East River
by Sholem Asch
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The unforgettable saga of two immigrant families and the forbidden love that could not keep them apart. "East River" is a novel by Sholem Asch, first published in 1946, and a New York Times bestseller of that year. Unlike the denser Jewish pockets of the lower East Side of New York, East 48th Street by the river was, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, an international neighborhood made up of Orthodox Jews, Catholic Irish, nostalgic Poles, chauvinistic Italians, all hungry, all show more overworked, all insecure. But although these folk were all, so to speak, melting in the same pot, they were kept at a certain distance from one another, by their inherited prejudices, the most pernicious of which were supplied by their religions. To allow them to live together and work together toward a happier life, and to turn them from their European pasts toward a high American future, they needed, in Asch's view, the religion of love. And the same religion was needed to get the bosses and workers together in the garment industry, so as to end the sweatshops, the subcontracting system, and destructive strikes. Set in the diverse, impoverished neighborhood of 48th Street and the East River in Manhattan, during the years before World War I, Asch's novel is a captivating tale of the inevitable and wrenching consequences of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Christians. show lessTags
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Written in 1946 and translated from Yiddish by A.H. Gross. Situated on E. 48th St. on the last block between the river and 1st Ave. Many Jews and a few gentiles make up the myriad characters of this charming but none too subtle novel. A Catholic girl, Mary, marries Irving Davidowsky, causing his father to sit shiva for him. Irving is making his fortune running a garment business. Includes much of the author philosophizing about religion, labor, socialism. Asch remains essentially Jewish, while having an open mind and a certain curiosity about Christianity.
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Author Information
104+ Works 2,230 Members
Sholem Asch, one of the major figures in Yiddish letters, was born in Kutno, near Warsaw, Poland, in 1880. He began writing in 1901, first in Hebrew, then in Yiddish. His early, quietly humorous stories of Jewish small-town life brought Yiddish literature to international notice. His epic novels and plays dealt with the contemporary scene and the show more Jewish experience on a worldwide scale. The range and reach of his talent were wide; his collected works appeared in Yiddish in 29 volumes. Many of his works have been translated into English, but some translations are now out of print. Asch spent most of his last two years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel (although he died in London). His house in Bat Yam is now the Sholem Asch Museum. The bulk of his library, containing rare Yiddish books and manuscripts, including the manuscripts of some of his own works, is held at Yale University. Asch died in 1957. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1946
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 839.133 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures Other Germanic literatures Yiddish literature Fiction 1860-1945
- LCC
- PJ5129 .A8 .E5 — Language and Literature Oriental languages and literatures Oriental philology and literature Hebrew Other languages used by Jews Yiddish
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 182
- Popularity
- 179,420
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.10)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 10
