Afraid to Miss It? . . . FEAR by Chana Blankshteyn
- Yiddish Shmoozers in Translation
- 22 hours ago
- 2 min read
SUNDAY, 4/19/2026, 3:00-5:00 PM PACIFIC
"The nine stories in this volume take place primarily in Vilna, as well as various parts of Europe. As if presaging what was to come, World War I and Russian civil wars are the backdrops to these stories, as Jews and non-Jews find themselves under German occupation or caught up in the revolutionary fervor that promised them much and took away almost everything. The young women in Blankshteyn's stories insist on their independence, on equality with their lovers, and on meaningful work. Like the men in the stories, they study, work, and yearn for love. The situations in which these characters find themselves may be unfamiliar to a contemporary reader, but their reactions to the turmoil, the frighteningly changing times, and the desire for love and self-expression are deeply resonant with today's audience. The history may be specific, but the emotions are universal." (Amazon.com)
"Chana Blankshteyn almost didn’t make it. Until translator Anita Norich discovered one of only two surviving copies of her book, Blankshteyn (1860?–1939), née Schur, was virtually unknown. Before the Holocaust she had been a writer and activist of some renown, writing fiction as well as essays on political, social, and cultural themes in her native Vilna. Born the youngest child of a wealthy family, she was educated in French and German and studied in Germany and France. She was married and divorced twice, the second time to a diamond merchant with whom she had two children and lived for a time in Kiev. During the First World War she served as a nurse in the Russian army and at age 60, impoverished, she moved back to Vilna where she began writing in Yiddish, a language she had to learn for the purpose. Most of her known work dates from this period". . . . (Yiddish Book Center)
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