Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.270 March 7, 1996 1) Sholem-Aleykhem's _Kenig Pik_ (Part 3) (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 96 21:42:39 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's _Kenig Pik_ 3 This tendency of Sholem-Aleykhem's to live with his creations even after he published them is also evident in the Purim parallel to _Kenig Pik_, the one-acter entitled _Shrage_. On January 5, 1911, Sholem-Aleykhem (in Nervi) wrote to Faler in New York City asking about the publishing prospects for thls work, which he described as "a kind of continuation, a second act of _Kenig Pik_." Not only is the revised version of _Kenig pik_ more stageworthy than the original; _Shrage_ is even more stageworthy than the revision of _Kenig Pik_. The dramatic improvements of the revised version of _Kenig Pik_ are centered in: 1) the expanded role of the old-fashioned wife, Khane, foil to her gregarious husband and their nouveau riche guests, 2) an enriched cardgame dialog, 3) a more farcical ending (in keeping with the character of the play) and 4) a number of smaller revislons of word, phrase and line. A notable addition is the following monolog spoken by Khane: Shoyn azoy opgevoynt gevorn fun yidishkeyt in dem dozikn vistn yehupets, az s'kumt tsu a yidisher zakh, veysn zey nit ver es hot zey geshleyert. Ikh meyn di hige dinstn meyn ikh. Babkes veysn zey. Pudlngen alerley. A borshtsh, a kroyt, a solyanke, a guryeve kashe, telyatshine nozhke - - tfu! Un zogt zey a mahine, a mamelige, an esikfleysh, roslfleysh, a yoykh, a proste, a koshere, yidishe yoykh - - kukn zey aykh on vi a leymenem goylem... (Di mansbiln kukn zikh iber mit di damen.) Ikh zog tsu mayn kekhn zog ikh: "Latkes kont ir bakn?" Zogt zi tsu mir af rusish: "Aladi so smetanoy?" Ale beyze viste khaloymes! - - zog ikh - - ir zent, zog ikh, a yidish kind, zog ikh, tsi kholile a goye, tsi efsher gor a geshmadte? (Di mansbiln kukn af di damen.... Es filt zikh a smutnekeyt in der gezelshaft.(18) ('People have drifted so far away from Jewishness in this dismal Yehupets (=Kiev) as far as things Jewish are concerned they don't know which end is up [literally 'they (the women) don't know who put their bridal veils on them']. I mean the local servants, they're the ones I mean. They know about buckwheat cakes. All kinds of puddings. Borsht, cabbage, a _solanka_ ['a rich soup with meat or fish'], sweet porridge a la Gourieff, calves' feet jelly - - pfui! Just ask them to cook a _mahine_ ['cherry, fruit or berry pie'](19), a _mamelige_ [= a maize dish], meat stewed in vinegar, a pot roast, soup as plain kosher Jewish soup __ they don't understand a word you're saying. I ask her: "Can you make pancakes? And she answers me in Russian: _Aladi so smetanoy?_ ['pancakes with sourcream'] Confound it, I say, are you a Jew or a gentile, or, God forbid, a convert? (The men look at the women.... The atmosphere in the room grows gloomy.) The dialog during the cardgame is much improved in the revision. he food motif employed here is central in _Kenig Pik_ and is an implement in the author's burlesque of stockbrokers turned patrons of Hebrew culture. >From Yisroel-Iser's "In a word" to the identical expression by Fourth Guest, the absurdity mounts, together with a progressively more abandoned use of of emotionally charged associations. The hilarity culminates in hostility. The dialog does not indicate that Sholem-Aleykhem scorned the Hebraist movement. Yisroel-Iser [Halt di kortn un redt nokh alts vegn der nayer khevre]: Odnim slovom, fun haynt on un vayter viln zey, az ale shpegelantn, meyn ikh, ale yidn zoln nit redn kin ander loshn, nor po drevne-yevreyski. Nit leyenen kin andere gazetn, nor yidishe gazetn, yidishe bikhlekh, esn yidishe blyudes... Ershter gast: Yidishe blyudes? Kakaya blazhentsva! Tsveyter gast: Naprimer (rekhnt af di finger, redt in eyn otem) fish mit khreyn, leberlekh mit shmalts, retekh mit tsibeles, kishkelekh mit farfl, teyglekh mit fasolyes, pampeshkes mit knobl, petshe mit penetslekh, shkotsim mit mon. Driter gast: Soversheno vyerno. Un a fete ledvitse, gefilt mit mel un a lokshn-kugl in der vokhn. Ferter gast: Odnim slovom - - hashiveynu nazad! ('Yisroel-Iser [Holds cards and continues to talk about the new Society]: In a word, from today on and ever afterwards, they want all the speculators - - I mean the Jews - - to speak no other language than Hebrew. Nor read any other than Jewish periodicals and books, nor eat any but Jewish dishes.... First Guest: Jewish dishes? What a pleasure! Second Guest: For instance (counts on his fingers and recites in one breath): fish with horseradish, chicken livers fried in fat, radishes and onions, stuffed derma, honey cakes with beans, pancakes with garlic, calves' feet jelly with rolls, honeyed poppyseed cake. Third Guest: Absolutely right! And a thick sirloin filled with flour, and a noodle pudding weekdays. Fourth Guest: In a word, let's go backwards!'). Leonard Prager ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.270