The Full Pomegranate

Translations of selected poems by the Yiddish writer, covering the entire breadth of his career. Yiddish writer Avrom Sutzkever (1913–2010) was described by the New York Times as “the greatest poet of the Holocaust.” Born in present-day Belarus, Sutzkever spent his childhood as a war refugee in Siberia, returned to Poland to participate in the interwar flourishing of Yiddish culture, was confined to the Vilna ghetto during the Nazi occupation, escaped to join the Jewish partisans, and settled in the new state of Israel after the war. Personal and political, mystical and national, his body of work, including more than two dozen volumes of poetry, several of stories, and a memoir, demonstrated the ways in which Yiddish creativity simultaneously balanced the imperatives of mourning and revival after the Holocaust. In The Full Pomegranate, Richard J. Fein selects and translates some of Sutzkever’s best poems covering the full breadth of his career. Fein’s translations appear alongside the original Yiddish, while an introduction by Justin Cammy situates Sutzkever in both historical and literary context. “Richard Fein is among the best translators of Yiddish poetry into English—the best now, and, for that matter, among the best ever. He has a deep, inward sense of Yiddish poems, both intuitive and analytic, and a patient tenacity in burrowing into them. He also has what is still rarer, a beautifully fine ear for diction and rhythm; the translations are alive on the page, every word is necessary, every cadence has its music. “The poems of Avrom Sutzkever were a challenge to him; he writes, candidly, ‘they wanted me to find new powers in my English.’ There is a special, precious audacity in accepting such a challenge, and Fein has indeed found the new powers the poems demanded.” — Lawrence Rosenwald, Wellesley College PRAISE FOR THE FULL POMEGRANATE “Avrom Sutzkever has no more loving translator than fellow poet Richard Fein. Even those who think they ‘do not understand poetry’ will be inspired by the poet who bore witness to the most dramatic points of modern Jewish experience and could transmit their power. Strength and spirit fuse in Sutzkever, wit and insight, moral confidence and grace. Our thanks to the translator and to Justin Cammy’s introduction for bringing this Jewish cultural landmark to English readers.” — Ruth R. Wisse, author of No Joke: Making Jewish Humor “Richard Fein’s translations strive for the impossible acrobatics of Sutzkever’s writing, from the rare alchemy of his striking metaphors to a postwar longing for poetic redemption in the face of destruction. To capture just an echo of Sutzkever’s singular voice would be an achievement. This collection, simultaneously careful and daring in its choices, amplifies that echo to the maximum that the English language would allow.” — Saul Noam Zaritt, Harvard University “In dialogue with Avrom Sutzkever, Richard Fein offers us a vibrant selection of the poet’s works in a beautiful facing-page translation. Sutzkever’s superbly inventive Yiddish imagery and wordcraft inspired Fein, the poet-translator, to dynamically engage both Yiddish and English, with remarkable and moving results.” — Ellen Kellman, Brandeis University

Translations of selected poems by the Yiddish writer, covering the entire breadth of his career. Yiddish writer Avrom Sutzkever (1913–2010) was described by the New York Times as “the greatest poet of the Holocaust.” Born in present-day Belarus, Sutzkever spent his childhood as a war refugee in Siberia, returned to Poland to participate in the interwar flourishing of Yiddish culture, was confined to the Vilna ghetto during the Nazi occupation, escaped to join the Jewish partisans, and settled in the new state of Israel after the war. Personal and political, mystical and national, his body of work, including more than two dozen volumes of poetry, several of stories, and a memoir, demonstrated the ways in which Yiddish creativity simultaneously balanced the imperatives of mourning and revival after the Holocaust. In The Full Pomegranate, Richard J. Fein selects and translates some of Sutzkever’s best poems covering the full breadth of his career. Fein’s translations appear alongside the original Yiddish, while an introduction by Justin Cammy situates Sutzkever in both historical and literary context. Richard J. Fein is Professor Emeritus of English at the State University of New York at New Paltz and the author, editor, and translator of many books, including With Everything We’ve Got: A Personal Anthology of Yiddish Poetry.

The pomegranate, Punica granatum L., is one of the oldest known edible fruits and is associated with the ancient civilizations of the Middle East. This is the first comprehensive book covering the botany, production, processing, health and industrial uses of the pomegranate. The cultivation of this fruit for fresh consumption, juice production and medicinal purposes has expanded more than tenfold over the past 20 years. Presenting a review of pomegranate growing, from a scientific and horticultural perspective, this book provides information on how to increase yields and improve short- and medium-term grower profitability and sustainability.

Drawn to the changeling Court of Toronto to help her friend Riley organize a Highsummer party, Tango arrives to discover Riley missing. Her search for clues to his whereabouts leads her to a pack of Sabbat vampires on a grisly murder spree.

From the Publisher: This volume is the first-ever collection of poems in English by 49 prominent Greek-American poets from throughout the United States. The poems cover a variety of topics and styles.

"I do not talk to dirty boys." The girl was defiant, her dress dusty, her scarf askew; tendrils of burnished copper hair escaping onto her face. She would not stand by as her brother defended her honor. She would defend herself. So begins the story of Batsheva Hagiz, the spirited daughter of a Jewish merchant dynasty in 12th Century Málaga. Her life is set by tradition, with schooling in languages, merchandise, and trade. But it's her love of swordplay and the ability to throw a dagger with deadly aim that will serve her best. On the caravan journey across the desert to her wedding, Batsheva is abducted by men who are certain their sheik will prize her body. In the early days of captivity, chained to his tent, she makes the decision to do more than merely survive. She will live. Her resolve will push the boundaries of convention, taking Batsheva from the sands of the Maghreb to the Holy Land where a crusade rages, on to the court of Plantagenet England. Batsheva is Everywoman; she refuses to give in to her fate. Instead, she confronts the world on her terms. In her third novel, S. J. Schwaidelson weaves another cinematic story, immersing readers into exotic lands and cultures with surprisingly contemporary conflicts and human passions.

Pomegranate Seedsis the first collection of the oral tradition of Latin American Jews to be presented in English. These thirty-four tales span the 500 years of Jewish presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. The folktales and cultural oral narratives were often based on actual events, recorded not only from the Ashkenazi perspective but from the Sephardic and Oriental as well. Like dispersed pomegranate seeds, all the stories come from a common cluster, yet each is a separate kernel. The stories are short, between five and fifteen pages, and each is carefully annotated. In addition to gathering stories from eleven Latin American countries, the author found material in the United States and Israel. Regardless of their origin, several tales have to do with personal feelings, emotional insights, and interpretation of the protagonists, while others deal with happy or traumatic events that cannot be forgotten and dreams that have not been fulfilled. Not surprisingly, trauma and bigotry are common threads through some of the stories. These are tales, as Nadia Grosser Nagarajan says, "concealed by tropical greenery, encircled by vast jungles and flowing majestic rivers that echo many voices and reflect many views and visions."