- Bel Kaufman
Infobox Person
image_size = 150px
name = Bel Kaufman
image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1911|5|10
birth_place =Berlin ,Germany
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Writer and professorBel Kaufman (born
May 10 ,1911 ) is aRussia n-American professor and author. Born inBerlin ,Germany , she is best known for her 1965 best-seller, "Up the Down Staircase ". The semi-autobiographical novel is about an idealistic young honors college graduate who becomes an English teacher, hoping to share her love of classic literature (especiallyChaucer ) and writing with her students. However, her idealism is quickly snuffed out by the gritty realities of her colleagues and students who populate the novel's fictional inner-city high school.Though she has written few fictional novels since "Up the Down Staircase", she has continued as a teacher and lecturer.
Kaufman is the granddaughter of famed Yiddish writer
Sholom Aleichem .ref harvard|RJM01|R. Marder 2001|a She is an honorary chairman of theYiddish studies faculty atColumbia University . ref harvard|columbia2006|Columbia Uni. 2006|aelected bibliography
*"Up the Down Staircase" (1965)
*"Love, etc." (1979)References
*cite web
author=Rabbi Janet Marder
work=Rabbi Marder sermons archive. Shabbat Shuvah 5762. "TheMitzvah of Gathering"
title=The Mitzvah of Gathering
year=2001-09-21
accessdate=2006-02-17
url=http://www.betham.org/sermons/marder092101.html
*cite web
title=Yiddish studies faculty
accessdate=2006-02-17
url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cijs/yidd/yidfac.html
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