This richly suggestive book examines the common bonds of thought and shared manner of expression that unite Jewish writers working in America, Eastern Europe, and Israel. Murray Baumgarten shows how Jewish traditions are reflected in the themes and narrative style of a diverse group of writers, including Saul Bellow, Henry Roth, Sholom Aleichen, Isaac Babel, and S.Y. Agnon. Baumgarten finds in these writers a distinctive and symbolic use of the urban scene arid style of life—whether the city is Brooklyn, Chicago, Vienna, Warsaw, Odessa, or Jerusalem. He examines the pariah stance, and the different kinds of tension between freedom from communal ties and the pull of traditional culture. He demonstrates how Yiddish can flavor and inflect the syntax, how scripture can permeate the thinking and narrative devices, in writers of various nationalities.

Love exploring London? Love poetry? Then City of Verse: A London Poetry Trail is for you. Discover a new angle on the capital while spending time with some of its greatest writers. This guided walk through central London will take you to twenty-four sites associated with notable poets and poems. Explore the city’s literary past while visiting some of its most interesting places, from the famous to the lesser known. The trail begins at Shakespeare’s Globe in Southwark and ends at the former site of Gatehouse Prison by Westminster Abbey. Your companions on the journey include William Shakespeare, John Keats, and TE Hulme, along with twenty-one other poets, each with their unique take on the life of the city. Experience London in a new and distinctive way, and go exploring with City of Verse: A London Poetry Trail as your guide. Features Twenty-four poems selected from six hundred years of literature. Introductory notes on each place, poet, and poem. Full route directions, with GPS coordinates for each stop. Google Maps route map and directions available on-line and for download to your smartphone.