Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.266 March 6, 1996 1) Sholem-Aleykhem's _Kenig Pik_ (Part 2) (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 96 21:42:39 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's _Kenig Pik_ 2 We can now return to the Goodblatt manuscript of _Kenig Pik_ and try to identify it as closely as posslble. Sholem-Aleykhem spoke of a revised edition of the play sent to _Der groyser kundes_. On examining the play printed in that journal [3:6 (February 10, 1911), 8-10; 3:7 (February 17, 1911), 8-10], we find that it is virtually identical with that of the Goodblatt manuscript. This is important in understanding the textual history of _Kenig Pik_. There is every reason to believe that the revised edition represents the author's last word on the play and has priority over earlier variants in a critical edition of Sholem-Aleykhem's works (such as was planned, with its center at the Hebrew University, but apparently has been at least temporarily abandoned). Moreover, the Goodblatt manuscript is almost certainly the copytext for the revised version published in _Der groyser kundes_. The manuscript is also more complete than the printed version (e.g., it recovers the interesting line, "guryeve kashe, telyatshene nozke _ _ pfui!," which would otherwise be lost __ see footnote 15). The Sholem-Aleykhem Archives has a typescript of _Kenig Pik_, which is dated January 21, 1911 and which is stamped with the Russian censor's seal. This is apparently the copy submitted for permission to publish the play separately and it corresponds exactly to the Familyen-biblyotek edition of Warsaw, 1912. This editlon is also that of the twenty-eight-volume Folksfond Edition (New York, 1917-1923), from which many later editions (including the Ikuf edition, 1952-1959) derive. With minor differences pointing to regional variants (e.g. _nit_ / _nisht_), the Warsaw 1912 typescript and the Folksfond versions are also identical with the edition which appeared in the _Yudishe ilustrirte tsaytung_ [No. 50 (December 30. 1910), 11-12]. To summarize, there are two basic versions, the original represented by (1) the typescript (probably typed by Berkovitsh directly from Sholem-Aleykhem's manuscript or a copy of it) and a number of editions identical to it and (2) the revised version, represented by the Goodblatt manuscript and the _Groyser kundes_ edition virtually identical to it. The Goodblatt manuscript contains the work of two copyists employed by Sholem-Aleykhem to copy his original manuscript together with last-minute corrections and additions characteristically made by the author in red ink. One of the copyists may have been working from dictation (as indicated by his unusual spelling of the word _kloymersht_).(12) The Goodblatt manuscript of _Kenig Pik_ belonged to the late Rabbi Morris Solomon Goodblatt (HaRov Moyshe-Shloyme Gutblat), a native of Mlawa, Poland (and thus a _landsman_ of Yoysef Opatoshu) who lived in New York between 1911 and 1927, when he moved to Philadelphia. He was well acquainted with Moyshe Nadir, who was a good friend of Sholem-Aleykhem; according to an unsubstantiated family tradition it was from Moyshe Nadlr that Rabbi Goodblatt bought the manuscript. In addition to being a friend of Sholem-Aleykhem, Moyshe Nadir worked for _Der Groyser kundes_. The Goodblatt family has also ralsed the possibility that the manuscript was purchased from Opatoshu and not from Nadir. In any event, the tradition, which related to a manuscript, would not have been perpetuated had there not been some basis for it. The manuscript, however, 1s not a holograph. One could call it a _merograph_ -- a manuscript partly in the hand of the author. When we look at the first page of the Goodblatt manuscript, we see an asterisk in red ink which directs us to a two-line insertion, a1so in red ink, that runs down the length of the rlght-hand margln. It reads "Di uffirung fun dizn eynakter in nyu-york iz ibergegebn funem oytor oysshlislekh tsu di progresiv dramatik klub" ('The production of thls one-acter 1n New York is transferred by the author to the Progressive Dramatlc Club exclusively').(13) The identical footnote appears in the printed _Der groyser kundes_ edltion of _Kenig Pik_.(14) It is logical to infer that the newspaper copied the footnote from the Goodblatt manuscript, which served as its copytext. As mentioned above, one of the lines omitted in the newspaper can be restored only through the Goodblatt manuscript.(15) Zilbertsvayg may not have found a record of a _Kenig Pik_ performance, but Sholem-Aleykhem assigned the play's New York production rights to the amateur repertory theater, the Progressive Dramatic Club (which apparently showed interest) because he regarded the script as playable. We do not know, unfortunately, know whether or not the amateur group, which had regular play readings as well as public performance, staged the play. The Russian-language elements of the play would not have created problems, since the audience and actors of the Club were largely Russian Jews. When the Yiddish repertory was exhausted, the Club performed Chekhov one-acters in Russian. This is not the place to discuss Sholem-Aleykhem's relations with the amateur group, which in 1909 successfully staged his _Tsezeyt un tseshpreyt_. More germane to my purpose here is that Sholem-Aleykhem changed the text in order to make it more lively and, thus, more stageworthy. Nothing is more characteristic of our author _ _ and nothing more important for his editors to keep in mind _ _ than his constant revision of his work, even after publication. This is well known, of course, but we need to keep it fresh in our minds. A parallel to what I believe occurred with _Kenig Pik_ is explained by Sholem-Aleykhem himself in his introduction to the second edition of _Tsezeyt un tseshpreyt_: "Mit eynike yor tsurik hot zikh gedrukt fun mir a felyeton in der _Yidisher folkstsaytung_ unter dem nomen _Tsezeyt un tseshpreyt / bilder funem yidishn lebn_. Hagam di dozike bilder zenen geshribn in a dramatisher forem, dokh hot zikh mir afile nit gekholemt, az ikh vel amol zoykhe zayn tsu zen zey ufgefirt af der stsene.... itst, ba der tsveyter oyflage, tsum uffirn zi af der yidisher bine, hob ikh zi genumen tsu oysbesern." ('Several years ago a feuilleton of mine entitled _Scattered and Dispersed / Scenes of Jewish Life_ appeared in the _Yidishe folkstsaytung_ ('Jewish People's Newspaper') Though these scenes are written in dramatic form, I never even dreamed that I would ever live to see them produced.... Now, for the second edition, with staging in the Yiddish theater in mind, I have begun to improve the play.')(16) Berkovitsh tells us that "Gants oft flegt er far zayn arbet haltn an ibershrayber... Ba vikhtike verk iz dem ibershrayber oysgekumen tsulib di oysbeserungen un baarbetungen eyn zakh ibertsushraybn etlekhe mol. Un ersht nokh dem, az di zakh iz shoyn geven avekgeshikt in der redaktsye arayn, flegt Sholem-Aleykhem zikh nemen zipn di kopye, vos er hot ibergelozt far zikh, oyszukhn naye stilistishe oder vezntlekhe khesroynes un farvarfn di redaktsye mit briv un telegrames vegn tikunim 1nem manuskript, eyder es geyt in druk. Tsu dem tsvek hot er in yeder redaktsye zikh oysgekukt a noentn ufmerkzamen mentshn, vemen er hot gekont ontroyen aza shlikhes." ('Sholem-Aleykhem quite frequently employed a copyist.... The latter often had to recopy important works several times. Even after the work had been dispatched to an editor, Sholem-Aleykhem would go through hls manuscript with a flne-toothed comb, finding stylistic or substantive faults and start bombarding the editor with letters and telegrams to make last-minute corrections. For this purpose, in every editorial office he sought out an attentive person to whom he could entrust these last-minute changes'}.(17) Leonard Prager ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.266 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. Anonymous ftp archives are available. ftp ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files A table of contents is also available, along with weekly updates. 2. Mendele archives can also be reached as follows: via WWW: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mewais.html via gopher: gopher://sunsite.unc.edu/11/../.pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele via ftp: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele