Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.194 November 22, 1994 1) Mendelniks at the lsa? (Ellen Prince) 2) Mayrev Yidishe Muzik? (Rick Gildemeister) 3) Peretz's "Frume kats" (Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf) 4) Tsvi Schooler (Leybl Goldberg) 5) Zamenhof and Yiddish (Howie Aronson) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 10:08:57 EST From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Mendelniks at the lsa? this won't do for a mendelnik convention, obviously, but how many of you will be at the lsa meeting in new orleans this january? if more than one, perhaps we could have our second annual mendelnik-lunch-at-the-lsa? ellen prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 14:15:01 EST From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Mayrev Yidishe Muzik? Ikh hob letstns geleyent Arre Komar's zeyer interesante verter vegn Yidishe muzik, vos es iz folksgesang, folkslid un der Yidisher "stil" un fun vanen, oder beser gezogt, viazoy me makh "Yidish" a melodi. Mayn frage haynt hot tsu ton mit yidn in Mayrev-Yidishe lender. Tsi iz der "klezmer" stil geven gut gekent in Elzas oder Endingen? Vossere muzik tipn hot men dort? Tsi iz faran bay zey a yidisher stil, vos tsu *zey* hot a yidishn tam, ober take nisht der selbiker stil vos men hot gefunen bay yidn in Poyln un Besarabie, lemoshl? Efsher ken franyd Arre oder andere mentshn derklern epes oder gebn an entfer tsu mayn frage? Vi modne, vos biz itst iz di miglekhkeyt bay mir keynmol nisht in moyekh gekumen, az Mayrev-Yidn voltn gehat efsher zeyer eygene muzik, oder efsher hobn zey geshpilt di zelbike muzik vi in Poyln, un es iz bay zey nisht keyn originele "folks" muzik. Yo, yo,ikh veys az mayn loshn iz a bisl komish; hot an anderer Mendelnik ober gezogt az di vos kenen, zoln pruvn shraybn oyf Yidish. Rick Gildemeister 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 14:41:46 -0500 (EST) From: m_steinlauf@acad.fandm.edu Subject: Peretz's "Frume kats" To answer, albeit briefly, Moishe Feller's question about Peretz's "Frume kats": the story has generally been read as a not-so-sutle attack on the hypocrisy of Jewish orthodoxy, indeed, of religious orthodoxy in general. For this reason, it was one of the most commonly anthologized Peretz stories in the Soviet Union. By the way, in general with Peretz, his stories are rarely just "stam mayses." While they're rarely allegories strictly speaking, there's frequently a "shpits," typically located in the last lines. So break your head and enjoy! Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 21:06:00 -0500 (EST) From: lgoldberg@worldbank.org Subject: Tsvi Schooler Re: Harvey Spiro's queries: I also have fond memories of hearing Tsvi Schooler's raspy greeting "A hartsikn gut-morgn aykh!" every day on WEVD in New York in the 1960s and 70s just before he would read the news in Yiddish. I don't know about his publications, but Harvey or others may be interested in knowing that Schooler was interviewed on camera about his film career (he played "Charlie the Marxist" in the 1932 film version of _Uncle Moses_) in the documentary on Yiddish movies, _Almonds and Raisins_ (c. 1980, narrated by Orson Welles). Those in the Washington, D.C. area can find the film in the library of the BJE (Board of Jewish Education) in Rockville, Maryland [tel. (301) 984-1611]. It's also available for purchase from ERGO Media in New York. Leybl [bela'z "Lee"] Goldberg 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 23:25:00 -0600 From: hia5@midway.uchicago.edu Subject: Zamenhof and Yiddish In Mendele Vol. 4.183, Zellig Bach points out Zamenhof's plea for a consistent Yiddish orthography based on the phonology of Yiddish. It is true that he states "there is no basis for writing ... double consonants, the letter 'h', etc., only because these words are so written in German." Yet, Zamenhof had an absolute terror of homonymy (his Esperanto avoided all instances of homonymy). For this reason he did propose such spellings as: lehben to live vs. leben near mehl flour melen draw nehmen take nemen names nohkh still nokh after ohrem arm orem poor vehgen weigh vegn about vell wave velen want zunn sun zun son Incidentally, the Zamenhof Yiddish grammar is a fascinating and important work. It has been published by Adolf Holzhaus: L. Zamenhof, Provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo kaj Alvoko al la juda intelektularo, published in 1982 by the Fondumo Esperanto (Helsinki). This volume contains the original Russian text from 1879-1882 along with an Esperanto translation. Howie Aronson P.S. Don't forget: Barry Schechter speaking in Yiddish on Yiddish dialectology, Wednesday 30 November in Cobb Hall106, University of Chicago. Contact me for further details. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.194 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. 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