The Shadows of Berlin

Shadows of Berlin is, in part, a bleak chronicle of life in Europe growing ever more hostile at the edge of World War II, part mythic parable. Bergelson's stories-passionate, honest, dark and often hilarious-hint at the possibility of redemption even as they suggest a horror just around the corner. Dovid Bergelson (1884-1952) is considered to be one of the best Soviet Yiddish writers of the twentieth century. He was executed in 1952 as part of Stalin's purge of Soviet Yiddish culture. Joachim Neugroschel is the winner of three PEN Translation Awards and the French-American Translation Prize. His translations include works by Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann.