The Art of the Jewish Short Story

Masterpieces from Roth to Tsabari


5 sessions at 7 p.m. ET

Nov. 7-Dec. 12 (No class on Thanksgiving)


All classes will be recorded and sent to registrants.


A good short story crosses the borders of our nations and our prejudices and our beliefs,” the author Walter Mosley has said.


For centuries, Jewish authors have been at the forefront of the medium, innovating and mining their Jewish identities for unforgettable stories.


In this new course designed by Josh Lambert, a professor at Wellesley College and the former academic director of the Yiddish Book Center, you’ll cover nearly 75 years of Jewish literary history through reading short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth, Grace Paley, David Bezmozgis and Ayelet Tsabari. It’s a uniquely diverse set of works that tackle an array of topics with a cast of memorable characters.


Each week, you will learn about each author’s personal life, read one of their seminal short stories and come away with a deeper understanding of their place in the 20th-century canon.


Prof. Lambert will provide texts of each story. Now's your chance to study the masters!



There are no refunds for this course.






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About Your Teacher



Josh Lambert is the Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and English, and the director of the Jewish Studies Program, at Wellesley College. His most recent book is The “Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature” (2022). He is formerly the academic director of the Yiddish Book Center and researches the ways in which Jews and Jewishness played important and understudied roles in the development of U.S. culture.







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