Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Varsovie 1913. Zakhari Mirkin, après avoir rompu avec son milieu - la bourgeoisie pétersbourgeoise - s'installe chez les Hurwitz, Juifs instruits et progressistes qui hébergent des étudiants. Après "Pétersbourg", le deuxième volet d'une trilogie.

394 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read

About the author

Sholem Asch

259 books36 followers
Polish-American writer Sholem Asch (also written Shalom Ash, Yiddish: שלום אַש, Polish: Szalom Asz) sought to reconcile Judaism and Christianity in his controversial novels, such as The Nazarene (1939).

Sholem Asch composed dramas and essays in the language.

Frajda Malka bore Asch and nine other children to Moszek Asz, a cattle-dealer and innkeeper. Asch received tradition and as a young man followed, obtained a more liberal education at Włocławek, and supported with letters for the illiterate townspeople. He moved to Warsaw and met and married Mathilde Shapiro, the daughter of Menahem Mendel Shapiro. The Haskalah or Hebrew enlightenment initially influenced Asch, but Isaac Leib Peretz convinced him to switch.

Plot of God of Vengeance , his drama of 1907 features a lesbian relationship in a brothel.

He traveled to Palestine in 1908 and to the United States in 1910.

His Kiddush ha-Shem in 1919 in the earliest historical modern literature concerns the anti-Semitic uprising of Khmelnytsky in mid-17th century Ukraine.

He sat out World War I in the United States and a naturalized as a citizen in 1920. He returned.


People celebrated a 12-volume set of his collected works, published in his own lifetime in the early 1920s.

When people performed God of Vengeance , the highly esteemed play, on Broadway in 1923, authorities arrested and successfully prosecuted the entire cast on obscenity charges despite the fact that people in Europe already translated it into German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Czech, and Norwegian.

Farn Mabul ( Before the Flood , translated as Three Cities ), his trilogy of 1929 to 1931, describes early 20th century life in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, and Moscow.

In 1932, the republic awarded the decoration of Polonia Restituta, and the club of poets, essayists, and novelists (PEN) elected him honorary president.

He later moved to France and visited Palestine again in 1936. Dos Gezang fun Tol ( The Song of the Valley ) about the halutzim or Zionist pioneers in Palestine reflects his visit of 1936 to that region.

He set his Bayrn Opgrunt (1937), translated as The Precipice , in Germany during the hyperinflation of the 1920s.

He settled in the United States in 1938.

He, however, later offended sensibilities with The Apostle , and Mary , parts of his trilogy, which in 1939 to 1949 dealt with subjects of New Testament. The Forward , leading language newspaper of New York, dropped him and openly attacked him for promotion.

Asch spent most his last two years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel but died in London. His house in Bat Yam now houses his namesake museum. Yale University holds the bulk of his library, which contains rare books and manuscripts, including some of his own works.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
6 (30%)
4 stars
13 (65%)
3 stars
0 (0%)
2 stars
1 (5%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Dariusz Płochocki.
449 reviews25 followers
April 27, 2020
Trzeba przyznać, że Asz jest mistrzem słowa i czyta się go genialnie. To fascynująca wyprawa do Warszawy i Łodzi w przededniu Wielkiej Wojny. Opis życia mieszkańców kamienicy żydowskiej Warszawy, starego dyrektora próbującego prowadzić szkołę dla młodych i spinać koniec z końcem, młodego Litwaka, którego trzeba wyleczyć z syjonizmu i pchnąć na drogę rewolucji i socjalizmu, ubogich rzemieślników i drobny proletariat walczący z dnia na dzień o byt.
Całość czasami wydaje się cukierkowa, współpraca z gojem mieszkającym w jednym z pokojów, który jednego dnia wplata w swoje słowa jidyszyzmy, by drugiego w złości być antysemitą, współpracy żydowskich socjalistów z polskimi, wspólny pochód 1 majowy i tragedia losów. Jednak to wciąż kawałek świetnej literatury.
Profile Image for Philippe.
190 reviews2 followers
November 12, 2023
Ce roman de Schalom Asch fait suite à Petersbourg pour relater les aventures de Zakhari Mirkin dans le shtetl de Varsovie (et de Lodz) durant les années précédant le déclenchement de la 1ere guerre mondiale. Mirkin est accueilli dans la famille Hurwitz dans un milieu très pauvre mais plein de solidarité. Pour s’intégrer il refusera toute aide de son riche père resté dans la capitale impériale et se retrouvera immergé dans le bouillonnement pré révolutionnaire de l’époque.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.