num_pages: 148
description: “Ansky’s The Dybbuk is a wonderful play. It is pleasant to be reminded of its dark grandeur again. . . . All the wonder, faith, piety and terror of the story are woven into [the] last act as if it were a religious tapestry.” ― Brooks Atkinson The Dybbuk , regarded as the classic drama of the Yiddish stage, has long frightened yet fascinated audiences throughout the world. Based on Jewish folklore, its dark implications of mysterious, other-worldly forces at work in a quaint and simple village make for gripping, suspenseful theater. To the Chassidic Jews of eastern Europe, a dybbuk was not a legend or a myth; rather it remained a constant and portentous possibility. During that age of pervasive mysticism, when rabbis became miracle workers and the sinister arts of the Kabbala were fearsomely invoked, it was never doubted that a discontented spirit from the dead could cross the barrier between the “real” and the “other” worlds to enter a living human body. The Dybbuk is a masterful play, full of deep-rooted obsessions and dramatic suspense, fascinating for the glimpse it provides of the rich, poetic, and often tragic culture of the Chassidim. In this classic translation by Henry Alsberg and Winifred Katzin, the authentic cadences of the original Yiddish are deftly preserved.
language: English
title: The Dybbuk
titlecomplete: The Dybbuk
genres: Fiction, Plays, Theatre, Drama, Jewish, Horror, Classics, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Judaism
ratings_count: 286
series: Biblioteka pisarzy żydowskich im. Michała Friedmana
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Audie Award
category: Audiobook Adapted From Another Medium
publisher: Liveright