Novelist, translator, and professor of Jewish studies
Curt Leviant |
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| Born | 1932 (age 93–94)
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| Occupation | Author, Translator, Professor |
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| Nationality | American |
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| Notable works | - The Yemenite Girl
- The Man Who Thought He Was Messiah
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Curt Leviant (born 1932,Vienna[1]) is a retired Jewish Studies professor, as well as a novelist and translator.
Personal life and career
[edit]His parents were Jacques and Fenia Leviant. They spoke Yiddish at home, and encouraged their son's interest in Yiddish literature and theater.[2]
He came to the United States in 1938.[1] He took a BA fromCUNY (Brooklyn), followed in 1957 by an MA fromColumbia,[3] with a thesis onLamed Shapiro.[4] From 1960, he taught Hebraic studies atRutgers, taking a PhD there in 1966 with a doctoral thesis that was a translation with commentary, published in 1969 asKing Artur: A Hebrew Authurian Romance of 1279.[5][6][7]
He married Erika Leah Pfeifer, they had three daughters, Dalya, Dvora, Shulamit.[8]
Leviant was also a book reviewer, usually of Jewish authors, with reviews appearing inThe New York Times,The Nation, and other publications, especially Jewish media. In more recent years, he has been, co-authoring with his wife, a Jewish travel writer.
According to Lewis Fried, "his fiction is nuanced, surprising, and often arabesque, dealing with the demands of the present and the claims of the past."[9]
- The Yemenite Girl. Bobbs-Merrill, 1977; Avon/Bard Books, 1978; Syracuse University Press, 1999
- expansion of a 1973 short story of the same title, published inThe Literary Review, Fall 1973.
- winner of theEdward Lewis Wallant Award
- Passion in the Desert Avon/Bard Books, 1980
- The Man Who Thought He Was Messiah. Jewish Publication Society, 1990
- Partita in Venice. Livingston Press, 1999
- Diary of an Adulterous Woman: A Novel: Including an ABC Dictionary That Offers Alphabetical Tidbits and Surprises. Syracuse University Press, 2001
- A Novel of Klass. Livingston, 2008
- Kafka's Son. Dzanc Books, 2016
- Katz or Cats, or How Jesus Became my Rival in Love. Dzanc Books, 2018
- Ladies and Gentlemen, the Original Music of the Hebrew Alphabet andWeekend in Mustara: Two Novellas. University of Wisconsin Press, 2002
- Zix Zexy Ztories. Texas Tech University Press, 2012
Leviant has translated fromHebrew andYiddish to English, including:
- The Yeshiva, byChaim Grade.
- The Agunah, by Chaim Grade.
- More Stories from my Father's Court, byIsaac Bashevis Singer.
- Stories and Satires, bySholom Aleichem.
- Old Country Tales, by Sholom Aleichem.
- From the Fair, by Sholom Aleichem.
- The Jewish Government and Other Stories, byLamed Shapiro.
- The Heart-stirring Sermon and other Stories, byAbraham Reisen.
- The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague, byYudl Rosenberg (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007).
- ^abHarry Zohn,Österreichische Juden in der Literatur (Olamenu, 1969), p. 37.
- ^From his thanks to his parents in some of his Sholom Aleichem translations,Stories and Satires (1959) andOld Country Tales (1966), including their help with obscure Yiddish idioms, especially those of Russian origin.
- ^Rutgers Catalog, p. 88
- ^Cited in
- ^Cecil Roth,Encyclopaedia Judaica (Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1996:ISBN 965-07-0219-9), Vol. 1, p. 33.
- ^The Writers Directory, 31st edition, St. James Press (part of Gale, Cengage Learning) 2013
- ^Rutgers Catalog, p. 88
- ^From the dedication toMasterpieces of Hebrew Literature, Ktav, 1969.
- ^"Leviant, Curt" entry inEncyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition, 2007, v. 12, p. 696.
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