Professor's book receives stellar review

Posted Mon, 10/19/2009 - 9:20am by Matt Itelson

Professor Joel Schechter sheds light on the often-overlooked heyday of Yiddish theatre in America in his recent book “Messiahs of 1933.” Published by Temple University Press, it is the rare academic book to tell “a story that took place almost 80 years ago with a gasp of recognition at its relevance to contemporary experience,” according to a review in the journal Modern Drama.

The review, written by Anna Shternshis of University of Toronto in the fall 2009 edition of Modern Drama, praises “Messiahs of 1933” for its analysis of “how an impoverished immigrant population used humor and satire in its mother tongue to cope with difficult economic circumstances in its new home,” and for its comparisons of the Yiddish theatre in in the Soviet Union, England and the United States. She also notes that Schechter’s book is to study texts of shund, a kitschy, simplistic style of Yiddish theatre.

Schechter has studied Yiddish theatre extensively this decade, as a focus of his scholarly expertise on political satire. Every other year, he directs a traditional Yiddish play at SF State. His previous books include “The Congress of Clowns” and “The Pickle Clowns: New American Circus Comedy.”