Published November 2023

Worlds of Old Yiddish Literature
Edited by Simon Neuberg and Diana Matut 
Studies In Yiddish 13


Published August 2023

Building Modern Jewish Culture: The Yiddish Kultur-Lige
Edited by Harriet L. Murav, Gennady Estraikh and Myroslav Shkandrij 
Studies In Yiddish 20

Women on the Yiddish Stage
Edited by Alyssa Quint and Amanda Miryem-Khaye Seigel 
Studies In Yiddish 19

  • ‘Women and men have shared the stage in equal numbers practically since its inception... Moreover, participation of women extends behind the scenes, where they have also served as directors, impresarios, and creators. The topical, chronological, and geographic scope of the twelve essays in this pioneering collection is quite impressive. The theater personalities treated in this nicely illustrated volume include major stars alongside overlooked figures... Highly recommended for research libraries.’ — Zachary M. Baker, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews 4.3, January 2024, 38-39

Published December 2019

Women, Men and Books: Issues of Gender in Yiddish Discourse
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 16

  • ‘The book presents the most recent research on the subject of gender in Yiddish literature and culture and paints a far more complex picture of gender roles in Eastern European Jewish life than is portrayed in traditional sources... As gender and sexuality are increasingly being understood as fluid, rather than determined categories, this kind of research is extremely significant for those of us who still speak, write and create in Yiddish, and want to hold on to it as a living language, capable of expressing all of our experiences.’ — Annabel Cohen, Forward 23 November 2020

Published April 2017

Three Cities of Yiddish: St Petersburg, Warsaw and Moscow
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 15

  • ‘The British book series “Studies in Yiddish,” published by Legenda (and known among academics as “the Legenda series”), is in my estimation the most important venue for contemporary research on Yiddish literature and culture in the world today... Krutikov deals with the travelogue Hoyptshtet (Capital Cities) of 1934, written by Der Nister (“The Hidden One”), one of the greatest Soviet-Yiddish writers. The German professor Sabine Koller also contributes an essay dedicated to Der Nister’s book, which records his impressions of Leningrad, Moscow, and Kharkov during the 1920s. It’s a real delight to see so much attention is devoted to this book, which has been relatively unappreciated in previous considerations of Der Nister.’ — Marc Caplan, Forward 2 August 2017
  • ‘In “Moscow Threefold: Olgin, Bergelson, Benjamin,” Murav elegantly analyzes depictions of Moscow in the mid-1920s by three writers. Emphasizing Moscow as a Jewish “space of contiguity,” Murav addresses no less the relating of Moscow to time... If Olgin’s Moscow “has achieved ... its future,” the works of Benjamin and Bergelson show more ambivalence, and Murav is especially vivid on Bergelson’s vision of destruction likely to precede any possible redemption, which may end up permanently deferred.’ — Jeffrey A. Grossman, Slavic Review Spring 2019, 293-95

Published September 2016

Children and Yiddish Literature: From Early Modernity to Post-Modernity
Edited by Gennady Estraikh, Kerstin Hoge and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 14


Published April 2014

Uncovering the Hidden: The Works and Life of Der Nister
Edited by Gennady Estraikh, Kerstin Hoge and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 12

  • ‘I’ve often hoped that a collection would come out that would help me grapple with this mysterious individual and his extraordinary yet often enigmatic writings, and so I was pleased to read this excellent new collection... All of the chapters in this book offer important new insights into Der Nister the man and the artist.’ — Leah Garrett, Slavic Review 74.2, Summer 2015, 423-24
  • ‘A very welcome addition to the scarce literature on Soviet Yiddish writer Pinkhas Kahanovitsh (1884–1950)... Fifteen years prior to his arrest, Der Nister wrote that 'history will judge us by our construction work: how our regime was built, on what kind of underlying moral foundations, and in what kind of political and cultural-customary forms it was shaped'. For an author who wished to remain 'hidden' on the sidelines of political life, the wide range of articles exhibited in this collection attest to how the author himself would have wanted his literary 'construction work' to be judged.’ — Naya Lekht, Slavic and East European Journal 59.2, Summer 2015, 325-27

Published September 2013

Joseph Opatoshu: A Yiddish Writer between Europe and America
Edited by Sabine Koller, Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 11

  • ‘The collection marks an important milestone in Slavic-Jewish Studies... a reader of this volume leaves with the satisfaction of being able to not only trace the literary, ideological, and cultural trajectory of Opatoshu, but also to better understand the course of modern Jewish history.’ — Naya Lekht, Slavic and East European Journal 59.1, Spring 2015, 135-37

Published June 2012

Translating Sholem Aleichem: History, Politics and Art
Edited by Gennady Estraikh, Jordan Finkin, Kerstin Hoge and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 10

  • ‘I would highly recommend this volume for a range of readers: those interested in issues of translation generally, those who wish to know more about the life and work of this central Yiddish writer, and those desirous of understanding the complexities of translating Yiddish.’ — Leah Garrett, Modern Language Review 109.1, January 2014, 221-22 (full text online)

Published March 2011

A Captive of the Dawn: The Life and Work of Peretz Markish (1895-1952)
Edited by Joseph Sherman, Gennady Estraikh, Jordan Finkin and David Shneer
Studies In Yiddish 9

  • ‘This volume is not only the best study of Markish’s career available in English — it is the only one. And yet, one could not hope for a better treatment of its worthy subject... Given Markish’s signiicance to the development of Yiddish literature in Poland as well as the Soviet Union, there is no doubt that any scholar of Yiddish will consult these essays frequently and gratefully.’ — Marc Caplan, Slavonic and East European Review 92.2, April 2014, 321-23 (full text online)

Published April 2010

Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 8

  • ‘In the 1920s, Yiddish was more than just a lingua franca for East European Jewish émigrés; it was also a language of high culture, as demonstrated by a brilliant new book, Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture.’ — Benjamin Ivry, The Arty Semite online
  • ‘To be commended for keeping alive the names, literary output, and civilization of a Yiddish world that is lost forever.’ — Ellen Share, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews February/March 2011, 15
  • ‘There are many interesting articles in this volume. It is clear that in this brief period of flourishing Yiddish cultural activity there is much to disentangle. Berlin is a cultural and political hub in the Weimar period. An influx of multilingual Jews... enter a German Jewish world within a German world. Each of these ‘migrants’ arrives with existing cultural attachments into a war-time/post-war landscape which is signalling all kinds of modernisms. Some Yiddish writers in Berlin acknowledge the city in their literary work, others do not or only minimally. Berlin often emerges later once writers have moved elsewhere and begin to ‘recreate their past’.’ — Helen Beer, Slavonic and East European Review 90.2, April 2012, 332-34 (full text online)

Published August 2007

David Bergelson: From Modernism to Socialist Realism
Edited by Joseph Sherman and Gennady Estraikh
Studies In Yiddish 6

  • ‘A happy balance between text and context... everything from a close reading of his works to an examination of the literary, historical and cultural context in which those works were produced. This book is, in effect, more than the examination of the works of one author.’ — Eric Dickens, Three Percent March 2008
  • ‘Once more the Legenda imprint brings us an exemplary collection of essays on Yiddish literature... A magisterial study of exceptional factual richness which will remain a major source-work on this topic for years to come.’ — Hugh Denman, Modern Language Review 104.1, January 2009, 297-99 (full text online)
  • ‘Bergelson was arrested early in 1949 and executed in August 1952. His work has largely fallen into oblivion... There is thus all the more reason to welcome this collection of essays. It includes a biographical study by [Joseph] Sherman and essays by various people on different aspects of Bergelson's fiction, among them a fascinating account of conflicts with Abe Cahan, editor of Forverts.’ — Antony Polonsky, Times Literary Supplement 2 May 2008, 23
  • ‘The editors have done a remarkable job collecting essays that finally put Bergelson on the map of literary and historical scholarship. This is the necessary first step in assuring that the contribution made by this important Yiddish writer to the development of world's literature does not remain unnoticed.’ — Anna Shternshis, H-Judaic January 2009

Published September 2005

The Yiddish Presence in European Literature: Inspiration and Interaction
Edited by Joseph Sherman and Ritchie Robertson
Studies In Yiddish 5

  • ‘This excellent volume makes a most welcome contribution to the field of Jewish comparative literary studies.’ — Hugh Denman, Modern Language Review 102.2, April 2007, 600-02 (full text online)

Published July 2001

Yiddish and the Left: Papers of the Third Mendel Friedman International Conference on Yiddish
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 3

  • ‘The international roster of contributors covers an impressively broad range of topics... linked by a common thematic thread, the attempt of progressive Yiddish-language writers, intellectuals and activists to reconcile their competing allegiances to the Jewish poeple or religion and their leftist politics. The uniformly high quality of the collection and its breadth of topics and approaches makes it an important contribution to interdisciplinary Yiddish studies and to related fields of enquiry (foreign language and immigrant journalism, bilingual education, minority and exile literatures, African colonial literature, Soviet studies).’ — Elizabeth Loentz, Modern Language Review 98.4, 2003, 1066-7 (full text online)
  • ‘The quality of all the essays is no less than would be expected from the list of contributors, but particularly worthy of mention are Estraikh's analysis of the presence and representation of the Soviet Union in the New York-based communist daily Morga-frayhayt, Dafna Clifford's reflections on the Berlin period of author David Bergelson, and Efraim Zadoff's exploration of the educational systems of the Ashkenazi communities of Argentina and Mexico.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.1, 2004, 120

Published July 2000

The Shtetl: Image and Reality
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 2


Published July 1999

Yiddish in the Contemporary World: Papers of the First Mendel Friedman International Conference on Yiddish
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 1