Getting Even with Glikl: The Lives and Afterlives of An Early Modern Yiddish Autobiographer

In 1691, Glikl bas Leib (1646–1724)—a Jewish businesswoman, mother of twelve, and remarkable storyteller—began to chronicle her life. Over time, her writings grew into seven volumes blending sharp business acumen, intimate reflections on family and loss, and folktales filled with wit and moral insight. Her memoirs offer one of the only surviving first-person accounts by a Jewish woman of early modern Europe, painting a vivid portrait of resilience, faith, and creativity. In this class, we’ll uncover Glikl’s bold voice and the world she navigated, then trace how her story has been rediscovered and reimagined—from historical treasure to feminist icon to cultural touchstone. English translations provided.

Dalia Wolfson is a doctoral candidate in Comparative Literature at Harvard University. She is managing editor of Texts & Translations for the Yiddish Studies journal In geveb. Her work has been published in Asymptote, Scrawl Place, Lehrhaus and JewishFiction.net, among others.

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