Ruth Wisse

Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. She has previously taught at McGill, Stanford, New York, Hebrew and Tel Aviv universities. She received one of the 2007 National Humanities Medals [ "6 Academics Receive National Honors in Arts and Humanities" Chronicle of Higher Education Nov. 16, 2007 [http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/11/733n.htm?at summary] ] , The award cited her for "“scholarship and teaching that have illuminated Jewish literary traditions. Her insightful writings have enriched our understanding of Yiddish literature and Jewish culture in the modern world" [ [http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20071115.html NEH News Archive] ] . She is a frequent contributor to "Commentary", and dedicated her last book, "Jews and Power", to the editor of "Commentary", Neal Kozodoy.

Controversy

At the start of the first unarmed Intifada, Wisse described Palestinians as "people who breed and bleed and advertise their misery." [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1367/is_198805/ai_n5609884] [http://books.google.com/books?id=aHphMCIkhK0C&pg=PA559&lpg=PA559&dq=%22people+who+breed+and+bleed+and+advertise+their+misery%22&source=web&ots=7fVFidfOOl&sig=vxeYh8WJBMAj7SENJ_EcuN7mK_4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result]

Books

* The Shlemiel as a Modern Hero
* If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews

Books edited by Wisse

* Shtetl, a and Other Yiddish Novellas
* The Penguin Book Of Modern Yiddish Verse (With Irving Howe)
* The Best Of Sholem Aleichem
* The I.L. Peretz Reader

Translated by Wisse

* The I.L. Peretz Reader, by Isaac Loeb Peretz
* The Well, by Chaim Grade, Original title: Der brunem

References