Fradl Stock

Fradl Shtok (also Fradel Stock, 1888 – 1990?)

Biography Fradl Shtok was born in the shtetl, or small town, of Skala, in eastern Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today in Ukraine). Her mother died when she was one year old, and her father went to prison a few years later, for his part in the murder of a man during a brawl; after that she was raised by an aunt.

In 1907, she immigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. Beginning in 1910, she published poems and stories in Yiddish periodicals and anthologies, mostly in publications of the literary group known as Di Yunge. The anthology included a cycle of eight sonnets by Shtok.

Shtok was recognized in her own time and later as a significant lyric voice in Yiddish. Jacob Glatstein wrote appreciatively in retrospect: "Her poetry is elegant, original ... masterful ... capable of inscribing a beautiful chapter into Yiddish poetry". In an analysis of two major anthologies of Yiddish poetry published in the early 20th century, the scholar Kathryn Hellerstein notes that "Shtok stands out as an innovator in verse forms, enriching the meters and stanzas of Yiddish poetry." In Moyshe Bassin's anthology of Yiddish poetry over five centuries (Finf hundert yor yidishe poezye; 1917), volume two (covering the modern period), which included only a narrow selection of female poets (nine of the total 95 poets), Shtok was by far the best represented. A generous selection of Shtok's poems also appeared in Ezra Korman's 1928 anthology of Yiddish poetry by women from the 16th century to the contemporary era (Yidishe dikhterins), which included 70 women poets.

In 1918, she married a photographer Samuel (Simcha) Zinn and took his name, the couple divorced 5 years later.

In 1919, Fradl Shtok published a collection of 38 stories, Gezamelte ertsehlungen (Collected stories). Most of the stories are set in a shtetl that resembles, or, in some instances, is directly or indirectly identified as her hometown Skala, while ten stories take place in a Jewish immigrant milieu in the United States. Contemporary reviews of the book were mixed, with one or two striking a particularly negative tone.

Subsequently, Shtok withdrew from the Yiddish literary scene.

In 1942 Shtok was in contact with Abraham Cahan, editor of the Yiddish newspaper Forverts (The Forward), and he received from her a new story in Yiddish, "A soycher fun fel" (A fur merchant), which appeared in the newspaper on November 19, 1942.

Her correspondence with Cahan indicated that she was at that time going by the name of Frances Zinn, and was living in California.

Publications

Books 1919: Gezamelte ertsehlungen [stories]. New York: Farlag "Naye Tsayt" 1927: Musicians Only [novel]. New York: Pelican

Stories November 19, 1942: A soykher fun fel. Forverts Plays

1923: Der Amerikaner (The American) 1925: The Savior 1927: A Prince Too Many 1928: Millstones

Works in translation

Stories "The Archbishop" (Der erts-bishof), translated by Joachim Neugroschel. In: Neugroschel (Ed./Trans.), No Star Too Beautiful: Yiddish Stories from 1382 to the Present. New York: Norton, 2002. p. 462–469 "At the Mill" (Bay der mil), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Sandra Bark (Ed.), Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: an Anthology. New York: Warner Books, 2003. . p. 75–81 "A Cut" (A shnit). Translated by Jordan Finkin and Allison Schaechter. Your Impossible Voice (19), 2019. "The First Patient" (Der ershter patsyent). Translated by Jordan Finkin and Allison Schachter. Pakn Treger, Summer 2020 "Sonnet"; "A Winter Echo"; "Dusks." Translated by Kathryn Hellerstein. In Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology, edited by Jules Chametzky, John Felstiner, Jilene Flanzbaum, and Kathryn Hellerstein. W. W. Norton, 2001. . "The Shorn Head" (Obgeshnitene hor), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz and Klepfisz (Eds.), The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989. p. 190–193 "The Veil" (Der Shleyer), translated by Brina Menachovsky Rose. In: Frieda Forman et al. (Eds.), Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers. Toronto: Second Story Press, 1994. . p. 99–104 "Winter Berries" (Kalines), translated by Irena Klepfisz. In: Sandra Bark (Ed.), Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: an Anthology. New York: Warner Books, 2003. . p. 21–27