book

Finding the Jewish Shakespeare
The Life and Legacy of Jacob Gordin

A FEW REVIEWS

“Beth Kaplan makes [an] invaluable contribution with her full-length biography of Gordin, who happened to have been her great-grandfather. Her book admirably combines scholarly research, critical analysis, loving tribute and personal memoir.”
Matt Nesvisky, Jerusalem Report, December 10, 2007

“… A remarkably thorough and insightful biography… With this wonderful and meticulously researched book, Kaplan has done much to revitalize Gordin’s memory. “
Bill Gladstone, Canadian Jewish News, September 2007

FROM THE PUBLISHER Syracuse University Press

An illuminating genealogical quest, and an inside look at the life and times of a fabled cultural figure in Yiddish theater.

In this revelatory biography, Beth Kaplan sets out to explore the true character and creative achievements of her great-grandfather Jacob Gordin, playwright extraordinaire and icon of the Yiddish stage.

Shedding new light on Gordin and his world, Kaplan describes the commune he founded and led in Russia, his meteoric rise among Jewish New York’s literati, the birth of such masterworks as Mirele Efros and The Jewish King Lear, and his deadly feud with Abraham Cahan, powerful editor of the Jewish Daily Forward. Writing in a graceful and engaging style, she recaptures the Golden Age and colorful actors of the Yiddish theater, 1891-1910, and the dynamic cultural life of Eastern European Jews on the Lower East Side, where Gordin was revered. Most significantly she discovers the emotional truth about the man himself, a tireless reformer who left a vital legacy to the theater and Jewish life worldwide, but an aftermath of loss and estrangement to many of his eleven children.

More than a life story, Kaplan takes readers on a stirring search for lost heritage and resolves a family mystery. She provides a goldmine for theater history buffs: there is no other full-scale biography of Gordin in any language.

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR

Since its publication, I have spoken about the book in numerous places, including in New York at the 92nd Street Y and at the Stella Adler Studio, and at Oxford University, the Vancouver Jewish Book Fair and the Stratford Festival. In 2008, I delivered the Wexler Lecture in Jewish History in Washington, D.C. and lectured in French in 2009 at the Medem Library in Paris.

Dec. 3, 2008
"In the eleven-year history of the Wexler Lecture, Beth Kaplan was perhaps the best speaker we’ve had. She held the audience spellbound with a vivid account of her great-grandfather Jacob Gordin’s fascinating life and her own quest to uncover it."
Natalie Wexler

Dec. 5, 2009
"What a strong impression Beth made on our students. We have had an enormous number of very impressive speakers and artists of all kinds. Rarely have I heard so much excitement and enthusiasm. I look forward to future collaboration."
Tom Oppenheim, Director, the Stella Adler Studio

One more recent review:

“What a wonderful book! The extensive research you did to uncover this important story, the heartfelt and beautiful writing, the family connection, make for a riveting read. Aside from the story of your great-grandfather himself, I love the picture you paint of immigrant Jewish life on the Lower East Side of that era. This is an important book.”
Perry Coodin, 2008

For details on speaking engagements, please check my blog.

A podcast about Gordin and the book, in the form of interviews with Beth Kaplan and others, can be heard at www.nextbook.com   Under Archives, click Theater, then Staged Rebellion.

How to order:

Finding the Jewish Shakespeare
The Life and Legacy of Jacob Gordin

Theatrebooks • Syracuse University Press • Amazon.com • Amazon.ca
Nicholas Hoare Books 416-777-2665