Dineh: An Autobiographical Novel

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Ida Maze's autobiographical novel Dineh is a haunting portrait of her rural, village, and small-town life in White Russia (now Belarus) at the turn of the 20th century. Dineh's story is interwoven with portraits of other people, chiefly women and girls, in her community. The novel examines the lives of women, including class stratification, thwarted romance, violence (domestic, state-instigated, and otherwise), and the perils of childbirth. In addition to exploring relations between Jews and non-Jews, Maze's novel touches on Tsarist anti-Semitism, restrictions on Jewish economic survival, and the rising tide of revolutionary movements.

Originally published in Yiddish, Dineh has been translated for the first time into English by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub. Join YIVO for a discussion of this publication featuring Taub in conversation with Professor Alice Nakhimovsky.

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About the Speakers

Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is a poet, writer, and Yiddish literary translator. He is the author of two books of fiction, Beloved Comrades: a Novel in Stories (2020) and Prodigal Children in the House of G-d: Stories (2018), and six volumes of poetry, including A Mouse Among Tottering Skyscrapers: Selected Yiddish Poems (2017). Yermiyahu's most recent translation from the Yiddish is Dineh: an Autobiographical Novel by Ida Maze (2022). Learn more on his website.

Alice Nakhimovsky is Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Colgate University. She has written widely about Russian Jews. Her 2014 book, Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals in Russia and America, written with Roberta Newman, won a National Jewish Book Award. Her next book is called "Bad Moral Luck: Eight Jewish Lives under Stalin."