Volume 1

Hebräische Schreibkultur in Europa

This essay discusses the multi-lingual and transnational aspects of the Hebrew-European writing culture in the early twentieth century. It revisits the life and work of the popular Hebrew and Yiddish author Zalman Shneur (1887–1959). Presenting yet unknown personal correspondences, this essay follows the path from the published fiction back to the biographical facts of war and refuge, emigration and solitude. Found in Madrid more than five decades after Shneur’s decease, these corresponces expose the compleixty of modern Jewish writings. Written in German, French and Yiddish, these correspondeces were sent from post-revolutionay Russia, Weimar Berlin and 1940’s Paris. They expose the biographical maze incorporated in Shneur’s literary work and suggest new perspectives to the general understanding of modern Jewish writings in Europe.