For the Relief of Unbearable Urges
 First edition (US) | |
| Author | Nathan Englander |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Short story |
| Set in | 7 |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf (US) Faber & Faber (UK) |
Publication date | 1999 |
| Awards | PEN/Malamud Award, Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction |
| ISBN | 9780375404924 |
| OCLC | 245836139 |
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.[1] It earned Englander a PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, as well as being a finalist for the 1999 Art Seidenbaum Award 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."[2] The story "The Twenty-seventh Man", about Yiddish writers killed by Stalin, is an allusion to the Night of the Murdered Poets.
Contents[edit]
- "The Twenty-seventh Man"
- "The Tumblers"
- "Reunion"
- "The Wig"
- "The Gilgul of Park Avenue"
- "Reb Kringle"
- "The Last One Way"
- "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges"
- "In This Way We Are Wise"
References[edit]
- ^ Various. "Praise for Nathan Englander". Barnes & Noble.
- ^ Englander, Nathan (2000). For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. New York: Vintage. pp. 182.
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