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The Education of Hyman Kaplan

by Leonard Q Ross

The Education of Hyman Kaplan Cover

ISBN13: 9780156278119
ISBN10: 0156278111
Condition:
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The humorous adventures of Hyman Kaplan, the irrepressible student at the american Night Preparatory School for Adults, and his personal war with the English language. A classic work of american humor.

About the Author

Leonard Q. Ross (1908-1997), born in Lodz, Poland, was the recipient of the Freedom Foundation award and the George Polk Memorial Award. He is best known for introducing American audiences to a wealth of Jewish lexical and cultural delights. A frequent contributor to Harper's and The New Yorker, he taught and lectured in political science at several universities.

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

Shoshana, May 2, 2010 (view all comments by Shoshana)
This lengthier review supplements my other comment. I have had H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N on my mind for several weeks as I read books that evoke him. Hyman, an immigrant, takes beginner's night English classes and speaks like your immigrant forebearers did if they were Ashkenazi Jews in New York or New Jersey before 1950. Hyman is an earnest yet immovable object. Reading this as a child, I saw him as the bane of his teacher's existence. Reading it now, having taught or worked in educational settings for most of the intervening years, I took in that Hyman's teacher, Mr. Parkhill, understands that Hyman is both a burden and a genius. This, I think, is something that differentiates this episodic comedy from others that rely exclusively on the trope of the dumb greenhorn's hilarious mispronunciation and mangled grammar. Hyman's misunderstandings provide a fresh vision of English, revealing hitherto unseen facets of the language and forging new connections. For me, the shining and ineffable utterance, the pinnacle of Jewish philosophy's efflorescence, is Hyman's assertion, "Mine oncle has a gless eye." You'll have to read the story to see why this simple (and untrue) statement is such a hilarious emblem of Talmudic reasoning paired with the Jewish stubbornness necessary to survive in world that seeks to quash the Jewish spirit.

I read The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N at my grandparents', at about the same time as I read Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Idries Shah's Mulla Nasrudin tales. This is a useful trio, of which Ross/Rosten is the fulcrum. Hyman brings Yiddishkeit to the New World, not just through his language, but in his attitude, world view, and exuberance. His is the optimism of the Jew in the promised land. While he bears the burdens of tsars and World War I, his is not the generation of Hitler's particular horrors. Portnoy holds the angst of post-Holocaust American Jewry, which must wrestle with how much to accept and how much to reject the pessimism of such active anti-Semitism. Portnoy would find Kaplan naive, but see this as contemptible, whereas the Mullah Nasrudin might find Kaplan companionable, another blessed fool whose nonsense makes reasonable sense, if one is willing to really hear it.
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Shoshana, December 19, 2009 (view all comments by Shoshana)
I read this as a child and can still quote long portions. Still hilarious, both for a glimpse at a particular era in Jewish migration and for anyone who teachers English as a Second Language.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780156278119
Author:
Ross, Leonard
Author:
Rosten, Leo Calvin
Author:
Ross, Leonard
Author:
Ross, Leonard Q.
Publisher:
Mariner Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
American wit and humor
Subject:
American
Subject:
Humorous
Subject:
Immigrants
Subject:
Immigrants -- United States.
Subject:
Humor : General
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Series Volume:
no. 1
Publication Date:
19680331
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
156
Dimensions:
8 x 5.31 in 0.33 lb

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