Anzia Yezierska
Encyclopedia
Anzia Yezierska was a Polish-American novelist born in Maly Plock, Poland
.
. Her family assumed the surname Mayer, while Anzia took Harriet (or Hattie) as her first name. She later reclaimed her original name, Anzia Yezierska, in her late twenties. Her father was a scholar of sacred texts.
Anzia Yezierska's parents encouraged her brothers to pursue a higher education.
In 1910 she fell in love with Arnold Levitas, but instead married his friend Jacob Gordon, a New York Attorney. After 6 months the marriage was annulled. Shortly after, she married Arnold Levitas in a religious ceremony to avoid legal complications. Arnold was the father of her first and only child, Louise Levitas Henriksen, born May 29, 1912. Around 1914 she left Arnold and moved to San Francisco with her daughter where she was employed as a social worker. However, she later gave up her paternal rights for Louise to Arnold because she was overwhelmed with the chores and responsibilities of raising her daughter. She then moved back to New York City. Around 1917, she engaged in a romantic relationship with Philosopher John Dewey
, a professor at Columbia University
.
After achieving her goal of becoming an independent woman, her sister influenced her to begin writing. She devoted the remainder of her life to writing.
Yezierska was the aunt of American film critic Cecelia Ager and the great aunt of Ager's daughter, journalist Shana Alexander
.
Anzia Yezierska died November 21, 1970 of a stroke in a nursing home in Ontario, California.
's Lower East Side
. In her fifty year writing career, the main theme running throughout her works is the cost of acculturation and assimilation among immigrants. Her stories provide insight into the meaning of liberation for immigrants—particularly Jewish immigrant women. Many of her works of fiction can be labeled semi-autobiographical. In her writing, she draws heavily on her personal life as an immigrant in New York's Lower East Side. Her works, therefore, feature elements of realism with heavy attention to detail and skillful use of Yiddish-English dialect. At the same time, sentimentalism and highly idealized characters have prompted some critics to label her works as romantic.
Yezierska turned to writing around 1912. Turmoil in her personal life prompted her to write stories focused on problems faced by wives. In the beginning, she had difficulty finding a publisher for her work. But her persistence paid off in December 1915 when her story, "The Free Vacation House" was published in The Forum. She attracted more critical attention about a year later when another tale, "Where Lovers Dream" appeared in Metropolitan. Her literary endeavors received more recognition when her rags-to-riches story, "The Fat of the Land," appeared in noted editor Edward J. O'Brien's collection, Best Short Stories of 1919. Yezierska's early fiction was eventually collected by publisher Houghton Mifflin and released as a book titled Hungry Hearts in 1920. Another collection of stories, Children of Loneliness, followed two years later. These stories focus on the children of immigrants and their pursuit of the American Dream
.
Some literary critics argue that Yezierska's true strength as an author rests in the longer fictional form, the novel. Her first novel, Salome of the Tenements, was published in 1923 and was based on the experiences of her friend, Rose Pastor Stokes
. Stokes gained fame as a young immigrant woman who married into a prominent New York family in 1904.
Her most studied work, Bread Givers
(1925), follows the story of a young woman struggling to live from day to day while searching to find her place in American society. Bread Givers earned Yezierska critical acclaim and respect as a mature artist. Bread Givers remains her best known novel.
Arrogant Beggar chronicles the adventures of narrator Adele Lindner, who exposes the hypocrisy of the charitably run Hellman Home for Working Girls after fleeing from the poverty of the Lower East Side.
In 1929-1930 the Zona Gale
fellowship at the University of Wisconsin offered financial relief and made few demands on Yezierska, who was able to write several stories and finish a novel. All I Could Never Be was published in 1932, after Yezierska had returned to New York City.
The end of the 1920s marked a decline of interest in Yezierska's work. During the Great Depression
, she worked for the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. During this time, she wrote the novel, All I Could Never Be. Published in 1932, this work is derived from her striving to become an American but never achieving that status because she sees herself as an immigrant and feels the road to success is harder because things typically come easier to Americans than immigrants. It was the last novel Yezierska published before falling into obscurity.
Her fictionalized autobiography, Red Ribbon on a White Horse, came out in 1950 when she was nearly 70 years old. The publication of her memoirs led to greater interest in her works. The Open Cage is one of Yezierska's bleakest stories written during her later years of life. She began writing it in 1962 at the age of 81. It compares the life of an old woman to that of an ailing bird.
Although she was nearly blind, Yezierska continued writing and having stories, articles, and book reviews published until her death in California in 1970.
was shot on location at New York's Lower East Side with Helen Ferguson
, E. Alyn Warren
, and Bryant Washburn
. In recent years, the film has been restored through the efforts of the National Center for Jewish Film, the Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the British Film Institute
. In 2006, a new score was composed to accompany the film. Yezierska's 1923 novel Salome of the Tenements was also produced as a silent picture. The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
will show this restored print in July 2010.
Goldwyn, recognizing the popularity of Yezierska's stories, gave Yezierska a $100,000 contract to write screenplays. In California, Yezierska's sudden rise to fame prompted publicists to label her "the sweatshop Cinderella." Although Yezierska's own semi-autobiographical
work had contributed to this rags-to-riches image, she found herself uncomfortable with being touted as an example of the American Dream. Frustrated by the shallowness of Hollywood and by her own alienation from her roots, Yezierska returned to New York in the mid-1920s and continued publishing novels and stories about immigrant women struggling to establish their identities in America.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Personal life
Anzia Yezierska was born in the 1880s in Maly Plock to Bernard and Pearl Yezierski. Her family immigrated to America around 1890, following in the footsteps of her eldest brother Meyer, who arrived to the States six years prior. They took up housing in the Lower East Side, ManhattanLower East Side, Manhattan
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. Her family assumed the surname Mayer, while Anzia took Harriet (or Hattie) as her first name. She later reclaimed her original name, Anzia Yezierska, in her late twenties. Her father was a scholar of sacred texts.
Anzia Yezierska's parents encouraged her brothers to pursue a higher education.
In 1910 she fell in love with Arnold Levitas, but instead married his friend Jacob Gordon, a New York Attorney. After 6 months the marriage was annulled. Shortly after, she married Arnold Levitas in a religious ceremony to avoid legal complications. Arnold was the father of her first and only child, Louise Levitas Henriksen, born May 29, 1912. Around 1914 she left Arnold and moved to San Francisco with her daughter where she was employed as a social worker. However, she later gave up her paternal rights for Louise to Arnold because she was overwhelmed with the chores and responsibilities of raising her daughter. She then moved back to New York City. Around 1917, she engaged in a romantic relationship with Philosopher John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, a professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
After achieving her goal of becoming an independent woman, her sister influenced her to begin writing. She devoted the remainder of her life to writing.
Yezierska was the aunt of American film critic Cecelia Ager and the great aunt of Ager's daughter, journalist Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander was an American journalist, born Shana Ager in New York City on October 6, 1925. Although she became the first woman staff writer and columnist for Life magazine, she was best known for her participation in the "Point-Counterpoint" debate segments of 60 Minutes with conservative...
.
Anzia Yezierska died November 21, 1970 of a stroke in a nursing home in Ontario, California.
Writing career
Yezierska wrote about the struggles of Jewish and later Puerto Rican immigrants in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. In her fifty year writing career, the main theme running throughout her works is the cost of acculturation and assimilation among immigrants. Her stories provide insight into the meaning of liberation for immigrants—particularly Jewish immigrant women. Many of her works of fiction can be labeled semi-autobiographical. In her writing, she draws heavily on her personal life as an immigrant in New York's Lower East Side. Her works, therefore, feature elements of realism with heavy attention to detail and skillful use of Yiddish-English dialect. At the same time, sentimentalism and highly idealized characters have prompted some critics to label her works as romantic.
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
.
Some literary critics argue that Yezierska's true strength as an author rests in the longer fictional form, the novel. Her first novel, Salome of the Tenements, was published in 1923 and was based on the experiences of her friend, Rose Pastor Stokes
Rose Pastor Stokes
Rose Harriet Pastor Stokes was a Jewish-American socialist activist, writer, birth control advocate, and feminist. She was active in labor politics and women's issues, and was a founding member of the Communist Party of America in 1919. She was a figure of some public notoriety for having married...
. Stokes gained fame as a young immigrant woman who married into a prominent New York family in 1904.
Her most studied work, Bread Givers
Bread Givers
Bread Givers is a 1925 novel by Anzia Yezierska.-Synopsis:Bread Givers, a Jewish-American female coming-of-age story written by Anzia Yezierska, begins with a 10-year old Sara Smolinsky...
(1925), follows the story of a young woman struggling to live from day to day while searching to find her place in American society. Bread Givers earned Yezierska critical acclaim and respect as a mature artist. Bread Givers remains her best known novel.
Arrogant Beggar chronicles the adventures of narrator Adele Lindner, who exposes the hypocrisy of the charitably run Hellman Home for Working Girls after fleeing from the poverty of the Lower East Side.
In 1929-1930 the Zona Gale
Zona Gale
Zona Gale was an American author and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, in 1921.-Biography:Gale was born in Portage, Wisconsin, which she often used as a setting in her writing...
fellowship at the University of Wisconsin offered financial relief and made few demands on Yezierska, who was able to write several stories and finish a novel. All I Could Never Be was published in 1932, after Yezierska had returned to New York City.
The end of the 1920s marked a decline of interest in Yezierska's work. During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, she worked for the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. During this time, she wrote the novel, All I Could Never Be. Published in 1932, this work is derived from her striving to become an American but never achieving that status because she sees herself as an immigrant and feels the road to success is harder because things typically come easier to Americans than immigrants. It was the last novel Yezierska published before falling into obscurity.
Her fictionalized autobiography, Red Ribbon on a White Horse, came out in 1950 when she was nearly 70 years old. The publication of her memoirs led to greater interest in her works. The Open Cage is one of Yezierska's bleakest stories written during her later years of life. She began writing it in 1962 at the age of 81. It compares the life of an old woman to that of an ailing bird.
Although she was nearly blind, Yezierska continued writing and having stories, articles, and book reviews published until her death in California in 1970.
Yezierska and Hollywood
The success of Anzia Yezierska's early short stories led to a brief, but significant, relationship between the author and Hollywood. Movie producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights to Yezierska's collection Hungry Hearts. The film of the same titleHungry Hearts (1922 film)
Hungry Hearts is an American film based on stories by Anzia Yezierska about Jewish immigrants to the Lower East Side of New York City. The film was directed by E. Mason Hopper, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and starred Helen Ferguson and E...
was shot on location at New York's Lower East Side with Helen Ferguson
Helen Ferguson
Helen Ferguson was an American actress later turned publicist.Born in Decatur, Illinois in 1901, she graduated from Nicholas High School of Chicago and the Academy of Fine Arts. Ferguson was a newspaper reporter before entering the motion picture field.It is thought she made her debut in films in...
, E. Alyn Warren
E. Alyn Warren
E. Alyn Warren , was an American actor. He appeared in 99 films between 1915 and 1940.He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:* The Virgin of Stamboul...
, and Bryant Washburn
Bryant Washburn
Born Franklin Bryant Washburn , Bryant Washburn was an American film actor. He appeared in 330 films between 1911 and 1947....
. In recent years, the film has been restored through the efforts of the National Center for Jewish Film, the Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
. In 2006, a new score was composed to accompany the film. Yezierska's 1923 novel Salome of the Tenements was also produced as a silent picture. The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world. The three-week summer festival is held in San Francisco, California, usually at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and other cinemas in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Rafael, and Palo Alto, and features...
will show this restored print in July 2010.
Goldwyn, recognizing the popularity of Yezierska's stories, gave Yezierska a $100,000 contract to write screenplays. In California, Yezierska's sudden rise to fame prompted publicists to label her "the sweatshop Cinderella." Although Yezierska's own semi-autobiographical
Autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fiction elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction...
work had contributed to this rags-to-riches image, she found herself uncomfortable with being touted as an example of the American Dream. Frustrated by the shallowness of Hollywood and by her own alienation from her roots, Yezierska returned to New York in the mid-1920s and continued publishing novels and stories about immigrant women struggling to establish their identities in America.
Works by Anzia Yezierska
- We Go Forth All To See America - A Vignette (Judaica, Jewish Literature) (1920)
- Hungry HeartsHungry Hearts (novel)Hungry Hearts is a collection of short stories by Jewish/American writer Anzia Yezierska first published in 1920. The short stories deal with the European Jewish immigrant experience from the perspective of fictional female Jews, each story depicting a different aspect of their trials and...
(short stories, 1920) (ISBN 0-141-18005-6) - Salome of the Tenements (novel, 1923) (ISBN 0-252-06435-6)
- Children of Loneliness (short stories, 1923)
- Bread GiversBread GiversBread Givers is a 1925 novel by Anzia Yezierska.-Synopsis:Bread Givers, a Jewish-American female coming-of-age story written by Anzia Yezierska, begins with a 10-year old Sara Smolinsky...
: a struggle between a father of the Old World and a daughter of the New (novel, 1925) (ISBN 0-89255-290-7) - Arrogant Beggar (novel, 1927) (ISBN 0-82231-749-4)
- All I Could Never Be (novel, 1932)
- The Open Cage: An Anzia Yezierska Collection edited by Alice Kessler Harris (New York: Persea Books, 1979).
- Red Ribbon on a White Horse: My Story (autobiographical novel, 1950) (ISBN 0-89255-124-0)
- How I Found America: Collected Stories (short stories, 2003)
- The Lost Beautifulness
External links
- Sara R. Horowitz, Anzia Yezierska, Jewish Women Encyclopedia
- Film Credits
- Short Biography
- Study guide at Georgetown
- undergraduate paper on (amongst others)Yezierska's The Fat of the Land
- Anzia Yezierska(1881?-1970)
- Jewish Virtual Library Anzia Yezierska
- Biography of Anzia Yezierska
- In America, a female sweatshop worker from a Polish shtetl could become a renowned writer and Hollywood commodity
- American Passages
- Works by Anzia Yezierska
- Soul of a People: Writing America's Story
- http://www.bettinaberch.com