One Hundred Years of Yiddish Literature: From Mendele's Little Man to Date (1965)

In this broadcast from January 24, 1965, we hear the paper  on Yiddish literature that Dr. Mikhl (Michael) Astour delivered not long before at YIVO’ annual conference: "One Hundred Years of Yiddish Literature: From Mendele's Little Man to Date."

As the report on the conference in Yedies noted:

Professor Michael Astour surveyed the century of Yiddish literature, beginning with the publication of Mendele's Little Man and ending with the writings reflecting the recent Catastrophe in Europe. After sketching the background of the developments in that century, Dr. Astour dwelt on the high-water marks of that literature in the period under consideration: Y. L. Peretz, its mentor and guide; Sholem Aleichem, the painter and admirer of the workaday Jewish man; the search for new forms and ideals that became manifest following the upheavals of 1905. He also paid tribute to the high achievements of Yiddish literature on American shores.

The show concludes with a listener’s question about Hayyim Nahman Bialik’s poem Al hashehitah ("On the Slaughter") [or his epic poem "Be-'Ir ha-haregah' — In the City of Slaughter"; Yiddish version: In shkhite shtot], written in the response to the1903 Kishinev pogrom.

From 1963-1976, YIVO had its own program on WEVD, the radio station established by the Socialist Party of America in 1927 (its call letters stand for the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs), which was purchased by the Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and became a major venue from Yiddish programming.

YIVO used its spot on WEVD for Yiddish-language interviews and discussions with leading New York Yiddish cultural figures, as well as for reporting on its own scholarly and cultural work.

A new podcast of this program in the order in which it was originally broadcast will be posted here every two weeks.

Presentation of series curated by Matt Temkin, YIVO Sound Archives.

Listen to the program [in Yiddish].