From: arcanis at sirius.com <arcanis>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 14:40:23 -0800

Well, Zehava, since Sforim (there called Seforim) exists in more than a few library catalogs, and his work is anthologized in collections of Jewish literature, I think we can take it that he existed. (!) His real name was Shalom Jakob Abramowitsch, and he lived from 1835 to 1917, and there is a very long and excellent article about him (indexed under "Mendele Mokher Seforim", in the M volume) of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. He was a very well-known writer of fiction during the Haskalah, and was instrumental in the founding of modern Yiddish-language literature. So presumably Simms Taback knew all this, making the pictorial quoting of Sforim even more interesting and multi-leveled.Seems as if I'm liking that "Joseph" more, the more I have to think about it... But I still think Sid Leiberman did a better job of the text.

Marian Drabkin Richmond Public Library Richmond, CA
Received on Thu 27 Jan 2000 04:40:23 PM CST