The World According to Itzik

In the years between 1929 and 1939, when Itzik Manger wrote most of the poetry and fiction that made him famous, his name among Yiddish readers was a household word. Called the Shelley of Yiddish, he was characterized as being "drunk with talent". This anthology of Manger's work seeks to display the full range of his genius in poetry, fiction and criticism. The volume begins with an extensive historical, biographical and literary-critical introduction to Manger's work. There are then excerpts from a novel, "The Book of Paradise", three short stories, autobiographical essays, critical essays, and finally, Manger's magnificent poetry - ballads, bible poems, personal lyrics and the "Megilla Songs". These works, which have the patina of myths acquired ages ago, also offer modern psychological insight and irrepressible humour. With Manger we make the leap into the Jewish 20th century, as he recreates the past in all its layered expressiveness and interprets it with modernist sensibilities.