Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 21.014 February 23, 2011 1) Call for Papers (Jan Schwarz) 2) Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (Jordan Brown) 3) Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (Dina Levias) 4) Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (David Bienenfeld) 5) Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (Hershl Hartman) 6) Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (Khane-Faygl Turtletaub) 7) lise/Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem (Gloria Donen Sosin) 8) Jabberwocky - a protest letter (Rukhl Schaechter) and a reply (Victor Bers) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 19 Subject: Call for Papers European Yiddish Academic Workshop: Yiddish Culture in its European Context Lund University, October 28-20, 2012 The chair of Yiddish at Lund University, Sweden, in corporation with the chairs of Yiddish at the Heinrich-Heine University of Duesseldorf and theUniversity of Amsterdam, are pleased to announce the convening of the first European Yiddish Academic Workshop. This annual meeting will assemble senior and junior European researchers in the field of Yiddish from its earliest appearance in Europe to date. Scholars of Yiddish of all ranks (including Ph.D. students) are invited to submit a proposal for a presentation in this workshop. The topics to be discussed this year are: 1.Yiddish Culture after 1945; 2. European Centers of Yiddish Culture in the 20th Century. The lectures may cover topics related to questions of language, literature, history, folklore or any other relevant academic field. Length of a presentation is 20 minutes followed by a 15 minutes discussion. Senior participants will be asked to finance their own cost of travel, while the organizers will cover the costs of hotel and meals during the meeting. The organizers will pay for travel expenses for junior scholars, including Ph.D. students. Deadline for submitting a proposal for a lecture is May 15, 2012 and proposals of no more than 400 words should be sent to [email protected] Jan Schwarz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 18 Subject: Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem "Der toyt hot zayn vinkl dortn tsu vemen kumen hob ikh shoyn nit." Ba mir heyst der tsveyter ferz: to whom I have not yet come Ikh veys nit tsi s'iz der toyt tsi epes andersh vos iz der "whom"... kh'meyn az s'iz efsher der toyt, vayl der ershter ferz perzonifitsirt im, ober s'iz a bisl modne tsu zogn: Death has his claim staked there (Death,) to whom I have not yet come Ikh ken nisht di poeme, bin ikh nisht zikher az ot di iberzetsung leygt zikh afn saykhl. Nu, s'iz an idee. Aldos guts, Jordan Brown 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 2 Subject: Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem If that is so, I will venture a wild hypothetical guess--- "Death has its staked out its plot there, But there is no one there whom I can visit anymore" i.e.: my dear ones had no burial, they were victims of the death camps" Dina Levias 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 2 Subject: Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem "Der toyt hot zayn vinkl dortn tsu vemen kumen hob ikh shoyn nit." It seems to me from the tense of the second line, "hob ikh shoyn nisht," the more straightforward translation would be: Death has his little corner there To which I have not yet come. David Bienenfeld 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 2 Subject: Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem Elie Train is apparently confused by the Yiddish syntax which, in this case, places the objective phrase before the verb. The accurate translation of the two lines is: Death has its corner there; I no longer have anyone to visit. Hershl Hartman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 8 Subject: Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem Death has staked out his corner there; I no longer have anyone to turn to. Khane-Faygl Turtletaub 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: February 3 Subject: lise/ Fefekuchen-Zilbert poem The word "lise" or "lysy" in Yiddish comes from same word for bald is Russian (probably Slavic origin, not just Polish) And Elie Train's question is so sad and moving: Death has his corner there (i.e. Death has staked out his place there) the last line translates as So I have no one to come back to, or home to Gloria Donen Sosin 8)---------------------------------------------------- Subject: Jabberwocky - a protest letter Date: February 9 I was shocked to read your posting of [Leybl Talmy's Yiddish rendering of the] Jabberwocky yesterday. The author may be Jewish but if he weren't, I would have called this anti-Semitic literature. He could easily have portrayed the antagonist as a goylem or a pipernoter. By choosing a rabbi, and mocking his beard and peyes, the author reveals his true colors. But even more disturbing is: why did Mendele not only permit this posting but encourage its members to read it? Rukhl Schaechter .............................................................. The untershames replies: I take full responsibility for running Talmy's "Jabberwocky." I believe that even if one takes the selection of a rabbi as at all significant, this sort of badinage has a secure place in Yiddish folklore and literature: think Peretz's "Bontshe shvayg," think even of "az der rebbe elimelech. " Moreover, Mendelyaner with a far better knowledge of Yiddish than I have, have written in praise of Talmy's version. Victor Bers ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 21.014 Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: [email protected] IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name. Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses in the body of the message, as responses will be posted for all to read. Please send postings always in plain text (no HTML or the like). In order to spare the shamosim time and effort, we request that contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of transliteration into Latin letters, which are explained in summary form at http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275 <http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275> . All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address: [email protected] Mendele on the web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/ The Mendele webpage currently gives access to issues starting with the inauguration, dated May 15, 1991 up to Vol. 16.027 (April 5, 2007). Issues starting with Vol. 18.004 (July 3, 2008) up to the most recent can be found at http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/mendele/ We are now working to fill the hole between those two sets and add a search routine To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele _______________________________________________ Mendele mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
