Desires

by Celia Dropkin

Desires, the only novel by Celia (Tsilye) Dropkin (1887–1956), was originally serialized between March 31 and June 6, 1934, in the Jewish Daily Forward, or Forverts. Dropkin, a poet known for sexual and erotic themes, was born in Babruysk, a city in what is now Belarus, and immigrated to New York in 1912, where she adopted Yiddish as her primary literary language. In the 1930s she turned to prose, publishing this novel and ten short stories that appeared in the journal Tsukunft (Future). In Desires, as in much of her work, Dropkin reflects on the internal and external conflicts of love, domesticity, and the erotic life. Through characters carefully drawn from her own immigrant milieu, Dropkin addresses the yearnings of both the body and mind, the tension between excitement and security, and the conflicting impulses that are part of the human condition.

273 pages, Hardcover

Published July 2, 2024

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs!
This was such emotional whiplash, I was so entertained and also deeply saddened at points. Really didn’t like the ending, especially because for a while it didn’t seem like it would actually happen.

[Jay Resnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful story of loves and betrayals. And, magical thinking: with her 6-year old son, Izzaleh, dying, Shirley Elkin decides that confessing to her husband Sam that Izzaleh is the son of her lover, Harry, will save her son. Alas, her confession does not work its magic.