Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.192 January 8, 1997 1) Yidishe klasiker af si-di (Andrej Bredstein) 2) Nevura (Dovid Braun) 3) Nevura (Les Train) 4) Nevura (Bob Rothstein) 5) Poetry of Yehoash and Zukofsky (Ron Robboy) 6) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Kees Booy) 7) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Kenneth Wishnia) 8) Serdatsky's "Lilien" (Daniel Soyer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:35:25 +0300 From: anbredstein@glas.apc.org Subject: Yidishe klasiker af si-di Efsher veyst emetser fun di mendelyaner bekiim vegn azelkhe ongabn-bazes? In khine, lemushl, hob ikh mit di eygene oygn gezen a gvaldikn tsul fun khinezishe shrayber un dikhter in aza elektronishn furem. A shod, vos di yunge yorn flien avek beshas zukhn a vort tsi an oysdruk in tsendliker bender - vayl literatur undzer farmugt, geloybt iz got, gants genig azelkhe bender... Un ikh volt oykhet zeyer dankbar geven far yede yedies legabe tanakh af si-di, aza tanakh vos me shtekt arayn in kompyuter arayn un hot nakhes. A dank, Andrej Bredstein Moskve (Rusland) 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 18:55:16 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Di nevuret I'm jumping into the discussion without context (I've been away and haven't caught up with all the recent Mendele postings). M. Herzog refers to Neiman's question about "nevura" in Polish Yiddish. This must be _di nevuret_. The _vuret_ part is clear: vorhayt--> vurhayt with neutralization of -hayt as in a number of other words with this no longer productive suffix in Yiddish (the woman's name _frumet/frimet_ > _frumhayt_). Where the _ne-_ comes from is beyond me. Dovid Braun Cambridge, MA 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 00:37:11 -0500 (EST) From: ltrain@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Nevura I will venture a guess that nevura is from the daitshmerish vare (feminine) meaning reality. In Yiddish the a becomes o in Litvish/standard Yiddish, and u in'Polish" yiddish. In some words, the n from the indefinite article a/an gets stuck onto the folowing word that it was supposed to modify; thus neveire is a form of aveire - sin. Thephenomenon can go the other way as well, as in the word naranja, which was assumed to be 'an orange' (spanish). Dr. Schaechter in 'Laitish Mame-Loshn', page 110, lists emes, voret and nevoret as synonyms for truth Les Train 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 11:29:28 -0500 (EST) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Nevura Here's another try at answering Jeff Neiman's inquiry about the word _nevura_ (6.187). In commenting on _daytshmerizmen_ in _Yidishe shprakh_ 33 (1974):55, Mordkhe Schaechter mentions two words used in Polish Yiddish: _vuret_ and _nevuret_, from _vorhayt_ 'truth' (cf. German _Wahrheit_). Is this perhaps the word that JN's parents brought with them from Lodz? Bob Rothstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 16:19:48 -0800 From: rrobboy@cts.com Subject: Poetry of Yehoash and Zukofsky Lisa Tomlinson's inquires about the influence of Yehoash and other Yiddish poets on Louis Zukofsky [6.169]. Perhaps there are some clues in the unpublished papers of Zukofsky's Objectivist colleague Charles Reznikoff, which are housed in the Archive for New Poetry in the Special Collections of the library at University of California San Diego. Included is a Yiddish manuscript of the memoir of his father, Nathan Reznikoff, which provided the basis for the poet's "Early History of a Sewing Machine Operator" (1936). The archive also apparently contains Reznifkoff's correspondence with Zukofsky and an unpublished article about him. I have taken my information from the UCSD Special Collection's website: Reznikoff was married to Marie Syrkin, daughter of the early socialist Zionist ideologue Nachman Syrkin. In addition to a distinguished career as a journalist and academic, Marie Syrkin published English translations of Yiddish poetry (according to Encyclopedia Judaica -- I've never seen her translations). Besides a substantial body of poetry, fiction, and family memoirs, Charles Reznikoff was co-author of a history, "The Jews of Charleston" (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1950). Ron Robboy 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 10:24:53 +0100 (MET) From: booybrcl@worldonline.nl Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" Ephraim Mose Lilien (1874-1925) was a very 'productive' artist. Many books and magazines contain his drawings, most of them are inspired by biblical persons and jewish daily life. However I have never seen one titled :The Queen of the Night", a title somewhat unusual for him. Dr.Mark Gelber of the Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel did a lot of work on Lilien. You could ask him about this Queen. Independent of the question, whether Serdatsky' Lilien has anything to do with E.M.Lilien, one could wish to see Liliens beautiful drawings and book illustrations. Two recent books contain many of them: . Ostjuedische Geschichten, edited by Ulf Diederichs, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Muenchen, 1988 4th ed. ISBN3-424-00953-9. . E.M.Lilien: Briefe an seine Frau, 1905-1925. edited by Otto M.Lilien and Eve Strauss. Juedischer Verlag Atheneum, Koenigstein, 1985. ISBN 3-7610-0369-2. Kees Booy 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 17:24:05 -0500 (EST) From: kwishnia@ccmail.sunysb.edu Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" Thank you for all your responses. I have no doubt that the artist is the person I'm looking for (I just wanted to narrow down the field--other possibilities included Lily Pons and Lilio, a renaissance Italian painter). Mendele is certainly an excellent tool for this sort of query. Kenneth Wishnia 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 07 Jan 97 21:57:05 EST From: 74212.2700@compuserve.com Subject: Serdatsky's "Lilien" It is possible that the Lilien refered to by Yenta Serdatsky is not the famous artist E. M. Lilien at all. The _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur_ lists two Liliens: Izidor Lilien (1882-1960), an actor and "farfaser fun 1- un 2-aktike 'sketshes," tsu velkhe er hot aleyn geshribn oykh lidlekh tsum zingen, di azoy gerufene 'liriks'." He sounds like a good candidate. There was also a poet, R.Z. Lilien, pseudonym of Lilien Robinzon-Zangvil (b.1900). She was from Omaha and started writing in Yiddish in 1930. Also possible. Unfortunately, I deleted the original query, so I don't remember the entire context of the reference to Lilien. Daniel Soyer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.192