Edward Lewis Wallant Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 12 (1977) Winner
Curt Leviant
カート・レヴィアント
Curt Leviant
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1932 （Vienna, Austria）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English, Yiddish, Hebrew
- Religion
- Judaism
- Residence History
- Vienna (birth) → Brooklyn, New York (immigration, education) → New Jersey (Rutgers University, teaching)
Career
- Occupations
- Author, Translator, Jewish Studies Professor, Book Reviewer, Travel Writer (co-author)
- Active Years
- 1957-2018
- Affiliations
- Rutgers University (faculty)
- Influenced By
- Lamed Shapiro, Chaim Grade, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Sholom Aleichem
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn College (CUNY) | — | — | BA | — | United States |
| Columbia University | — | Jewish literature studies (MA thesis on Lamed Shapiro) | MA | — | United States |
| Rutgers University | — | Hebraic Studies | PhD | 1960–1966（在学・教職） | United States |
Brooklyn College (CUNY)
Degree:
BA
Country:
United States
Columbia University
Jewish literature studies (MA thesis on Lamed Shapiro)
Degree:
MA
Year of Graduation:
1957
Country:
United States
MA thesis on Lamed Shapiro
Rutgers University
Hebraic Studies
Degree:
PhD
Period:
1960–1966（在学・教職）
Year of Graduation:
1966
Country:
United States
Doctoral dissertation was a translation with commentary of a 1279 Hebrew Arthurian romance (later published)
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Edward Lewis Wallant Award | The Yemenite Girl | — | Edward Lewis Wallant Award (awarding organization unspecified) | 受賞 |
Edward Lewis Wallant Award
1977
Work:
The Yemenite Girl
Organization:
Edward Lewis Wallant Award (awarding organization unspecified)
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
The Yemenite Girl
1977 NovelA novel exploring Jewish community, personal identity, and tensions between past and present. Expanded from a 1973 short story of the same title.
Jewish tradition vs. modernityMemory and identity
Passion in the Desert
1980 NovelA mid-career novel focusing on love and desire.
LovePsychological conflict
The Man Who Thought He Was Messiah
1990 NovelA work dealing with delusion and religious themes, where humor and tragedy intersect.
ReligiosityDelusion vs. reality
Kafka's Son
2016 NovelA recent work that references and reconfigures Kafkaesque themes and motifs.
IdentityLiterary tradition
Katz or Cats, or How Jesus Became my Rival in Love
2018 NovelA recent novel playfully combining religious motifs and romantic rivalry.
Religion and humorRomance
Bibliography
- The Yemenite Girl
- Passion in the Desert
- The Man Who Thought He Was Messiah
- Partita in Venice
- Diary of an Adulterous Woman
- A Novel of Klass
- Kafka's Son
- Katz or Cats, or How Jesus Became my Rival in Love
- Short fiction collections (e.g. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Original Music of the Hebrew Alphabet)
Translations of Works
- The Yeshiva (by Chaim Grade, translated into English)
- The Agunah (by Chaim Grade, translated into English)
- More Stories from My Father's Court (by Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated into English)
- Stories and Satires (by Sholom Aleichem, translated into English)
- Old Country Tales (by Sholom Aleichem, translated into English)
- From the Fair (by Sholom Aleichem, translated into English)
- The Jewish Government and Other Stories (by Lamed Shapiro, translated into English)
- The Heart-stirring Sermon and Other Stories (by Abraham Reisen, translated into English)
- The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague (by Yudl Rosenberg, translated into English)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Nuanced, often arabesque narrativeWitty and ironic tone
- Recurring Motifs
- Tension between Jewish tradition and modernityMemory and generational inheritanceReligious themes and messianism
Legacy
Curt Leviant is recognized as a scholar of Jewish literature, an important translator of Yiddish and Hebrew into English, and a novelist noted for wit and intelligence. His translations helped introduce Yiddish and Hebrew literature to English-speaking readers.
Quotes
-
His fiction is nuanced, surprising, and often arabesque, dealing with the demands of the present and the claims of the past.
Source: Commentary by Lewis Fried (entry in Encyclopaedia Judaica) (2007)
Trivia
- Born in Vienna in 1932; emigrated to the United States in 1938.
- Yiddish was spoken at home; his parents encouraged his interest in Yiddish literature and theater.
- The Yemenite Girl was expanded from a 1973 short story and won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award.
- In later years he co-authored Jewish travel writing with his wife.
- A 2013 interview in an Italian newspaper included remarks implying inconsistent ages, drawing attention to possible errors in reported dates.