Poem by Poem, Fable by Fable: Discovering My Father and Learning His Language

At the age of seventy-two, Anna Miransky begins to read her father's poetry and fables in her first and forgotten language, Yiddish. She is changed by what she finds. In his writing, her father, the poet and fabulist Peretz Miransky, a Holocaust survivor and member of the celebrated literary group Yung Vilne, reveals aspects of his inner life about which he had never spoken when he was alive. His daughter discovers new details about family members, his literary colleagues, and his relationship with her mother and stepmother. Most importantly, she discovers Peretz Miransky's lifelong poetic themes and mission to keep Yiddish and the fable form alive and flourishing. Many of Miransky's poems and fables are translated into English to illustrate Anna's discoveries. Throughout the book Anna Miransky examines her complicated relationship with her father through the lenses of language barriers and generational trauma. As she delves deeper into his life, she comes to fully embrace her father, her first language, and her culture.