The Story Archive

Motl, the Cantor's Son

Sholem Aleichem · 1907 CE · Novel · Yiddish · Victorian

A cantor's youngest boy narrates the collapse of his household in unshakably good spirits, opening on the observation that he is well off, because he is an orphan and nobody has time to stop him running where he likes. The furniture is sold, a border is crossed at night with smugglers, and the family works west through Antwerp and London toward a steerage berth. Left unfinished when its author died in New York in 1916.

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Attributes

Genre
Coming-of-AgeComedyHistorical
Theme
Coming of AgeLoss of InnocenceExile & HomecomingHopeClass & Inequality
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
InnocentEverymanWanderer
Plot structure
PicaresqueEpisodicBildungsroman
Symbol / motif
The JourneyThe Ship / BoatThe City
Conflict
vs Societyvs Person
Mode / tone
ComicIronicElegiac
Culture / tradition
Yiddish

Closest analogues