A Dybbuk: and Other Tales of the Supernatural

Library of Yiddish Classics

by Tony Kushner, Joachim Neugrochel

Kushner's imaginative retelling of the classic mystical legend, "The Dybbuk," by S. Ansky, the noted Russian and Yiddish-language folklorist, novelist and dramatist. Ansky formed an expedition which roamed throughout the Ukraine to preserve and collect Hasidic folktales. "The Dybbuk" was a product of that journey. Written before the outbreak of World War I, it wasn't produced until 1920, shortly after Ansky's death. It has been much-produced worldwide ever since.

Genres: Plays, Short Stories, Jewish, Fiction, Judaism, Drama, Literature

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 1992

About the author

Tony Kushner is an award-winning American playwright most famous for his play Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is also co-author, along with Eric Roth, of the screenplay of the 2005 film Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and earned Kushner (along with Roth) an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Reviews

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/reviews/...

All right, so I’m probably one of the few people who hadn’t heard of S. Ansky before reading this collection. Shame on me, I know. Anyway, The Dybbuk is actual a theatre play based on a folklore story S. Ansky gathered info for during his travels. The story is about a young bride who is possessed by a dybbuk – this can best be compared to an evil spirit, or demon. Her name is Leah’le, and she went to the graveyard before her wedding day, where not only she invited her mother’s spirit to attend the marriage, but also the spirits of a young couple who were murdered before their wedding could be consummated. She’s also drawn to one other grave, that of Hannan, a young scholar who as in love with her, and wanted her hand in marriage, but was refused so by her father.

Leah’le comes back from the graveyard a changed woman. A local sage tries to exorcise the Dybbuk who has possessed her, but fails, and is forced to call in the help of the rabbi. The rabbi decides that Leah’le’s father must appear before the court of rabbis, apparently upon the request of the spirit of Hannan’s father. What follows is a trial half debated in the world of the living, and half in the spirit world.

It’s certainly an intriguing story, and I wished I could’ve seen the actual play. This sounds right up my alley. I enjoyed reading it here though, but it must’ve been even more intriguing to see it on stage.

This collection also features other stories by S. Ansky, but the Dybbuk was by far the most notable one. If you’re a fan of historical fiction, mysticism and paranormal stories, then you’ll probably enjoy The Dybbuk and Other Writings.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently obsessed with S. Ansky right now, who is most famous for writing The Dybbuk, but more generally—he grew up in Vitebsk (like Chagall) and was a good yeshiva boy but since he wasn't wealthy enough to attend the gymnasium, he studied Russian and secular books on his own and ended up being taken in first by the Jewish enlightenment, and then agrarian socialism and the narodnik movement, which basically meant working in the mines and interacting with Russian peasants and leaving Judaism behind. So he was writing stories throughout his life that were peopled by both Jews and goyim, but not flat caricatures of either, and about insularity and enlightenment and assimilation etc. And as modernity pressed in on the shtetl, he felt like that world was on the precipice of destruction and led these huge ethnographic missions to collect Hasidic folklore and images and songs and conduct broad surveys on people's beliefs and practices which brought him back into the Jewish fold, and basically his stories are ethnography-inspired and very auto-biographical and little more than a testament to where he was in history and who he was—a curious yeshiva boy straddling two worlds.
The stories are fun, but I particularly love the diaries from the ethnographic mission in this book—"The Destruction of Galicia". Powerful and heartbreaking. So much death. So much forgotten. I can't believe how much we are constantly leaving behind. It's hard to comprehend.

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encompassing a selection of Ansky's fiction, drama, and nonfiction, this collection is a step back through time, back to the beginning of the twentieth century and Jewish culture, life, and thought, particularly around the time of WWI. Even the fiction is so detailed, and so culture-rich, it feels as much like a peek into another time and history as it does like fiction. The standouts here are, though, Ansky's drama The Dybbuk and the English translation of a portion of his journals. The drama is as fascinating as it is powerful, and as short as it may be, the characters are built in a fashion that allows readers to fall into the drama's reality. The journals, much as the excerpt here may only be an excerpt of his much longer work, are difficult to read because of the territory of violence and poverty they cover, but also incredibly powerful, to the extent that I wish the rest of his nonfiction had been translated into English already.

I'd absolutely recommend this full collection for all those remotely interested.

[Elan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this edition has both the original play "The Dybbuk," by S. Ansky, as well as Tony Kushner's adaptation of the piece. Both are incredibly rich and important reads, but I wish that Kushner had taken his adaptation further. He goes as far as to (theatrically) articulate and illuminate his queer reading of Ansky's play but he doesn't seem to move beyond commentary. He doesn't create anything new; the adaptation leaves little room for reflection or inspiration. I wonder if Kushner felt pressure to keep what might have otherwise been a scandalous piece liberal, in order to appeal to a certain older Yiddish enthusiast audience. Was it enough for Kushner to merely illuminate; to remind these old Yiddishists and their grandchildren that queerness is not only dawning in contemporary America - but there could have been (and were) queer Jews in the shtetl?

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic dramatic play that is a wonderful piece of Jewish literature along with other short stories and writings from S. Ansky. I enjoyed reading The Dybbuk, the premise mixed with the mysticism was very interesting. The other stories offered a nice window into the time period.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOVED "the Dybbuk" and the short story "the tower in Rome" but was bored by the other stories. On the other hand, reading Yiddish literature is a fascinating window into that world

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony Kushner is a genius.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oy. As with Ansky's "Pioneers," in two parts that GR jumbles into one entry, so here's a second fine mess. Tony Kushner's recent adaptation is not in the 1992 (Schocken), rept. 2002 (Yale) ed. by David Roskies, with not other tales of the supernatural, except the "Tower of Rome," but half a dozen stories, plus excerpts from the "Destruction of Galicia" which Ansky documented during WWI. These poignant eyewitness testimonies of the ever-recurrent antisemitic lies indulged in and perpetrated by various Christian and ethnic factions a century ago prove how enduring hate can be.

Roskies gives us a very in-depth introduction, as well as annotations and a brief glossary, necessary for Yiddish context. I think "At the Pleasure of the Enemy" (2017) offers similar material from the reporting Ansky did from front lines, pogroms, and prejudiced scuttlebutt, but I haven't seen that. I am under the impression that the four-volume source for Ansky's material here isn't extant now.

As for the original play, it kept my interest, but must have been a grand production and lengthy to stage indeed. The best story is "Behind the Mask," as its length and topic of scheming to spread the doctrines of secularism among traditional yeshiva-going boys, as in separately published (2014 Katz "Pioneers"--part 2; 2017 Waldman "Pioneers, The First Breach" tr., both recently critiqued by me on GR) installments of "Pioneers," reflects. This tale's better paced as it's longer, able to ruminate, and to follow a signature theme of Ansky, who'd been there, done that as to his own back-and-forth between advocating socialist revolution and rescuing the legacy that the Reds wished to end.

Fictions like "Hunger" evoke hardship well for the young scholars not "into" their tiresome Talmud routines, but the ending of that is sudden (not for the first time in Ansky, who sometimes has trouble keeping the momentum of his fiction steady). As with Peretz his mentor of sorts (I reviewed his anthology by Ruth Wisse), he is more adept at sketching shtetl life than developing characters, shading plots, or going into depth about motivations. For instance, "Go Tell a Goy" is little more than a tossed-off bagatelle. The others included are o.k., but frankly not that special or memorable.

So if you are looking for more dybbuks and demons, Roskies won't deliver, but the Kushner ed. will. Why poor Ansky gets his work shuffled about here a century after his untimely death is another nail in his coffin. Given the various spellings of his curious nom-de-plume only adds to confusion here.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a supernatural tale that I’m sure is compelling on the stage. Yet it is more than just a story of a young bride being possessed by a wandering spirit, because it is also a story of an end of an era of magic. And it is a story about the will of man struggling against the will of god.

While strange and musical and dark and thoughtful, the story turns on the flimsy premise of an arranged marriage. The story thankfully resists being shaped into some kind of small-r, romantic tale of unrequited love overcoming death, but instead it is about marriage being treated as a transaction – and ordained by god. What god has put together let no man put asunder, as one rabbi put it.

Hung upon this foundation are some interesting ideas of man’s justice versus god’s justice, and the passing of the era of the supernatural. But I don’t think the foundation is strong enough to sustain weighty scrutiny.

The play offers a wonderful portrait of Jewish life in late 19th century Poland where the past and future collide. It’s full of songs and poetry and unexpected happenings. It’s a whimsical but essentially dark play.

Kushner’s translation is described as an adaptation. In a cursory review, it seems to hew pretty close to the original story, with a few notable exceptions. In particular, Kushner closes the play with an amazing speech by Rabbi Azriel about the continuing pursuit of god in order to register our complaint.

If you enjoy supernatural stories about love, you will like this play. But it’s not quite my thing.

(I did not read the "other tales of the supernatural" in the book.)

[Masha Shollar · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a reason this play is considered by so many to be the gold standard of Yiddish literature; you'd be hard-pressed to find a theme it doesn't tackle. Socialism, gender, Jewish mysticism, marriage, queer theory -- it's all here, and more. A truly incredibly play.

[Perlie]

I'm witholding rating this book until I read 1 or 2 more versions.
I'm not sure I trust the translation...

[Talia Feldman]

It was a really interesting play. Usually I lose focus in the middle, but this was really good.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ansky – born Shloyme-Zanvl ben Aaron Hacohen Rappoport – was a Russian Jew who turned his back on his orthodox upbringing and became active in the Socialist-Revolutionary party in the early 1900’s. For my reading pleasure, *The Dbyuk* - the play he is most widely known for - and a few of his personal essays, diary excerpts, and folksy short stories were translated from Yiddish to Russian and back to Yiddish and then to English.

And it was all wasted on me.

Yeah, I respected the revolutionist platform he was speaking from. Admired it, even. Was schooled in the Jewish culture and religion, and treated to a few laughs with lines like this one (referring to Plevne, a city that fell during a battle between the Turks and the Russians): “…all these stories about cliffs and fortresses. I wouldn’t give three kopecks for your Plevne… Plevne, Shmevne!” Learned a bit about the Bolsheviks from the diary part, too. Ultimately, though, it was just me wading through Ansky’s passion but not catching any myself.

Gotta give this one two stars. But – and I really do mean this, Mr. Ansky – it’s not you. It’s me. I swear.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Dybbuk: and Other Tales of the Supernatural provides an interesting look into Jewish folklore, particularly that of eastern Europe. I read it because it contains S. Ansky's stage play A Dybbyk, perhaps the most famous story about that type of ghost. The remaining half of the book is a collection of supernatural stories, mostly by Ansky or folk tales collected by him. Joachim Neugroschel's English translations are very readable and Tony Kushner's adaptation of the play is compelling.


Title: A Dybbuk: and Other Tales of the Supernatural
Authors: S. Ansky (original play and stories, 1863-1920), Tony Kuscher (adaptation of A Dybbuk from Neugroschel’s translation), Joachim Neugroschel (translation), & Harold Bloom (afterward to A Dybbuk) (1998)
Dates: 1998 (published)
Genre: Fiction - Stage play, folklore collection
Page count: 212 pages
Date(s) read: 10/6/22-10/7/22
Reading journal entry #272 in 2022

Link to the image: https://momentmag.com/jewish-word-dyb...

[Irma Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first story in the book is called " A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds". It's a really great story and definitely worth anyone interested in religious folk tales sitting down and reading. But! The other stories are terrible. The last 30 pages of the book I literally wanted to give up and and never open it again. But since I held on through the rest of the book I figured I might as well finish it.

[Ben Kintisch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew that the Jews loved Evil Spirits! This play was the most-performed of all Yiddish Theatre classics. A great Yiddish actress wouldn't be considered at the top of her game until she played the tormented female lead.

Watch out for the Dybbuk!!!

[Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved the dybbuk, obvs, kind of lukewarm on the "and other writing"

[Jennifer Egiziaco · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was highly interesting about Jewish culture and Romeo and Juliet story .

[Leylamaría · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsurprising that Kushner knocked it out of the park w this one

[lifeisjustablurblog · Rating 4 out of 5]

read The Dybbuk play only