_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to_MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 06.002 1) "Index of Plays" in Ezra Lahad's _Bibliography of Printed Yiddish Plays_ (ed.) 2) A Reply to Vulf Plotkin (Dovid Braun) 3) A Yiddish Illustrated Book: The Charney _Lider_/Benn "tseykhenungen" 1950 Collaborative Volume (ed.) 4) Book Received: Seth L. Wolitz, ed., _The Hidden Isaac Bashevis Singer_. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. ================================================================ 1)------------------------------------ Date: 28 February 2002 From: Leonard Prager Subject: "Index of Plays" in Ezra Lahad's _Bibliography of Printed Yiddish Plays_ _The Mendele Review_ vol. 5.015 [16 December 2001] reviewed Ezra Lahad's _Bibliography of Printed Yiddish Plays_, noting the absence of indices and noting, too, that Shalom Luria had actually prepared an "Index of Plays." This important tool somehow got separated from the main text. The Lahad family has now found a copy of the 87-page "Mafte'akh haMakhazot" [Index of Plays] and it will be bound in with the bibliography. Moreover, the "Index of Plays" will be sent to all buyers of the bibliography whose copies lack it. The family is eager to give satisfaction on this matter. The "Index of Plays" is an alphabetic list of Yiddish titles which point to the bibliography's entry numbers. I know of no more comprehensive list of Yiddish play titles. The work proper is ordered alphabetically by name of playwright. Each play under each playwright is assigned a number and under that number each edition is ordered chronologically and assigned an alphabetic letter. The bibliography may be ordered from M. Lahad. email: lahadm@netvision.net.il; address: p.o.b 64 Rosh Pina, 12000 Israel; telephone: 972-4-680-1760; fax: 972-4-680-1797. Price per vol. $75 (includes postage and packing); airmail extra. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 February 2002 From: Dovid Braun Subject: A Reply to Vulf Plotkin [re: Yiddish is not a "mixed" Language] Following are a few brief comments in reply to Vulf Plotkin's contribution to _The Mendele Review_ Vol.6 No. 1 (http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/tmr/tmr06001.txt). -1) Calling Yiddish a mixed language is, indeed, not very descriptively or analytically useful, because all languages are mixed or, if their mixedness is not readily apparent (to their native speakers; to non-native listeners; to scientists of language), they are all "mixable" in principle. In 1936, Max Weinreich still referred to Yiddish as a _langue mixte_ [1], although he later proffered and preferred the term _fusion language_ [2], which he applied to English as well [3] -- pace Prince's understanding [4]. Calling Yiddish a creole is a statement about the genesis of Yiddish, one which is very difficult to maintain given the historical and the linguistic facts that are available to us. The term "contact language" has also been used in discussion of Yiddish. [5] -2) Semitic and Slavic phonology may have left a much larger imprint on the phonology of modern Yiddish than is generally appreciated. Uriel Weinreich hints at this [6] in noting that the inventory of word onsets in Yiddish is much greater than that of other Germanic languages, thanks to vocabulary items stemming from Hebrew-Aramaic and Slavic. He brings the word-intitial clusters /bd-/ and /px-/ as examples, for instance in the Yiddish words _bdikes-khomets, pkhises-hakoved_.[7] If, as some phonologists maintain, word-onsets are a cue to language acquirers as to how to syllabify word-internal consonant clusters, then the abundant availability of such non-Germanic word-initial clusters may have revolutionized the word-internal syllabification strategy of Yiddish speakers. If syllabification plays a role in the phonology of Yiddish, then arguments remain to be presented to determine whether the Yiddish speaker's syllabification of _dokter_ is do.kter, dok.ter, dok.kter, dokt.ter, or even dokt.er (a period represents a syllable boundary; doubled consonant represents an ambisyllabic consonant, i.e. a consonant belonging to both syllables simultaneously). -3) _zikh_ is indeed [zax] in Northeastern Yiddish when unstressed and phonologically cliticized onto a host (in some of Southeastern Yiddish as well). In other dialects the realization is [zex, zox, z@x] (where @ represents schwa). It is superfluous to assume, as Plotkin does, that the stressless form is a vocabulary item different from the stressed form. In each dialect, the reduced (stressless or destressed) vowel is realized [a, e, o, @] in the position preceding /x/. Thus, /reyex/ is predictably [re'yax] in "litvish," while it is predictably [re'yex] in the dialects that have [vus he'rtsex], [ra'yox] for those who say [vus he'rtsox], [re'y@x / ra'y@x] for those with [vus he'rts@x]. The /z/ in /zix/ assimilates in voicing to the preceding voiceless /t/ -- phonemes of clitic(-like) elements assimilate leftward in Yiddish (hence nit + do --> nito 'there isn't', as opposed to nit + do --> [nit do, nido] 'not here'. Notes and References (1) Max Weinreich, "Le yiddish comme object de la linguistique ge'ne'rale," Communication au IVe Congre`s International de Linguistes, `a Copenhague, le 27 aou^t 1936; published by YIVO, 2nd ed. 1938, Vilna. (2) Maks Vaynraykh, entries: "Yidishe filologye" and "Yidish," in _Algemeyne Entsiklopedye: Yidn B_, Paris, 1940. (3) id., "Yidishe filologye," section 4. (4) Ellen F. Prince, "Yiddish as a Contact Language," 1998, available at: ftp://babel.ling.upenn.edu/papers/faculty/ellen_prince/creole.ps (5) Cf. Prince, op.cit. (6) Uriel Weinreich, entry "Yiddish Language," _Encyclopedia Judaica_. (7) Other "oddball" combinations from the Germanic perspective, not mentioned by U. Weinreich, are /tk-/ in _tkies-kaf_, /kt-/ in _ktoyres_, /pS-/ in _pshore_, /gz-/ in _gzar, gzeyre_, /xS-/ in _khshives_, and many many more. David Braun, Harvard University 3)----------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 February 2002 From: Leonard Prager (lprager@research.haifa.ac.il) Subject: A Yiddish Illustrated Book: The Charney _Lider_/Benn "tseykhenungen" 1950 collaborative Volume The Charney/Benn 1950 Collaborative Volume Many readers of Yiddish are not aware of the efforts of scores of graphic artists, publishers, printers, and book designers to create Yiddish books that are beautiful objects as well as efficient means of communicating the written word, There exists in Y iddish a considerable (if not voluminous) body of writing devoted to art subjects, but very little about printing and the book arts. It can be said that we do not know, much less understand, what we possess in the realm of Yiddish book illustration and graphic design. For the past few years David Mazower in London has been collecting and studying Yiddish illustrated books. He has compiled an extensive bibliography of these works and a checklist of artists who have illustrated them. In future issues of _The Mendele Review_ we will be presenting the results of Mazower's research to date, as well as reviews of illustrated works and discussions of their artists. Planned for the future, too, is an online gallery of Yiddish book illustrations. As an introductory effort in this direction, I have chosen to talk about a collaborative production of the Paris artist Benn (1905-1989) and the Yiddish poet, writer and journalist Daniel Charney (1888-1959). (Charney, the younger brother of the better known Sh. Niger and Boruch Charney Vladeck, kept the family name.) THE BOOK donyel tsharni: _lider_ / ben: tseykhenungen pariz: a.b. tserata, 1950, 61 zz. shir-kolektsye 2 gedrukt in finf hundert ekzemplarn, numerirt fun eyns biz finf hundert, in der bukhdrukeray fun abetse, 11 ri lui-blank, pariz daniel tcharny: lider (poemes) / benn: cajchenungen (dessins) . copyright 1950 by a.b. cerata, paris / imprimerie abece, 11, rue louis-blanc. paris (10), 61 pp. printed in france [THE PUBLISHERS, THE POET AND THE ARTIST] The Bialystok Center in New York and the Friends of Bialystok of Paris wished to honor their fellow townsmen, Ben-Tsien Rabinovitsh (who adopted the name Benn), on his 45th birthday and 30th anniversary of his residence in Paris. Benn had established his reputation as a painter in Paris with five one-man shows in the 1930s. To his "byalistoker landslayt" he was "dem groysn moler un natsyonaln yid" (p. [9]). Benn had survived the Second World War in hiding. The celebratory volume was to consist of illustra tions of poems by Benn's friend, the poet and writer Daniel Charney, who lived in Paris from 1936 to 1941. I do not know who initiated the collaboration. It might even have been the printer. THE PRINTER Avrom-Ber Tserata (1900-1963) worked as a printer in Paris from 1934 until his incarceration in concentration camps during the Second world War. He survived the war and returned to Paris and to his printing vocation, helping many Yiddish writers publish t heir work. Printing was his vocation but he also wrote for the Yiddish press in Paris and abroad. From 1961 until his death he lived in Israel and directed the Safed printing museum. (See Khayim-Leyb Fuks, "Avrom-Ber Tserata," _Leksiokon fun der nayer yid isher literature_, vol. 7, cols 610-611). --------------------------------- THE POEMS and DRAWINGS Whether or not "The Fifth Man" merits illustration by as many as six drawings, the poet and artist gave it primary place in this 62-page limited-edition folio volume with fine paper and artful typography. The first of ten illustrated poems, "The Fifth Man" immediately follows a photograph of Benn's oil portrait of Charney. Benn illustrates the image of each of the poem's six personae. The first drawing shows us a bearded elderly man dying in his bed. The angel of death literally kisses his brow as he sleeps. The second drawing shows a much younger figure, mustached, with cravat and proper collar, wearing his shoes, lying on the ground atop a flag with the Yiddish word "nider" ['down (with)'] above and "zol lebn" ['let live'] below (I do not know who the tiny human figure on the flag can be). The third drawing presents a very abstract wheel mechanism over a part of which a young worker's body is sprawled, presumably a victim of its motions. The second figure, obviously a social activist, dies either in political struggle or as victim of indust rial slavery -- i.e. the second figure dies in one of two ways, each of which is tied to the oppressive social system. The third figure is a suicide. The fourth drawing is that of a guillotined male with eyes popping out and staring down at a body no longer there. The final drawing portrays the poet's discovery that he is the "fifth man." In a single composite field we have all of the previous images inked in clearly but lightly and in the center of the drawing we have a darker-lined sketch of the poet's head. This outline of the poet's head derives from the photograph of the Benn oil painting of Charney that preceded the poem, a portrait of a reflective and darkly sad figure. The autobiographical "The Fifth Man" was written in 1927 in "red" Berlin, a center of avante garde artists and political revolutionaries. The 39-year old Charney was in mid-passage, hovering between his Eastern-European home and a North American asylum. At this moment, against the background of the tumultuous life about him, he attempts to confront his Self. Only in a mysterious composite of others with whom he has identified can he glimpse who he is. The poem's first two lines are a kind of existentialist credo: man doesn't know where he comes from or where he will end. The poet reviews a variety of death patterns ranging from the harmonious "kiss of death" to the violent guillotine. Political action and industrial servitude are also presented as available exit paths, and there is always free choice manifest in suicide. The poet "trogt ot di shtrof fun di toyte di ale" ['bears the penalty of all these deaths' or 'bears the sentence of all these deaths' ]. He has died all these deaths and through them his connection to a life has become somewhat more substantial. THE TEXT of "Der finfter" Der finfter fun donyel tsharni [Daniel Charney] 1. keyner veyst nisht dem eygenem sof, 2. vi er veyst nit dem onhoyb fun zikh. 3. eyner shtarbt beneshike in shlof, 4. un der tsveyter in krogn un shikh 5. unter bunter buntarisher fon, 6. oder gor untern rod fun fabrik, 7. un a driter aleyn tut zikh on 8. oyfn haldz a tsvey-groshenen shtrik, 9. un a ferter -- fartog vert gekept 10. mit di oygn gevendte tsu zikh, 11. un der finfter, a ponem bin ikh! 12. yo, der finfter, vos trogt ot di shtrof 13. fun di toyte di ale -- bin ikh 14. un kh'veys nisht mayn eygenem sof, 15. vi ikh veys nisht dem onhoyb fun zikh. (Berlin, 1927) 1. No one can foretell his end, 2. Or fathom his beginning. 3. One man dies in his sleep in his bed 4. And a second in his collar and shoes 5. Waving a rebel's bright flag 6. Or is ground by factory wheels. 7. A cheap cord of rope 8, Wraps round the neck of a third. 9. A fourth is beheaded in the light of day 10. As his eyes stare inward. 11. And who but I am the fifth! 12. Yes, the fifth, who pays the penalty 13. For the death of all four. 14. And I don't know how I will end, 15. As I never knew how my self began. [translation -- ed.] Other Poems and Drawings in the Volume Neither the artist nor the poet are represented in Charney's _Lider_ by their best work, nor are the selections uniformly successful. i will mention one more poem in the volume, not because it is distinguished but because it is a singular exemplar of a relatively uncommon genre -- poems in praise of institutions. In this instance, the institution is the Yivo Scientific Institute (later renamed the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research). The poem is dated Vilna 1935. es kayklen zikh reyfn 1. es kayklen zikh reyfn, a reyf nokh a reyf: 2. di nekhtns, di haynts un di morgns -- 3. tsum vilne, tsum yivo, tsum shteynernem seyf 4. vu s'vert undzer folks-guts farborgn. 5. es kayklen zikh reyfn, a reyf nokh a reyf: 6. fun mizrekh, fun tsofn, fun dorem -- 7. zey kumen zikh ale in yivo tsunoyf 8. tsum oytser fun bikher un sforim. 9. azoy ot farmert zikh do undzer farmeg 10. fun tsaytungen, briv un ksav-yadn -- 11. vi vunderlekh-shpanendik s'vert do der veg 12. fun motke khabad* biz shabadn**! 13. vi vunderlekh-shpanendik s'vert do der gang 14. fun sore bas-tovim*** biz rokhele korn**** -- 15. afile mayn eygener shtiler gezang 16. vet keyn mol nisht geyn do farlorn. 1. The hoops keep rolling and rolling: 2. Yesterdays, todays and tomorrows -- 3. To Vilna, to Yivo, to the stone safe 4. Where our people's patrimony is stored. 5. One hoop after another circles in 6. From East, from North, from South -- 7. They come together at the Yivo, 8. Treasure-house of books, holy and lay. 9. This is how our wherewithal increases, 10. Our wealth of journals, manuscripts and letters -- 11. How wonderfully exciting is the path 12. From Motke Khabad to Shabad! 13. How wonderfully exciting is the road 14. From Sarah Bas-Tovim to Rokhele Korn, 15. And even my own muted song 16. Will never get lost here. [translation -- ed.] This poem explains the ideational bond between the poet and the illustrator -- they were both "natsyonale yidn" ['national Jews'] who shared a sense of peoplehood and valued Yiddish-language culture. They were inspired by institutions such as the Yivo which collected and preserved folk creations; they were also personally involved in the world of Yiddish journalism, literature, theater and art. The somewhat vain two concluding lines together with the meanings that have accrued to the poem in the course of time magnify its pathos. ---------------- * Motke Khabad was a legendary Vilna prankster. ** Doctor Tsemakh Shabad of Vilna, a founder of Yivo, was famous as a physician in Eastern Europe. He was the father-in-law of Max Weinreich. *** Sore Bas-Tovim is the author of Yiddish _tkhines_ ('supplicatory prayers'). ****Rokhl Korn, Vilna-born Yiddish poet (1898-1982) 4)-------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 February 2002 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Seth L. Wolitz, ed., _The Hidden Isaac Bashevis Singer_. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. [ISBN 0-292-79147-x] Essays by Irving Saposnik, Joseph Sherman, Avrom Noversztern, Mark L. Louden, Leonard Prager, Alan Astro, Jan Schwarz, Astrid Stark-Adler, Monica Adamczyk-Garbowska, Nathan Cohen, Itzik Gottessman, and Janet Hadda. Lawrence Rosenwald has written of this collection: "This book is a significant contribution to the professional study of Singer and of Yiddish literature generally. I can't think of another anthology, nor of any single study of Singer, that sets out so rich and varied a sense of his work in its contexts." ----------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 06.002 Leonard Prager, editor Subscribers to _Mendele_ (see below) automatically receive _The Mendele Review_. Send "to subscribe" or change-of-status messages to: listproc@lists.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele mail postpone b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail ack c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at:http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/tmrarc.htm