Page "Mendele Mocher Sforim" Paragraph 10

As with Fishke, Mendele worked on and off for decades on his long novel Dos Vinshfingeril ( The Wishing Ring, 1865 – 1889 ); at least two versions preceded the final one.

It is the story of a maskil — that is, a supporter of the Haskalah, like Mendele himself — who escapes a poor town, survives misery to obtain a secular education much like Mendele's own, but is driven by the pogroms of the 1880s from his dreams of universal brotherhood to one of Jewish nationalism.

The first English translation, by Michael Wex ( author of Born to Kvetch ) was published in 2003.

His last major work was his autobiography, Shlome Reb Chaims, completed shortly before his death.