100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature

The 100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature To Purchase a copy - click on the title The National Yiddish Book Center has identified the “100 Greatest Works of Modern Jewish Literature” – written in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, German, Spanish, English and other languages. Our plans are to integrate them into the mainstream of contemporary Jewish education. The seven distinguished judges compiling the list are: Glenda Abramson of Oxford University; Robert Alter of the University of California at Berkeley; Hillel Halkin of Zichron Ya-akov, Israel; Gershon Shaked of Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times; Ilan Stavans of Amherst College; and Ruth Wisse of Harvard University. The project coordinator is Dr. Jeremy Dauber, a former Yiddish Book Center intern, a recent Rhodes Scholar, and assistant professor of Yiddish at Columbia University. Deliberations began in the spring of 2000 and concluded in December 2001. The Center’s president, Aaron Lansky, describes the results as “a fascinating, challenging, sometimes surprising list with books ranging from Mendele to Maus.” Professor Ruth Wisse, author of The Modern Jewish Canon, says that the final list reflects “a mighty literature.”
Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler (Fishke der krumer, 1869) (Kitser masoes Binyomin hashlishi, 1878) S.Y. Abramovitch	The Nag (Di Kliyatshe, 1873-1909) S.Y. Abramovitch
Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve (1954) Dannie Abse	A Guest for the Night (Oreakh nata lalun, 1939) S.Y. Agnon
A Simple Story (Sipur Pashet, 1935) S.Y. Agnon	Only Yesterday (Tmol shilshom, 1945) S.Y. Agnon
The Joy of the Poor (Simkhat aniyyim, 1941) Nathan Alterman	Selected Poetry Yehuda Amichai
Pioneers (Pionern, 1904-05) S. An-ski	The Dybbuk (Der Dibuk: Tsvishn tsvey veltn, 1911) S. An-ski
The Age of Wonders (Tor hapelaot, 1978) Aharon Appelfeld	Salvation (Der tilim-yid, 1934) Sholem Asch
Collected Stories Isaac Babel	The First Day and Other Stories (2001) Dvora Baron
The Garden of the Finzi-Contini (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, 1962) Giorgio Bassani	Feathers (Notzot, 1979) Haim Be’er
Herzog (1964) Saul Bellow	Mr. Sammler’s Planet (1970) Saul Bellow
Selected Stories Michah Yosef Berdichevsky	Descent (Opgang, 1920) David Bergelson
Selected Poems H.N. Bialik	Breakdown and Bereavement (Shekhol vekishalon, 1920) Joseph Hayyim Brenner
The Rise of David Levinsky (1917) Abraham Cahan	The Memoirs (1977-1986) Elias Canetti
Selected Poems and Prose (2000) Paul Celan	The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) Michael Chabon
Belle du Seigneur (1968) Albert Cohen	Tales in Praise of the Baal Shem Tov (Shivkhei Ha-Besht, 1814) Dov Ber of Linitz
Whither? (Lean, 1927) Mordecai Ze’ev Feierberg	Jud Süss (1925) Leon Feuchtwanger
The Journey (Podroz, 1990) Ida Fink	The Diary of A Young Girl Anne Frank
The Williamsburg Trilogy (1961) Daniel Fuchs	The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas (Los gauchos judios, 1940) Alberto Gerchunoff
The Things We Used to Say (Lessico famigliare, 1963) Natalia Ginzburg	Selected Poems Jacob Glatstein
Next To (Etzel, 1913) Uri Nisan Gnessin	The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner (1978) Isaac Goldemberg
The Yeshiva (Tsemakh Atlas, 1967) Chaim Grade	Selected Poetry Uri Zevi Greenberg
See Under: Love (Ayen erekh ahava, 1986) David Grossman	Life and Fate (Zhizn i sudba, 1980) Vasily Grossman
The Victory (1969) Henryk Grynberg	Selected Poems Moishe Leib Halpern
The Dweller in Gardens (Yoshevet baganim, 1943) Hayim Hazaz	Jewish Stories and Hebrew Melodies (1987) Heinrich Heine
Heschel’s Kingdom (1999) Dan Jacobson	The Castle (Das Schloss, 1926) Franz Kafka
Collected Stories Franz Kafka	The Trial (Der Prozess, 1925) Franz Kafka
A Walker in the City (1951) Alfred Kazin	Fateless (1975) Imre Kertesz
The Second Scroll (1951) A.M. Klein	Zelmenyaner (1928) Moyshe Kulbak
Hebrew Ballads and Other Poems (1902-1939) Else Lasker-Schüler	The Golem (Der Goylem, 1919) H. Leivick
If This Is a Man (Se questo e un uomo, 1946) [Survival in Auschwitz] Primo Levi	The Complete Stories (1997) Bernard Malamud
Khumesh Lider and Selected Poems Itzik Manger	Selected Poetry Peretz Markish
The Pillar of Salt (La statue de sel, 1953) Albert Memmi	Victoria (Viktoryah, 1993) Sami Michael
Death of a Salesman (1949) Arthur Miller	Paper Bridges (2000) Kadya Molodowsky
The Tales (Mayses, 1815) Nachman of Bratslav	The Family Mashber (Di mishpokhe mashber, 1939; 1943) Der Nister
Unto Death (Ad mavet, 1971) Amos Oz	The Pagan Rabbi (1971) Cynthia Ozick
Selected Poetry (1989) Dan Pagis [1]	Collected Stories (1994) Grace Paley [2]
Selected Stories I.L. Peretz [3]	Revealer of Secrets (Megale temirin, 1819) Joseph Perl
Selected Poems Rakhel	Blood from the Sky (Le sang du ciel, 1961) Piotr Rawicz
Collected Poems (1937) Isaac Rosenberg	Call It Sleep (1934) Henry Roth [4]
Leviathan (Der Leviathan, 1940) Joseph Roth [5]	The Counterlife (1986) Philip Roth
Patrimony (1991) Philip Roth [6]	The Street of Crocodiles (Sklepy cynamonowe, 1934) Bruno Schulz
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities (1938) Delmore Schwartz	The Centaur in the Garden (1980) Moacyr Scliar
Past Continuous (Zikhron Devarim, 1977) Yaakov Shabtai	The Blue Mountain (Roman rusi, 1988) Meir Shalev
The Jewish Government and Other Stories (1971) Lamed Shapiro	Menakhem-Mendl and Mottel Peyse the Cantor's Son (Menakhem-Mendl, Mottel Peyse dem khazns, 1909) Sholem Aleichem
Tevye the Dairyman (Tevye der milkhiger, 1895-1914) Sholem Aleichem [7]	Fables (Mesholim, 1932) Eliezer Shteynbarg
The Brothers Ashkenazi (Di brider ashkenazi, 1937) Israel JOSHUA Singer	Satan in Goray (Sotn in goray, 1935) Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Collected Stories (1953) Isaac Bashevis Singer	Maus: A Survivor's Tale (1986) Art Spiegelman
As a Driven Leaf (1939) Milton Steinberg [8]	The Collected Poems of Abraham Sutzkever (1991) Abraham Sutzkever [9]
Selected Poems Saul Tchernikhovsky	The Investigation (Die Ermittlung, 1965) Peter Weiss
Night (1958) Elie Wiesel	Five Seasons (Molkho, 1987) A.B. Yehoshua
The Days of Ziklag (Yemei Ziklag, 1958) S. Yizhar	Selected Poetry Natan Zakh