Stories of the Marketplace

Fictional stories can often be used to learn more about social conditions in the times and places in which they were written.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles lived together in what was known as the Pale of Settlement, the area of Eastern Europe that belonged to the Russian Empire and that now encompasses parts of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states.  Amelia Glaser has authored a book -- Jews and Ukrainians in Russia's Literary Borderlands:  From the Shtetl Fair to the Petersburg Bookshop -- about how stories that Jewish, Russian, and Ukrainian authors told about these different communities meeting and interacting in the marketplace can give insight into their history of coexistence.  This insight can give a small glimpse into the world that some of our ancestors lived in.  Prof. Glaser will give a presentation based on her book on Monday, October 15, at 7:00 p.m. at the San Francisco Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.  The presentation is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Alison Greene at ajgreen@bjesf.org or (415) 567-3327 x703.