Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.196 January 9, 1994 1) Introduction (Zalmen Itzik Clare) 2) Yiddish Children's Literature (postscript) (Zachary Baker) 3) Yiddish jazz (Andrew Cassel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Jan 7 13:04:26 1994 From: CLARE@vms.cis.pitt.edu Subject: Introduction I have just signed on to Mendele because I am interested in preserving my knowledge of Yiddish. I was born in the south Bronx to immigrant parents from Lithuania and Belorussia. We spoke Yiddish at home and I have retained most of it through conversation, writing to relatives in Argentina and Israel and attending the Oxford Summer Yiddish program. I am a chemistry professor at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. I am 55 years old, am married with3 children and 1 grandson. Ikh vintsch eikh aleh a gezunt'n neiem yohr. A sheynem dank. Zalmen Itzik (Sheldon Irvin) Clare 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Jan 7 15:38:51 1994 From: Zachary Baker (bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu) Subject: Yiddish Children's Literature (postscript) After reading my comments on Yiddish children's literature, Dina Abramowicz told me that in Prof. Shmeruk's view, Sholem Aleichem's story "Dos meserl" (cited by her as the first Yiddish children's story) was in fact aimed at adults and not children, and that the same should be said of S.A.'s other "Mayses far yidishe kinder." She regards that as a correction to what she wrote back in 1975. And speaking of Khone Shmeruk, in his review of the YIVO/Clearwater microfiche edition he commits an act of auto-citation, which may be of interest to those who are researching the general topic: "'Iyunim be-darke ha-kelitah shel sifrut yeladim lo yehudit be-yidish," IN "'Iyunim be-sifrut - devarim she-ne'emru ba-'erev li-khevod Dov Sadan be- mal'at lo shemonim ve-hamesh shanah" [The Dov Sadan festschrift] (Jerusalem: 1988). This article was translated into English and published in "Art and Its Uses: The Visual Image and Modern Jewish Society" (Studies in Contemporary Jewry; vol. 6), edited by Ezra Mendelsohn (New York: published for the Institute [of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem] by Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 186-200, under the title: "Yiddish Adaptations of Children's Stories from World Literature." I neglected to mention that the English citation for Shmeruk's Hebrew article, "Yiddish Adaptations of Children's Stories from World Literature," was brought to my attention by Michael Steinlauf, to whom I am deeply grateful. Bardzo dziekuje, Panie Doktorze! Zachary Baker, YIVO Library 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Jan 7 23:37:40 1994 From: ACASSEL@delphi.com Subject: Yiddish jazz Jay M. Lee writes: >I have been interested in Yiddish jazz music for some time, but I >have so very little of it...What I would like to know is who are >some Yiddish jazz artists whom >I could look up at the record store? I don't know quite what you mean by "Yiddish jazz" (although I would love to hear more, both of and about it) but I wrote a magazine story a year ago about a couple here in Philadelphia who have the largest private collection of recorded Yiddish music in the country, Bob and Molly Freedman. What's more, Bob Freedman has cataloged the collection in database form, so he can look up any recording by name, artist, subject, date, etc. I know their collection is stronger in 33 LP's and later stuff than in older '78s (I believe YIVO has more of that) but you might contact them; they are haimishe and usually delighted to help. Email me directly and I'll give you their address. Andrew Cassel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.196 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files