Autobiographic narratives in Yiddish: women writers, their writings and their stories

Abstract

This paper results from a research that were translated and analyzed 23 short stories written by 17 writers and that reveal histories of young Jewish women who suffered discrimination for being women, for being writers and for writing in Yiddish, a language almost extinguished in the 20th century, and which is today the focus of movements for resistance. Discovered by feminist groups in the United States, the short stories are valued for their literary quality and for showing diverse and adverse contexts of women who immigrated from Eastern Europe to America, Israel and other European countries. The text is organized in three items. The first provides a brief overview of the Yiddish language and of the narratives, their autobiographical nature and context, the research background and the criteria used to choose them. The second item focuses on the short stories. From them emerge struggles, loss of places, people and dreams, suffering reported sometimes with bitterness, anger or irony. The stories show in the almost lost language different ways of expressing desires, dreams, constriction and overcoming. The writers talk about migration and displacement across continents, countries, cities, cultures that have placed them in a vulnerable situation due to what they saw, lived and wanted, and were forbidden or unable to achieve, as well as the changes required to live. The third item shows two short stories written by two of the authors studied. The research was supported by the research institute of the university where it was carried out.