Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.053 July 11, 1993 1) I.B. Singer on records (John Dearden) 2) Is this a coming out party? (Ellen Prince) 3) Wexler scandal (Ellen Prince) 4) You get to vote on a new service (A.J. Hyman) 5) Catching up on Mendele (David Braun) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Jun 29 16:29:09 1993 From: IO20962@MAINE.BITNET Subject: I wonder could you help me to locate and secure a copy of the Caedmon recording of Isaac Bashevis Singer reading his stories in Yiddish? I have already contacted Caedmon, and the recording is unfortunately out of print. I much appreciate any and all assistance. Thank you John Dearden [Replies should be sent directly to Mr. Dearden. nm] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Jun 27 16:25:21 1993 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: is this a coming out party? fishl kutner asserts that all our guessing re the identity of philologus is wrong because 'the initial premise of location is incorrect.' uh, you wanna expand on that for us? ellen prince 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Jun 27 16:25:21 1993 From: "Ellen F. Prince" subject: wexler scandal david werman points out the upside of the wexler scandal: 'yiddish is truly establishment, having its first major embarrassment.' nokh dos hot undz gefelt... ellen prince 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Jun 30 17:25:39 1993 From: AJHYMAN@UTOROISE.BITNET Subject: You get to vote on a new service Attention: Here is your opportunity to vote (with no obligation) Recent efforts have been made to organize and maintain an ABSTRACTED e-INDEX to JEWISH PERIODICALS. A list of potential journals to be reviewed has been compiled and now you have the opportunity to vote on which journals you would like to see reviewed. To receive a ballot send a post requesting a ballot to AJHYMAN@oise.on.ca or AJHYMAN@utoroise.bitnet instructions will be included. FURTHER, a synopsis of discussions on this new service will be featured in a special edition of JewStudies to be posted in July. To subscribe to "JewStudies - An e-Journal of Jewish Studies" (no cost), please send the message SUBSCRIBE JEWSTUDIES to LISTSERV@Israel.nysernet.org AJH 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Jun 30 20:43:09 1993 From: David Braun Subject: Catching up on Mendele Wrt Ellen's comments on pseudonyms: pseudonyms are indeed very common in Yiddish literature (as D.N. Miller pointed out) but what Ellen certainly meant is that use of pseudonyms is certainly uncommon in scientific (academic) writing -- or if it exists at all, it is surprising and is not/should not be tolerated. In Yiddish linguistic periodicals, pseudonyms have been common, I think not because of anybody's desire to hide but because often more than one article is included by the same author. The authors usually do not change their writing style or dialect when writing under these pseudonyms, so they are usually transparent for those who are interested enough to know who the authors really are. Take for example L. Zamet (=Yudl Mark in _Yidishe Shprakh_), Motl Sher (=Mordkhe Schaechter, ibid.). I think Max Weinreich also used a pseudonym when he appeared more than once in the same issue of, e.g., _Yidishe Shprakh_. This is done to a huge extent by the current editor of the _Forverts_, Mordkhe ( Shtrigler ("Mordecai Strigler") who writes at least three articles in every issue, and is (perhaps) the sole contributor, of many many articles and snippets, in _Yidisher Kemfer_, which comes out 2x a week. Shtrigler's names in the _Forverts_ are: Sh. Laykhter, R. Royshem, K., among others. And a dozen more in _Yidisher Kemfer_. (I've been told that he sleeps very little so can therefore be so prolific.) I've heard that there's some form of _epes_ in Austrian German. Anybody know? Reyzl, your mention of the Xmas decorations on the suke where so interesting and could really be instructive about how cultural patterns are transferred. I would guess that it was no problem for the Boro Park (or Williamsburgh or whatever) person to use these "for Xmas" decorations because she was living in a purely Jewish neighborhood where the possibilty of a Jew putting up Xmas decorations was nil, and where there was no or very little cultural contact between Jews and Christians who use these decorations forXmas. I.e., the woman might not have had strong associations with Xmas because she wasn't in a neighborhood where there much Xmas. On the other hand, a Jew living among (Jews and) Christians would specifically associate the decorations with Xmas, and thus wouldn't be likely to use the decoration him/herself. If so, a conclusion is that cultural forms adopted by Jews from coterritorial cultures were not adopted as a result of tremendously strong cultural interaction with the non-Jews, but because Jews were somehow exposed to these forms and brought them back into their own communities where the Christian (or what have you) association was missing, and further cultivated them within their closed community. (Take, for example, the dying of eggs among Ashkenazim -- obviously reminiscent of Easter eggs, but apparently having lost that association.) Tell us more about that decorations discovery, please. And sorry for talking to you in English -- I've never done that before. David Braun ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.053