Yesterday, this email was waiting in my in-box. After reading it, I felt that the 25 years of my life absorbed by the Jewish Shakespeare book were worth it. Many thanks to you for that, my new friend Ruth.
I just finished reading your book, Finding the Jewish Shakespeare. I enoyed it very much, especially the unique perspective coming from someone who is both related to Mr. Gordin and also an actress herself. I am sorry that his life was so hard, and that the people in the world he inhabited could not help each other more. I’ll never think about Abraham Cahan the same way again!
I have loved your great-grandfather’s work since I first saw the movie Mirele Efros several years ago. Since then, I have seen some of his other work and enjoyed it very much, although I think that Mirele will always be my favorite. I am not a native Yiddish speaker and never learned it at home; I have studied it on my own for the last few years. This is a very slow way to learn a language, but I live in an isolated rural area in Texas, and it is my only option. Right now, I am attempting my own translation of Mirele Efros and Der yidisher kenig Lear.
I just wanted you to know that there are still lots of people out here who really enjoy your great-grandfather’s work. For me, each work serves a dual purpose: it is a time machine into a world and culture that is at great risk of being lost, and it is just a great story for entertainment.
Zayt gezint un freylekh,
Ruth Murphy
One response to “The Joys of Writing, #4962”
AS what you said , with the rapidly society , We seems get lost . We need such optimistic attitude to the world.