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Brandstein Smith, Sarah (1888-1968) Di Froy in Katen [The Women in Chains].
New York: Literature Publishing Co., 1919.
Octavo, presumed first edition, text in Yiddish throughout, bound in publisher's green cloth, worn, becoming decased, 7 3/8 x 5 in.
"Sarah B. Smith is the most beloved Jewish newspaperwoman, the first who ever served as a reporter on a Jewish paper, and the one who has triumphantly overcome the misgivings of editors who mistrusted the abilities of a mere woman writer." (Quoted from the December 2, 1934, interview with Brandstein Smith as published in The Jewish Daily Bulletin.)
"In [The Women in Chains] the author explores the mind and emotions of a young wife who finds herself trapped in the confines of marriage in the early 1900's. Her happy married life has turned into a life of drudgery after the birth of her two children, and after her husband's business worries have caused him to drift away from her. She has aspirations to be a writer and to be a part of a creative environment. Instead, she finds herself stuck in an unhappy marriage. The 'chains' mentioned in the title are not chains of iron, they are chains of love, emotion, duty and devotion. [...] Smith's fascination with the seamy side of city life led her to write several novels in the genre known as the Shund Roman, the Trashy Novel. It is easy to disparage the shund roman as too low brow to deserve study or consideration, however the stories of adventure and romance provided an important outlet for the immigrants who worked long hours for little money to survive in the new world." (Quoted from http://www.dansetzer.us/smith/. Dan Setzer has translated the present work and Brandstein Smith's Who is Guilty? from Yiddish to English.
![Brandstein Smith, Sarah (1888-1968) Di Froy in Katen [The Women in Chains].](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//485\806485.jpg)
