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Absinthe: World Literature in Translation is a literary magazine that emphasizes publishing works previously untranslated to English. We publish fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Owned and operated by the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, Absinthe is edited by graduate students, as well as by occasional guest editors. 

Purchase our most recent issue, “Translating Jewish Multilingualism,” here.

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Call for Translators
Posted by Absinthe Editors on 2024-02-07

Absinthe: World Literature in Translation invites submissions of original English-language translations of Brazilian literature for its 30th issue, to be published in December 2024. Absinthe publishes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Owned and operated by the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, Absinthe is edited by graduate students. This issue will be [...]

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  • Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

    Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism


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Absinthe 29: Translating Jewish Multilingualism showcases the variety of languages and genres in which modern Jewish writers have expressed themselves. Spanning short stories, essays, poetry, and selections from novels, the selection of literary works featured in this issue of Absinthe cuts across distinctions between European and non-European literary traditions and addresses diverse themes, including social class, gender, immigration, religious traditions, love and marriage, and the act of writing itself.

Rather than consider disparate Jewish languages and histories in isolation, we bring them into conversation within an open-ended framework that explores Jewish multilingualism in the modern world. The multilingual narrative of Jewish modernity told through them, in seven languages, spans from the 1880s to the 2020s.

Its wide geographical distribution ranges from Tel Aviv to São Paulo through Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Livorno, Warsaw, Prague, and Chicago. Each text and context exhibits different aspects of the Jewish encounter with the conditions of modern society, exemplifying the ways in which Jewish writing engages and negotiates different cultures and traditions.

The new volume of Absinthe foregrounds the multilingual legacy of Jewish migration and diasporic life that has become ubiquitous in modern Jewish writing, and it is evident in the enriching and disruptive presence of multiple languages and literary traditions in each of these texts. The title of this volume, Translating Jewish Multilingualism, refers both to the English translations of these texts and to the processes of translation, mediation, and hybridization encapsulated in the works themselves.

Article


Acknowledgments & A Note on Transliteration

Absinthe Complit

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Introduction

Marina Mayorski and Maya Barzilai

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Pessie Hershfeld Pomerantz and Shloyme Shvarts, By the Shores of Lake Michigan: Selected Poems

Jessica Kirzane

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Juan Gelman, Dibaxu (selected poems)

Arianna Afsari

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Hezy Leskly, “The Rift”

Adriana X. Jacobs

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Jiří Mordechai Langer, “Holy Reb Velvele, the Brave Wolf from Zbaraz”

Denisa Glacova

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Viktor Levi, La Agua de la Sota ,or The Ordeal of Jealousy

Nesi Altaras

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Sara Familiant, “A Modern Bride and Groom”

Anita Norich

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Uri Nissan Gnessin, “The Meal before the Fast”

Marina Mayorski

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Ben Yitzhak Saserdote, Refael and Miriam (excerpt)

Devi Mays

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Frida Alexandr, Filipson: Memories of the First Jewish Colony in Rio Grande do Sul

Júlia Irion Martins

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Yossi Sucary, “Win or Lose”

Maya Barzilai and Ruth Tsoffar

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Rita Kogan, “Stoneland” and “The Third Sin”

Yardenne Greenspan

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Shalom Bekache, The Harbinger of Good (excerpt)

Avner Ofrath

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Shemtov Revah, Rotten Society (excerpt)

Amanda Schwartz and Marina Mayorski

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism

Contributors

Absinthe Complit

2024-01-09 Volume 29 • 2023 • Translating Jewish Multilingualism