Mother of Yiddish Theatre
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€21.99
19th century
20th century
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
autobiography
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B01=Mikhl Yashinsky
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=AN
Category=ATD
Category=HBJD
Category=HBTB
Category=JFSR1
Category=NHTB
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Pre-order
English translation
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Esther-Rokhl Kaminska
First World War
firsthand account
gender studies
Great War
Jewish history
Language_English
memoir
Odessa
PA=Not yet available
Polish history
Price_€10 to €20
primary source
PS=Forthcoming
Russian Empire
shtetl
softlaunch
theater history
Warsaw
women's history
World War One
Yiddish drama
Yiddish literature
Yiddish theater
Product details
- ISBN 9781350321076
- Weight: 320g
- Dimensions: 128 x 196mm
- Publication Date: 21 Aug 2025
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Originally appearing in the Warsaw daily Der Moment (1926-7), this intimate self-portrait by pioneering Yiddish actress Ester-Rokhl Kaminska (1870–1925) appears here for the first time in English. As it moves through her life, we see this towering artist and her art form emerge, observing how Kaminska navigates the perilous move from shtetl to city, stages illegal performances in unlikely venues around the Russian Empire, and eventually earns the exultant acclaim of her public. The memoirs richly disclose the texture of everyday life for working Jewish women and all the grit and hard-won glamour of backstage (or in her case, back-barn/barrack/barroom) life. An extensive introduction and notes by Mikhl Yashinsky provide historical context and an appraisal of Kaminska’s epoch-making talent.
Mikhl Yashinsky was born in Detroit and lives in New York, where he works as a playwright, actor, and Yiddish scholar. His performance in the operetta The Sorceress brought a ‘keen, if malevolent, psychology’ to the title role (New York Times) and his Yiddish drama The Gospel According to Chaim ‘jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive’ (Forward). He is also the translator of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes (2025).
