Gollance, Sonia; (2022) Fear and Other Stories, translated by Anita Norich by Chana Blankshteyn (review). Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues , 41 (5783) pp. 142-144. 10.2979/nsh.2022.a880811.

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Abstract

The protagonists of Chana Blankshteyn’s short story “The Decree” are caught at an impasse: Shtoltsman, a high-ranking Soviet official, is promoNng the government ban on religious weddings; his sweetheart Leah Svirski promised her grandfather, a rebbe, that she would get married in a Jewish ceremony. With Shtoltsman’s trip to Leah’s hometown looming, the ficNonal lovers are locked in a baTle of wills that reveals the high stakes of Soviet policy for East European Jews. Can Shtoltsman convince himself that his feelings for this “privileged person” (45) are immaterial? Will Leah succumb to his silent treatment? Reading this story, I was drawn into the personal drama––and also recognized in it a fine example of a Yiddish literary text about the early days of the Soviet Union. As with other stories in Chana Blankshteyn’s Fear and Other Stories, inNmate relaNonships are fully emmeshed in the poliNcal reality of early twenNeth-century Europe––decades before “the personal is poliNcal” became a feminist rallying cry. These stories by an avowedly poliNcal and feminist writer center the concerns of women, emphasizing the importance of labor and personal autonomy.

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