Hyman Kaplan, or H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N as he habitually signs himself, is a fictional character in a series of well-received humorous stories by Leo Rosten, published under the pseudonym "Leonard Q. Ross" in The New Yorker in the 1930s and later collected in two books, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N.[1] Rosten noted that he was frequently asked if Mr Kaplan was his alter ego, and that he often felt it was the other way around.
The books were adapted as a musical play produced in 1968, namely The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N.[4] Mr Kaplan is an immigrant and a pupil at a New York night class in English.
Mr Kaplan was born in Kiev, has lived in America for fifteen years, and claims (on Columbus Day) that his birthday is October 12.
From his pronunciation of English (the characters' various idioms are a major source of the stories' humor), it appears that Mr Kaplan's native language is Yiddish.
Mr Parkhill is the point-of-view character in the stories, a staid, kind-hearted, mild-mannered teacher with a tendency to think of his pupils in terms of classical literature.