arise when an ethnic stereotype is so fully incorporated into a work of art that it takes on a life of its own, often undermining the intentions of its author as well as many of the defining elements of the stereotype itself. With each these writers, the Jewish stereotype precipitates a literary transformation, taking their work into an uncomfortable space for the author and a challenging one for readers.




The Making of the Slovak People’s Party


Book Description

Winner of the BASEES George Blazyca Prize In 1945, just six years after coming to power, the Slovak People's Party (SLS) was disbanded as a 'criminal organisation' and its leader - Jozef Tiso - hanged for treason. What made it possible for the SLS, initially founded in 1905 by priests to represent the Catholic Slovak minority residing in the north of the Kingdom of Hungary, to form an openly pro-Nazi government in 1939? And what put Slovakia on the path to a 'fascism' that would see more than 45,000 Jews deported to their deaths in 1942? To answer these questions, Thomas Lorman draws on more than a decade's research in archives across the region in Hungarian, Slovak and Latin, and studies the party's formative years in depth for the first time in English. Lorman examines the various strands which fused to form the party and its popularity, including a complex and nebulous nationalism, Catholicism and a resounding mistrust of liberalism and 'modernity'. The Making of the Slovak People's Party is a vital and timely study of the genesis and success of far-right movements that will be essential reading for all scholars working on 20th-century Eastern European history, nationalism and the interplay of religion and politics.







Edgar G. Ulmer


Book Description

Edgar G. Ulmer is perhaps best known today for Detour, considered by many to be the epitome of a certain noir style that transcends its B-list origins. But in his lifetime he never achieved the celebrity of his fellow Austrian and German émigré directors—Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, Fred Zinnemann, and Robert Siodmak. Despite early work with Max Reinhardt and F. W. Murnau, his auspicious debut with Siodmak on their celebrated Weimar classic People on Sunday, and the success of films like Detour and Ruthless, Ulmer spent most of his career as an itinerant filmmaker earning modest paychecks for films that have either been overlooked or forgotten. In this fascinating and well-researched account of a career spent on the margins of Hollywood, Noah Isenberg provides the little-known details of Ulmer’s personal life and a thorough analysis of his wide-ranging, eclectic films—features aimed at minority audiences, horror and sci-fi flicks, genre pictures made in the U.S. and abroad. Isenberg shows that Ulmer’s unconventional path was in many ways more typical than that of his more famous colleagues. As he follows the twists and turns of Ulmer’s fortunes, Isenberg also conveys a new understanding of low-budget filmmaking in the studio era and beyond.




The Polish Review


Book Description




Makar's Dream


Book Description