For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
Encyclopedia
For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is a short story
collection by Nathan Englander
, first published by Knopf in 1999. It has received many positive reviews. It earned Englander a PEN/Malamud Award
and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
. The collection contains nine stories, many of which are set in the Jewish Orthodox world. The title story tells of a married Hasidic Jew who receives special dispensation from a rabbi
to visit a prostitute – "for the relief of unbearable urges." The story "The Twenty-seventh Man", about Yiddish writers killed by Stalin, is an allusion to the Night of the Murdered Poets
.
The contents, in order:
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
collection by Nathan Englander
Nathan Englander
Nathan Englander is a Jewish-American author born in Long Island, NY in 1970. He wrote the short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1999...
, first published by Knopf in 1999. It has received many positive reviews. It earned Englander a PEN/Malamud Award
PEN/Malamud Award
The PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Malamud's literary executors.The award was first given...
and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The $5,000 prize is given for the best published first novel or collection of short stories in the preceding year...
. The collection contains nine stories, many of which are set in the Jewish Orthodox world. The title story tells of a married Hasidic Jew who receives special dispensation from a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
to visit a prostitute – "for the relief of unbearable urges." The story "The Twenty-seventh Man", about Yiddish writers killed by Stalin, is an allusion to the Night of the Murdered Poets
Night of the Murdered Poets
On August 12, 1952, thirteen Soviet Jews were executed in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, Russia as a result of charges of espionage based on forced, false confessions resulting from coercion and torture. This massacre is known as the Night of the Murdered Poets....
.
The contents, in order:
- The Twenty-seventh Man
- The Tumblers
- Reunion
- The Wig
- The GilgulGilgulGilgul/Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha Neshamot describes a Kabbalistic concept of reincarnation. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to "cycle" through "lives" or "incarnations", being attached to different human bodies over time...
of Park Avenue - Reb Kringle
- The Last One Way
- For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
- In This Way We Are Wise