Curt Leviant | |
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Born | 1932 (age 91–92) Vienna, Austria |
Occupation | Author, Translator, Professor |
Nationality | American |
Notable works |
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Curt Leviant (born 1932, Vienna[1]) is a retired Jewish Studies professor, as well as a novelist and translator.
His parents were Jacques and Fenia Leviant. They spoke Yiddish at home, and encouraged their son's interest in Yiddish literature and theater.[2]
He came to the United States in 1938.[1] He took a BA from CUNY (Brooklyn), followed in 1957 by an MA from Columbia,[3] with a thesis on Lamed Shapiro.[4] From 1960, he taught Hebraic studies at Rutgers, taking a PhD there in 1966 with a doctoral thesis that was a translation with commentary, published in 1969 as King Artur: A Hebrew Authurian Romance of 1279.[5][6] [7]
He married Erika Leah Pfeifer, they had three daughters, Dalya, Dvora, Shulamit.[8]
Leviant was also a book reviewer, usually of Jewish authors, with reviews appearing in The New York Times, The Nation, and other publications, especially Jewish media. In more recent years, he has been, co-authoring with his wife, a Jewish travel writer.
According to Lewis Fried, "his fiction is nuanced, surprising, and often arabesque, dealing with the demands of the present and the claims of the past."[9]
Leviant has translated from Hebrew and Yiddish to English, including: