Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.218 February 4, 1997 1) Sholem-Aleykhem's Mazepevke and Mazeppa (Jota Piasecki) 2) Sholem-Aleykhem's Mazepevke and Mazeppa (Michael Steinlauf) 3) Purimshpil (Andrew Cassel) 4) Bet hemder (Joy Kingsolver) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 20:47:29 +0100 From: jpi@it.lth.se Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's Mazepevke and Mazeppa Louis Fridhandler (6.215) asks: Could anyone in this khevre, expert in English literature, throw light on whom Byron's Mazeppa was modeled? Was it simply Byron's imagination? It was not. Perhaps his Mazeppa was a relative of the successor to Khmielnitski? Hardly relative in blood or social stratum - I have Mazepa as a Polish and magnat, not an Ukrainian nor kosack - but surely in feeling (Chmielnicki was a paragon of cruelty, too) and in rebellous mind. Even if Chmielnicki revolted Ukraina against Poland, then surrendered it to Russia, and Mazepa, some sixty years later, revolted it against Russia. The question should be redirected to experts in Polish-Ukrainian history _and_ in Polish literature. `Mazepa' is the title of a extremely well-known Polish classic piece of XIX century. The protagonist, a rather ill-behaved personage, was modelled on a historical person with the same name. The Polish `Mazepa' is a work of the Polish Romanticism period which, later than the German Romanticism, stretch well into the second half of XIX century, but began earlier; the links to Byron exists. This `Mazepa', a spectacular crime and horror story, could have been translated or at least reviewed in West languages. Maybe there were earlier Polish works about him; I feel there were some musical works on Mazepa theme and it could have been the way Mazepa libretto became known internationally, why not to Byron. There is an - I believe, French - color movie `Mazepa', with good Polish actors. I recall it was as done by a Polish movie-maker who became France-resident. A respectable, well reviewed movie and renomed maker, so it should be find in film-dictionaries. Check for the story in some. I have no Polish literature sources at hand and only some memories of childhood lectures (the famous scene of barbaric sadism behind description). As I have not read the Byron's work, I will return with relevant details later. * The old 'Little Encyclopedy' of Polish Scientific Editions, the only I have here (Warsaw 1958; in Polish; a reputedly bad source!), mentions the historical Mazepa as follows: Mazepa. Jan Mazepa (Jan Kolodynski, 1644-1709, known as Mazepa. 1687 M. becomes the hetman*> of Ukraina (left-side Ukraina). 1708 - linked to the King of Sweden Carl XII - M. starts on Ukraina an uprising against Russia. Dies in exil in Turkey. --- *> 'Hetman' is a Polish (maybe Ukrainian too) term I would translate as 'warlord'. A Polish legal and very honorific term for army-leaders; whether hetmans were appointed by kings, or elected by szlachta on sejms, I am unsure. Plain szlachta was eligible for the hetman dignity I gather there existed even at least one nominated/elected Polish hetman born a peasan. But the 'hetman' title happened to be assumed by self-appointed leaders of an uprising, as by Bohdan Chmielnicki himself. The text I am translating here gives no clue whichever - possibly both - kind of hetman Mazepa was. --- That the Little Encyclopedy does not mentions the sadistic issue does not mean it was unexistent. The PC of Polish/Ukrainian/USSR 50-ies would be, as known, to freely - or rather following the political direction of the historical personage in question - play such triffles as cruelty up or down. I will try to return to the historic issue when I dig up something more substantial. But as the traditional Polish ones can be biased when Ukraina is in question, the Ukrainian sources to whom I have no links should be asked, too. Jota Piasecki 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 21:51:29 -0500 (EST) From: yivo3@metgate.metro.org Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's Mazepevke and Mazeppa Louis Fridhandler's query about the origins of Sholem Aleichem's Mazepevke: When I reach far back into childhood the word "mazepa" starts to resonate, but not with any of the scary associations of the historical Mazeppa, the Cossack scourge, but with one of the many names with which my Polish-speaking mother used to address me, i.e., "You mazepa." This doesn't exclude the link to the historical figure, but certainly tempers it a bit, and, assuming that this use was not just unique to my mother, makes its association with a Jewish hicksville a bit more understandable. The associations are: mock-heroic, shlemiel- like, the mouse that roared, etc. Nu khaveyrim, tsi efsher zenen andere mendelyaner oykh amol geven kleyne mazepes? Michael Steinlauf 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 15:08:03 -0500 (EST) From: andrew.cassel@phillynews.com Subject: Purimshpil in undzer reformishe "shtibele" m'hot mir gebetn tsu tsugreytn a pieze oder a droshele far dem kumendiker purim simche. ken emetser mir oyshelfn zukhn epes -- a purimdike lid, a kurtze maysele -- vos me ken dertseyln farn a grupe? I've been asked to participate in our little reform congregation's upcoming Purim celebration. Can anyone suggest something -- a Yiddish poem or short story, perhaps, that would be appropriate for the occasion? a hartsikn dank Andrew Cassel Philadelphia, Pa 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 15:29:14 -0600 (CST) From: jkingsol@spertus.edu Subject: Bet hemder I would like to re-post a query I sent to the list last week on behalf of someone else, with some clarifications provided by the researcher. In the Kaufman edition of Gluckel von Hameln (Frankfort am Main, 1896), on p. 36, there is the following sentence: "das bet hemder das mein grosmutter nebbich in mein mutter geben hat das zelbig hat ihr mein mutter als weider geben..." The phrase in question is "bet hemder." Please excuse any faults in the Yiddish, as I am only a beginner in it and took down the information over the phone. There may be some mispellings in the sentence. Thanks for any help list members can give on this. Joy Kingsolver ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.218