I loved that this was translated from Yiddish. It is an good read. I can't wait to read more from the author.

David Bergelson is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed Yiddish authors of his era, and this new translation of his novel is the first time it has been available in English. It’s not an easy book to read, and without the invaluable introduction I would have found it even more difficult. And probably not worth the effort. Even with the help of the introduction I didn’t enjoy it much and even if it is a “tour de force of Yiddish modernism” it wasn’t one for me. That modernism means it jumps about in time and place and from one larger-than-life, and sometimes grotesque, character to another, none of whom I cared about or could relate to. The chaotic nature of the narrative reflects the chaotic nature of the times, I can see that, but it doesn’t make for a pleasant reading experience. The book follows the lives of a motley cast of characters living on the Ukrainian-Polish border during the Civil War which followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. These are “ordinary” people, both Jews and non-Jews, leading ordinary lives who are suddenly thrust into the turbulence and disruption of the new regime, with violence and confusion all around them,. My thanks to NetGalley for affording me the chance to discover this previously unknown work of Russian literature, but it wasn’t an experience I savoured.

Originally published in Yiddish by David Bergelson in 1929, this newly translated (by Harriet Murov and Sasha Senderovich) version of Judgment is a chilling set of connected stories about the inhabitants of a shtetl in western Ukraine who live very close to an outpost of the Cheka—the Bolshevik secret police. The novel jumps from character to character, creating a fitting sense of chaos as revolutionaries, rebels, and reactionaries fight over every scrap of territory.

According to the foreword, Bergelson was a cutting edge Yiddish writer, keen to incorporate Modernism into a literature that most—then and now—associate mostly with folklore. Bergelson’s experimentalism is in full view in Judgment. Time is hard to keep track of. Tales slide into on another just like the characters do; one minute, you’ll be reading about a socialist revolutionary who got caught by the Bolsheviks and the next you’ll be reading about his cellmates who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are characters who appear throughout—a blonde who travels with a child and two mysterious cases, the injured but harshly committed captain of the Cheka, the aforementioned socialist revolutionary—but I couldn’t say that Judgment is any of their stories, really. Rather, Judgment is about a tangle of people who lived near the border between Ukraine and Poland at a particularly bloody moment in history.

The Modernist elements make for difficult reading. It’s hard to know what or who to focus on. It’s impossible to predict where the narration is going to go next and Judgment reads like a much grimmer (and fictional) history-in-moments than Teffi’s Memories. In a sense, this very much captures the destruction and turmoil of the post-Revolution Civil War. At the beginning of the novel, most characters are either trying to flee or make money off of the people fleeing. Things aren’t all that bad yet, but then the local Cheka start to round up anyone even associated with anti-Bolshevik activity and a group of violent rebels swing through. By the end of Judgment, it seems like all of the members of the shtetl are now in prison, dead, or missing.

Having read Judgment and, a very long time, The Zelmenyaners, I feel like I have another piece of the Russian literature puzzle. I’ve read the heavy classic work of Tolstoy, the surreal Gogol, the light and fluffy Teffi, the surreal Bulgakov, the blunt and sometimes vulgar Babel, and the deeply affecting Pasternak and Vasily Grossman. Judgment comes from a blend of the avant-garde and the traditional. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. What I know now is that Russian literature is a lot more diverse than many literature teachers would have us think.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 15 September 2017.

Judgement- by David Bergelson
 
This is the first time this novel has been translated from Yiddish into English since it was written in 1929.
 
David Bergelson was born in Ukraine in 1884 and travelled throughout Europe, eventually moving to the USSR in 1934, as a committed communist and wrote for the Yiddish culture within the Soviet Borders. Bergelson eventually fell foul of Stalin and was executed in 1952.
 
Judgement is based at the border of Poland and Ukraine. During the Early 1920s when the area is being affected by the continuing Russian revolution which began in 1917. There are several factions all struggling for power, whereas the local people living in the small villages or Shetls, are struggling to survive. They rent out rooms to people seeking to cross the border; they themselves buy and sell goods from across the border, even crossing themselves. The factions wish to bring in supporters from over the border and political literature, but the communism overlords have established themselves a centre in a local monastery and are determined to bring this free trade to an end.
 
Bergelson is usually regarded as noteworthy for his documenting the disintegration of the traditional Jewish Shetl, as the new communist system begins to assert order. His writing is also unusual in that he includes non-Jews in his characters, acknowledging that they also lived in the Shetls.
 
I was interested in the fact that, since Bergelson lived in Russia, he was presumably a contented communist, yet the leader, Filipov, who could be said to symbolise communism itself, is perpetually ill and also is defeated at the end. Perhaps, by the time of writing, Bergelson was not totally converted to communism. It would certainly not have been acceptable to produce writing of this type whilst living under Stalin.
 
Bergelson would have been writing a lot of this story from personal experience, he lived through this truly complex time when no one knew who would finally gain power, or indeed who to support. It is a time often avoided in history, as it is truly so confusing to understand. The novel has a long introduction lacing the novel fully in context and is a great aid to understanding the work.
 
I have read works by Singer and enjoyed them thoroughly. This is a similar work, but written in a totally different, much more poetic style. I would greatly recommend this novel to any reader.

In Judgement, a cast of grotesquely exaggerated characters in the fictional town of Golikhovke relate the story of Jews caught up in the Russian civil war. The sense of conflict between the individual and the sweeping tide of history is palpable as ordinary people face overwhelming circumstance. A wonderfully crafted novel.