Fradl Shtok

Fradl Shtok ( yi, פֿראַדעל שטאָק) (also Fradel Stock, 1888 – 1952?)Kenvin, Helene.

" ''JewishGen KehilaLinks''. Last updated 13 September 2015. Retrieved 2016-05-13. was a Jewish-American Yiddish-language poet and writer, who immigrated to the United States from Galicia, Austria-Hungary, at the age of 18 or 19. She is known as one of the first Yiddish poets to use the sonnet form; and her stories, which were less well received than her poems in her lifetime, have since been recognized as innovative for their exploration of subjectivity, and, in particular, for their depiction of Jewish female characters at odds with traditional roles and expectations.Kellman, Ellen.
Fradel Shtok
" ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia''. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive (jwa.org). Retrieved 2016-05-13.

Biography

Fradl Shtok was born in the shtetl, or small town, of Skala, in eastern Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today in Ukraine). Her mother died when she was one year old, and her father went to prison a few years later, for his part in the murder of a man during a brawl; after that she was raised by an aunt. Shtok was a talented student, played the violin, and could recite from the works of the classic German poets Goethe and Schiller."Shtok, Fradl" (1981). In: ''Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur'' iographical Dictionary of Modern Yiddish Literature New York: Congress for Jewish Culture. Vol. 8, col. 608–609.

In 1907, she immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. Beginning in 1910, she published poems and stories in Yiddish periodicals and anthologies, mostly in publications of the literary group known as ''Di Yunge''. In 1914, Shtok was among a group of writers led by Joseph Opatoshu, who broke away from ''Di Yunge'' out of a philosophic disagreement, and published their own anthology, ''Di naye heym'' (The new home), edited by Opatoshu; not satisfied with their colleagues' emphasis on literary playfulness, the writers of ''Di naye heym'' were interested in exploring the ties between their own milieu and the past generation. The anthology included a cycle of eight sonnets by Shtok.

Shtok was recognized in her own time and later as a significant lyric voice in Yiddish. Jacob Glatstein wrote appreciatively in retrospect: "Her poetry is elegant, original ... masterful ... capable of inscribing a beautiful chapter into Yiddish poetry". In an analysis of two major anthologies of Yiddish poetry published in the early 20th century, the scholar Kathryn Hellerstein notes that "Shtok stands out as an innovator in verse forms, enriching the meters and stanzas of Yiddish poetry."Hellerstein, Kathryn (2014). ''A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586–1987''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 38. In Moyshe Bassin's anthology of Yiddish poetry over five centuries (''Finf hundert yor yidishe poezye''; 1917), volume two (covering the modern period), which included only a narrow selection of female poets (nine of the total 95 poets), Shtok was by far the best represented. A generous selection of Shtok's poems also appeared in Ezra Korman's 1928 anthology of Yiddish poetry by women from the 16th century to the contemporary era (''Yidishe dikhterins''), which included 70 women poets.

In 1919, Fradl Shtok published a collection of 38 stories, ''Gezamelte ertsehlungen''. Most of the stories are set in a shtetl that resembles, or, in some instances, is directly or indirectly identified as her hometown Skala, while ten stories take place in a Jewish immigrant milieu in the United States. Contemporary reviews of the book were mixed, with one or two striking a particularly negative tone."Fradl Shtok" uthor biography In: ''Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. Edited by Jules Chametzky, et al. . p. 290–291.

Subsequently, Shtok withdrew from the Yiddish literary scene. In 1927 she published a novel in English, ''Musicians Only'', which received no attention from critics in either English or Yiddish.

In 1942 Shtok was in contact with Abraham Cahan, editor of the Yiddish newspaper ''Forverts'' (The Forward), and he received from her a new story in Yiddish, "A soycher fun fel" (A fur merchant), which appeared in the newspaper on November 19, 1942.

Her correspondence with Cahan indicated that she was at that time going by the name of Frances Zinn, and was living in California. She likely died in the Hollywood, California, in 1952.

Publications

Books
* 1919:
Gezamelte ertsehlungen
' tories New York: Farlag "Naye Tsayt"
* 1927: ''Musicians Only'' ovel New York: Pelican

Stories
* November 19, 1942: ''A soykher fun fel.'' Forverts

Works in translation

Stories
* "The Archbishop" (Der erts-bishof), translated by Joachim Neugroschel. In: Neugroschel (Ed./Trans.), ''No Star Too Beautiful: Yiddish Stories from 1382 to the Present''. New York: Norton, 2002. p.  462–469
* "At the Mill" (Bay der mil), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Sandra Bark (Ed.), ''Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: an Anthology''. New York: Warner Books, 2003. . p. 75–81
* "A Cut" (A shnit). Translated by Jordan Finkin and Allison Schaechter. ''Your Impossible Voice'' (19), 2019.
* "The First Patient" (Der ershter patsyent). Translated by Jordan Finkin and Allison Schachter. ''Pakn Treger'', Summer 2020
* "Sonnet"; "A Winter Echo"; "Dusks." Translated by Kathryn Hellerstein. In ''Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology'', edited by Jules Chametzky, John Felstiner, Jilene Flanzbaum, and Kathryn Hellerstein. W. W. Norton, 2001. .
* "The Shorn Head" (Obgeshnitene hor), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz and Klepfisz (Eds.), ''The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology''. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989. p.  190–193
* "The Veil" (Der Shleyer), translated by Brina Menachovsky Rose. In: Frieda Forman et al. (Eds.), ''Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers''. Toronto: Second Story Press, 1994. . p. 99–104
* "Winter Berries" (Kalines), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Sandra Bark (Ed.), ''Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: an Anthology''. New York: Warner Books, 2003. . p. 21–27

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shtok, Fradl
1888 births
1952 deaths
People from Ternopil Oblast
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
American Jews
American women poets
Jewish American poets
Jewish women writers
Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Yiddish-language poets
Yiddish-language literature
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States