Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.135 December 12, 1996 1) "Shpinvebekhts" fun A-N. Shtentsl (Leonard Prager) 2) Please (Eli Katz) 3) _Ours_ vs _Hebrew_ (Leonard Prager) 4) Young readers of Peretz (Dovid Braun) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 21:52:18 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: "Shpinvebekhts" fun A-N. Shtentsl Fun argentine (ze _Mendele_ 6:132) letstns hert men vegn netsn. Di yidishe literatur is farfleytst mit netsn un shpinen (minastam derfar vos dos lebn bikhlal un dos yidish lebn bifrat zenen a keseyderdike farplonterung). Mit 44 yor tsurik hot der Berliner un Londoner dikhter Avrom-Nokhem Shtentsl in a bukh lider mitn titl _Vidervuks_ gedrukt a grupe fun dray lider untern kepl "Triptikh." Dos tsveytn fun di dray lider heyst "Shpinvebekhts" un do gib ikh es iber in lataynishe oysyes: Shpinvebekhts fun Avrom-Nokhem Shtentsl Mit voser geshvindikeyt un geshiktkeyt Zi farvarft dos ire fedem fun blat tsu blat, Un vifil der regn rayst zey nisht iber, Frishe fedem tsu farvarfn zi vert nisht mat. Ir boykhh ufgeviklt kaylekheker knoyl, Un der umendlekher fodem fun im zikh tsit; Shtrikndike shpizlekh, boygike dine, Varfn zikh di fislekh ire, flink un genit. Vi herlekh oysgearbet dos nets-geveb Un dos kuntsike shpigldike punkt indermit! Dos letste shmeterlingl, a farkishefts, Vert tsugetsoygn vi fun vunderlikhn tsvit. Leonard Prager 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 12:11:51 -0800 (PST) From: katz@sonoma.edu Subject: Please in der diskusye vegn 'pliz' hot keyner nit dermont an oysdruk vos bay undz in der heym, ubifrat bay mayn boben (oleasholem) is dos geven geveyntlekh, dehayne: zay (zayt) zikh matriekh. Dos afile tsu ire eygene zin un tekhter, ober nit tsu undz eyniklekh. In the discussion about 'please' in Yiddish there was no mention of the expression 'zay (zayt) zikh matriekh' which was very common in our house, used especially by my grandmother (born ca. 1865) even to her own children, but not to us, the grandchildren. Eli Katz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 21:53:02 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: _Ours_ vs _Hebrew_ Verses, Shmuel. _Melashon el lashon; yetsirot vegilguleyhen besifruteynu_. Yerushalayim: Y"L Magnes, 1996. "Lezichro shel Dov Sadan habochen ubodek et chizayon harav-leshoniut besifruteynu" tr.: _From Language to Language: Literary Works and their Transformations in Our Literature_ "In memory of Dov Sadan who explored and tested the vision of multi-lingualism in our literature" English title page: Shmuel Werses. _From Language to Language; Literary Works and their Transformation in Hebrew Literature_. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1996. Table of Contents Foreword by Shmuel Werses Part One: Multi-lingual Writers in Our Literature -Folklore in Mendele's Works -Shalom Aleychem as a Hebrew Writer -M.-Y. Berditshevski as a Yiddish Writer -The Transfigurations of Sh. Ben-Tsion's story "Silk" -Between Reproof and Apologetics: On and Around Bialik's "In the City of Slaughter" -The Childhood of Yitschak Dov Berkovits -Chasidism from a Belletristic Perspective: On Buber's _Gog and Magog_ Part Two: Translation and Adaptation from Hebrew to Yiddish -Erter's _Transmigration of a Soul_ {_Gilgul Nefesh_} in Ayzik-Meyer Dik's Yiddish Adaptation -The Yiddish Translations of Avraham Mapu's _Painted Eagle_ {_Ayit Tsavua_} -Three Verse Translations by Gnesin {Uri-Nisn Gnesin 1879-1913} Part Three: Translation from Yiddish to Hebrew -Bialik Translates Mendele -Anski's "Between Two Worlds" (The Dybbuk) in its Textual Metamorphoses -Yiddish Traces in Sh. Y Agnon's Hebrew Writings Part Four: Translation from Foreign Languages into Yiddish and Hebrew -Yosef Perl as Yiddish Translator of Fielding's _Tom Jones_ _Daniel Deronda_ in the Hebrew Press and Literature -Meeting of the Three: A.N. Gnesin, Jacob Wassermann and Shabtai Tsvi Part Five: Studies on the Yiddish-Hebrew Problem -The Tshernovits Conference as Reflected in the Hebrew Press -The Subject of Yiddish in Dov Sadan's Oeuvre List of Where Essays Appeared Originally Index of Persons Index of Works An indexed collection of nineteen Hebrew essays published in various journals and books in the past two decades, this book is important for students of Yiddish language and literature. It deserves reviewing and discussion in _Mendele_. Though my principal purpose here is to draw it to the attention of Mendelyaner, I cannot resist pointing to a certain tension between the book's Hebrew title, its dedication to Dov Sadan (who with Sh. Niger taught us to speak of "one literature in two languages"), the book's fundamental purpose and its actual content -- and the English title page. Note: _From Language to Language: Literary Works and their Transformations in Our Literature_. _Our_ literature. Note: "In memory of Dov Sadan who explored and tested the vision of multi-lingualism in our literature." _Our_ literature. English title: _From Language to Language; Literary Works and their Transformation in Hebrew Literature_. _Hebrew_ literature. We are of course all of us aware of discrepancies and disjunctures between "Jewish" and "Israeli" perspectives. In all fairness, too, we should keep in mind that the English title pages of Hebrew books are often amateurishly prepared and are not necessarily the words of the authors themselves. Yet the use of "Hebrew" for "our"/"Jewish" in the present instance seems more than a casual slip. Leonard Prager 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 19:31:29 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Young readers of Peretz With reference to Morrie Feller's citation [6.134] of Wisse's citation of Bashevis' reference to Peretz' readers [khad gadyo, khad gadyo ;-) ], I truly wonder what dictionary those readers may have been using. Anyone have any thoughts (or believe Bashevis)? Dovid Braun Cambridge, MA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.135