Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto
1896 book by Abraham Cahan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto is Abraham Cahan's first book, published in 1896. It depicts the life of Jewish immigrants living in a New York City ghetto. The plot follows Yekl, Russian-Jewish immigrant sweatshop worker, as he attempts to assimilate into American culture. His attempts are complicated by the arrival of his wife and son, which force him to decide between his Jewish identity and a new American one.
Author | Abraham Cahan |
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Language | English |
Genre | Realism |
Set in | New York City, 1890s |
Published | 1896 |
Publisher | D. Appleton & Company |
Publication date | 1896 |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 190 |
ISBN | 1523898216 |
The novella blends realism and regionalism to depict what life was like for newly arrived immigrants in the United States. Realism author William Dean Howells played a large part in getting the story published, as he discovered and encouraged Cahan to write a more serious story about life in the Jewish ghetto.[1] While Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto did not sell well, it would later serve as the basis for Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film Hester Street.[1]