Vivi Lachs will be speaking at Meretz UK on Sunday, 22 July, about
Whitechapel Noise: Sex, politics and religion on the streets of London’s East End 1884-1914
Vivi Lachs is a social and cultural historian, Yiddishist, and associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of Making Multimedia in the Classroom and has written articles on education and Jewish history. She performs and composes music to London Yiddish lyrics.
Book cover of Whitechapel Noise: Jewish Immigrant Life in Yiddish Song and Verse, London 1884-1914
Her talk explores the abundance of Yiddish kupletn (couplets) written by songwriters and poets in pre-First World War London. Penned by the famous and the unknown, they tell tales of an immigrant culture in flux.
Morris Winchevsky’s poetry encourages revolutionary ideas and union activism. Music-hall songs display the changing nature of sexual relationships, marital disharmony, and abuse. Satirical verse pinpoints how immigrants grappled with modernising religious practice. And they tell these stories with humour, intensity, and passion. Vivi Lachs’s book Whitechapel Noise: Jewish Immigrant Life in Yiddish Song and Verse, London 1884-1914 is published by Wayne State University Press, and signed copies will be available at a 20% discount.
What others have said about the book…
This treasure trove ranges from the religious to the radical and the racy – Mark Slobin
It brings to life the beating heart of the immigrant ‘greener’ Jerry White
Thoroughly researched and eminently readable – Joel Berkowitz
An accomplished and sophisticated book – David Feldman
A timely and well-considered look at popular Yiddish culture – Michael Wex
This gem of a book is a pioneering account of a fascinating cultural history – Bryan Cheyette
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