Yudl: A Novel and Selected Short Stories
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Silbert, Layle, PUBLISHER: Seven Stories Press,U.S., "Yudl" is a previously unpublished novella and a collection of short stories that have appeared in a number of literary magazines. Set in s Chicago, the novella follows a character named Yudl, a middle-aged editor at a left-leaning newspaper called "The Yiddish Courier." Yudl and his wife have decided to become landlords, purchasing a vacant lot and hiring an acquaintance--aptly named Mason--to oversee the construction of their future apartment building. However, delays in the construction leave Yudl and his family without a home, forcing them to stay with Mason and his family until the construction is finally complete. Told with wry wit and a masterful sensibility for metaphor, the story explores gender, Zionism, and the immigrant experience in the US. Silbert's graceful short stories focus on the family, allowing the reader glimpses of a child's happiness, the cripplingly contradictory demands of femininity, the complexity of grief, and a sustained meditation on life and death.