Yehupets as Fantasy and Reality: Sholem Aleichem’s Kiev

Abstract

ABSTRACT The city of Kiev was an inexhaustible source of material for Sholem Aleichem’s prolific writings in various genres. The imaginary city of Yehupets functions in his writing as a transitional space between the traditional shtetl and the modern city. The insecurity of Jewish residence in the city created a sense of anxiety which is a defining feature of Sholem Aleichem’s characters and was partly shared by the author himself. Sholem Aleichem’s choice of shtetl Jews as our guides through the social and physical labyrinths of Jewish Yehupets had its limitations conditioned by their mentality. It worked well as the literary device of defamiliarization, which enabled the educated urban readers to see their familiar environment critically by highlighting the dehumanizing and corrupting effects of Yehupets as a microcosm of the Russian Empire.