Memoirs of a Grandmother

Pauline Wengeroff's Memoirs of a Grandmother offers a unique first-person window into traditionalism, modernity, and the tensions linking the two in nineteenth-century Russia. Wengeroff (1833-1916), a perceptive, highly literate social observer, tells a gripping tale of cultural transformation, situating her narrative in the experience of women and families.

In Volume Two, Wengeroff claims that Jewish women were capable and desirous of adopting the best of European modernity but were also wedded to tradition, while Jewish men recklessly abandoned tradition and forced their wives to do the same. The result was not only marital and intergenerational conflict but also catastrophic cultural loss, with women's inability to transmit tradition in the home leading to larger cultural drift. Two of Wengeroff's children converted when faced with anti-Jewish educational and professional discrimination, unwilling to sacrifice secular ambitions and visions for the sake of a traditional culture they did not know. Memoirs is a tale of loss but also of significant hope, which Wengeroff situates not in her children but in a new generation of Jewish youth reclaiming Jewish memory. To them, she addresses her Memoirs, giving an "orphaned youth"-orphaned of their past and culture-a "grandmother."

Auteur

Shulamit S. Magnus is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Oberlin College. Her edition of the first volume of Wengeroff's Memoirs of a Grandmother won the National Jewish Book Award for Women's Studies (2011).

Contenu

Memoirs of a Grandmother: Scenes from the Cultural History of the Jews of Russia in the Nineteenth Century, Volume Two
Author(s): Pauline Wengeroff. Translated with an Introduction, Notes, and Commentary by Shulamit S. Magnus

This book is an unabridged translation and critical edition of Pauline Wengeroff's Memoirs of a Grandmother. Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, the volume tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family, which Wengeroff depicts as typical and representative. Wengeroff claims there was a gendered disparity in the behavior of women and men about Jewish tradition in this era, with women both wedded to tradition and wishing to adopt the best of European culture, and men recklessly abandoning Jewish culture and forcing women to do the same, also denying children Jewish education. The result, she claims, was a devastating cultural loss because of women's loss of domestic power. The volume is an epic tale of cultural, marital, and intergenerational struggle, loss, and possibly redemption by century's end, in Wengeroff's hope for a reclaimed culture in a new generation seeking Jewish memory.

Introduction

Chapter abstract:

This introduction provides background to the era depicted in this volume and an analysis of Wengeroff's narrative claims and strategies in crafting this work as she does.

1
Preface

Chapter abstract:

Pauline Wengeroff sets the scene for the second volume of her memoirs, which begins with her engagement, wedding, and the early years of marital bliss, seen specifically through the lens of the Jewish family. It continues, however, with the introduction of discord, ushered in by a new way of life and new values. Wengeroff speaks of writing her memoirs and her desire to share it with a younger generation. She thanks Dr. Gustav Karpeles, who is responsible for its publication and reprints two brief letters he wrote her regarding the memoirs.

2
The Second Period of the Enlightenment

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the unfolding of Jewish enlightenment in the 1840s and its social impact.

3
My Engagement

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes traditional and arranged marriages.

4
My Bridal Year

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter includes a depiction of dowry and preparations for a traditional marriage.

5
Arrival in Konotop. Wedding.

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the arrival of and the accommodation to patrilocal marriage, as well as marriage rituals in a Ukrainian town.

6
Four Years in my In-Law's House

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts Wengeroff's newlywed life, her help in running an inn, and marital happiness.

7
The Transformation

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes Wengeroff's husband's loss of faith while on a pilgrimage to a Hasidic master and Wengeroff's consternation over this loss. It also depicts the beginning of marital strife over religion, as well as the birth of her children.

8
Further Destinies Unfold

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter shows the Wengeroffs moving out of the home of Mr. Wengeroff's parents and living on their own. It details the beginnings of their wanderings and depicts Luben.

9
Alexander II

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the ascension of Alexander II and the liberalizing reforms of Jewish status.

10
My Wise Mother Said Two Things

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes the sense of inevitability about the loss of tradition in the younger generation, cultural slippage, and the loss of parental control.

11
Kovno

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts assimilating Jewish society and ultra-Orthodox (mussar) Jewish society, the rejection of modernity, tensions between husbands and wives over tradition, and the conflicting behavior of husbands and wives over Sabbath observance.

12
Vilna

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts Jewish society in more traditional Vilna, the effects on Wengeroff's husband, and the family's continuing economic troubles.

13
Helsingfors

Chapter abstract:

Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish s…