Anzia Yezierska Livres

The collection features 27 compelling stories that authentically capture the experiences of immigrant Jews, especially women, on New York's Lower East Side. Each narrative is rich with personal history and emotion, creating a vivid and lasting portrayal of their struggles and resilience. Together, these stories weave a tapestry of cultural heritage and the challenges faced by this community, resonating with the timeless nature of family tales passed down through generations.

Lost masterpiece of ten tales by Jewish-American author of the early 20th century, set in New York City's Lower East Side, provides rich psychological portraits of immigrant mothers and daughters.

Only if they cooked for men, and washed for men, and didn't nag and curse the men out of their homes: only if they let the men study the Torah in peace, then, maybe, they could push themselves into heaven with the men, to wait on them there.

Anzia Yezierska's life journey unfolds from the hardships of a Polish ghetto to the bustling sweatshops of New York's Lower East Side. Her narrative captures her rise as a successful writer in 1920s Hollywood, juxtaposed with her subsequent disillusionment and return to poverty. Through heartfelt reflection, she explores the complexities of success and failure, offering insight into her experiences as both a woman and an artist, highlighting the emotional depth of her struggles and triumphs.

The story of a young, aspiring Jewish woman from the ghetto who will do anything to get her man in this case an upper-class WASP. When she discovers he is not really what she wanted, she will do anything to get away. Based on the real-life story of the Jewish immigrant activist Rose Pastor's fairytale romance with the millionaire socialist Graham Stokes, the novel also reflects Yezierska's own doomed romance with the famous educator John Dewey. Passionate and engagingly sardonic, it criticizes the concept of the American "Melting Pot" in the language of the Lower East Side and exposes the hypocrisy of the "good works" of the privileged class and their so-called dedication to the poor. Gay Wilentz's introduction discusses Anzia Yezierska's life and work.Originally published in 1923. 

Culturally significant, this work preserves the integrity of the original artifact, showcasing historical copyright references and library stamps. It serves as an important contribution to the knowledge base of civilization, reflecting the scholarly value placed on it. The reproduction aims to maintain authenticity, offering readers a glimpse into the past through its preserved elements.

In this heartfelt novel, written in 1932, Fanya Ivanowna, a Polish Jew from New York’s Lower East Side, meets Henry Scott, a well-bred professor who first helps her fulfill her ambition to become a writer, then falls in love with her—but only to change his mind and rebuff her socially.  Fanya is hurt, but instead of returning to the ghetto to live among “her own people,” as so many have done before her, she decides to continue to better herself, to become more American.  She moves to a small New England town, where she meets her soulmate, a non-Jewish Polish immigrant, and prepares to make a home.             A moving portrait of an indomitable immigrant woman, as well as an early and optimistic story of Jewish assimilation and inter-marriage, with an introduction by Dr. Catherine Rottenberg, who places the book within the context of Yezierska’s work and Jewish American history.