Pearl Abraham
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Pearl Abraham (born 1960 in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
) is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. She was the third of nine children in a
Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
family. Her father was a
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
. At age five, the family moved to New York City and two years later returned to Israel. Following several moves back and forth between New York and Israel, the family settled in New York when she was 12. She studied first in
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, then in English and then again in Yiddish.


Education and teaching career

She graduated from
Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
and received her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
. She is currently Assistant Professor in the English Department at
Western New England University Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy and ...
where she teaches creative writing and fiction. She previously taught at New York University,
Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
and the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
.


Authorship

Abraham is the author of four novels: ''The Romance Reader'', ''Giving Up America'', ''The Seventh Beggar'' and her latest novel, ''American Taliban''. In each of her novels, Ms. Abraham has explored the themes of emotional evolution, awakening and becoming. She has described her work as seeking to understand "the mystery of creation, call it talent, the muse, or the heightened mystical moments in which inspiration flows." The main characters in the ''Seventh Beggar'' are a young student who becomes captivated by and ultimately obsessed with
Kabbalistic Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
thought and his nephew, a student at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
, who is steeped in computer science and the creative power of artificial intelligence. While the novel is set in the present, in the background throughout is the 18th century Hasidic master, mystic and storyteller
Rabbi Nachman Nachman of Breslov ( he, רַבִּי נַחְמָן מִבְּרֶסְלֶב ''Rabbī'' ''Naḥmān mīBreslev''), also known as Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover ( yi, רבי נחמן ברעסלאווער ''Rebe Nakhmen Breslover'' ...
of
Bratslav Bratslav ( uk, Брацлав; pl, Bracław; yi, בראָצלעוו, ''Brotslev'', today also pronounced Breslev or '' Breslov'' as the name of a Hasidic group, which originated from this town) is an urban-type settlement in Ukraine, located i ...
. Regarding the ''Seventh Beggar'',
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
,
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
Professor and literary critic wrote: "The Seventh Beggar is an amazingly poignant completion of the most enigmatic of Nachman of Bratslav’s tales. Rabbi Nachman listened for God's voice in the void and was frighteningly honest as to how difficult it was to apprehend redemption. By a kind of miracle of sympathetic imagination, Pearl Abraham has been able to revivify what may be the most spiritually disturbing of all Chasidic tales." In her review of ''Giving Up America'' in the
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
, Christina Buchmann wrote: "Whether one is falling in love or out of it, the transition is mysterious. ''Giving Up America'', the story of a young couple in New York whose marriage begins changing for the worse, does full justice to that mystery. The book's marriage may end in divorce, but in the meantime Pearl Abraham has given us so many interesting reflections on marriage that the result is invigorating rather than depressing." The Romance Reader tells the story of a young Hasidic woman confronting the challenges of growing up in the face of a stringently imposed orthodoxy. A
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
review described it as "an assured, smoothly written book, narrated in a muted voice that seems to whisper secrets into the reader's ear." ''American Taliban'', Abraham's newest novel, tells the story of a young surfer/skater on "an American spiritual journey that begins with
Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
and countercultural impulses, enters into world mysticism, and finds its destination in
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
." In addition to Abraham's novels, she has been published in ''
Moment Magazine ''Moment'' is an independent magazine which focuses on the life of the American Jewish community. It is not tied to any particular Jewish movement or ideology. The publication features investigative stories and cultural criticism, highlighting th ...
'' and ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
,''.


Awards and honors

She is also the editor of the Dutch anthology ''Een Sterke Vrouw: Jewish Heroines in Literature''. Her stories and essays have appeared in literary quarterlies and anthologies, including: ''Who We Are'' (Schocken Books), ''The Michigan Quarterly'', ''
The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
'', ''
Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
'' (Cornell), and ''Brooklyn Noir'' (Akashic Press). ''The Seventh Beggar'' was one of three finalists for the 2006
Koret Jewish Book Award The Koret Jewish Book Award is an annual award that recognizes "recently published books on any aspect of Jewish life in the categories of biography/autobiography and literary studies, fiction, history and philosophy/thought published in, or transla ...
in Fiction. ''The Romance Reader'' was a semifinalist for The Discover New Writer's Award, named "Best Book of 1995" by
Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
, and selected as first title by
Contra Costa Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East Bay ...
of San Francisco. It was also on bestseller lists in Germany and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Her story "Hasidic Noir" won the 2006
Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one si ...
for Best Short Story about a Private Eye.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Pearl Living people 1960 births Writers from Massachusetts Hunter College alumni New York University alumni University of Houston faculty New York University faculty Sarah Lawrence College faculty Western New England University faculty American women academics Israeli women academics 21st-century American women writers