Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.082 August 11, 1995 1) Yidishistn and I.B. Singer (Hershl Hartman) 2) Yiddish conference -- March, 1996 (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 3) Mock-Yiddish dialect pop songs (Dan Leeson) 4) Korn's _A nay kleyd_ (Shleyme Axelrod) 5) Yiddish Fonts (Joel Maxman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 13:15:27 -0400 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Yidishistn and I.B. Singer David Herskovic asks (Vol. 5.078) about the non-reverent attitude toward Isaac Bashevis Singer among "yidishisten"--which could be broadened to include many Yiddish readers. The reasons for this attitude were very well described and analyzed by Prof. Eli Katz (a Mendelyaner) in an essay, "Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Classical Yiddish Tradition," in _The_ Achievement_of_Isaac_Bashevis_Singer_ed. Marcia Allentuck, So. Illinois University Press, 1968(?) Singer's apikorses (heresy) is the very least of any possible reasons for the attitudes that David Herskovic accurately perceives. Hershl Hartman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 14:04:09 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Yiddish Conference 3rd International Yiddish Conference March 1-4, 1996 at the DiLido Beach Resort Hotel, Miami Beach, Fla. Ruth Barlas, chair of the conference has asked that the following be released to Mendele. (Ruth, a master Yiddish teacher, is our own bionic woman with an ayzernem kop, goldene hent, un perl velkhe faln ir fun moyl ven zi redt.) CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS *Keynote Speaker - Aaron Lansky - Yiddish in the 21st Century *Ten Seminars - On Yiddish Language, Literature, Theatre, Music, Song, Dance, and Humor with outstanding scholars, lecturers and performers (A finalized listing [pending a sponsorship] will follow shortly) ****Seminar by our beloved shames, Noyekh Miller on Mendele and the Internet *Oneg Shabes - Friday evening yomtevdik dinner, singing led by Meyer Zaremba *Concert Saturday eve - Brave Old World Klezmer *Cabaret Saturday night - Askenaz folk dancing led by Michael Alpert. Entertainment by Bernhard Mendelovich INFORMATION *Cost: $255 U.S. per person, double occupancy *Price includes: 3 breakfasts, 3 dinners, all gratuities and taxes, farewell lunch buffet, coffee and danish after concert, and registraton fees *All activities under one roof *Optional bus and walking tour of Miami Beach Jewish District and Holocaust Memorial Deposit: $100 per person by December 15, 1995 checks to: International Yiddish Conference mail to: Eleanor Robinson P.O. Box 451935, Sunrise, Fl 33345-1935 Vos far a gelegnhayt far Mendelniks zikh tzu bakenen tzu haltn a Mendele zitzung bay gedekte tishn (efsher afilu baym breg fun yam) Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan North Conway, New Hampshire 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 12:01:40 EDT From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu Subject: Mock-Yiddish dialect pop songs I mention to Joel Rosen that the creation of mock-Yiddish dialect songs was also accompanied by the creation of mock-Yiddish dialect poems. When I was a kid there were books of them and I still remember the words to a mock-Yiddish version of "The Shooting of Dan McGrew." Interestingly, the poem is almost completely in English. Only occasionally were Yiddish words or phrases inserted. The original poem dates from the late 1800s and, although dated and excessively romanticized, it is a serious poem. The mock-Yiddish dialect versions were invariably silly or comical or even stupid. I also mention that Mickey Katz made many recordings of Yiddishized versions of popular tunes in the 50s. These, like the poems mentioned, were not translations into Yiddish of popular tunes, but were simply sung in English with a mock Yiddish accent and an occasional word of Yiddish here and there. Frankly, I always found them demeaning and insulting, never amusing or witty. For example, there was a pop tune called "Ghost Riders In The Sky" that Frankie Lane made popular. It had mock whip cracks and a great deal of pseudo-western cattle-drive sounds. Well, Katz did a mock-Yiddishized version of that almost completely in English. And the reason why it was done in English was to maximize the marketplace. If it were done in Yiddish, he reduced his market. I remember seeing these recordings of his on juke boxes. I became so furious as his popularizations and bastardizations of these then pop tunes, that I actually tried to organize a boycott of both him and his products. It never got off the ground. Dan Leeson Los Altos, California 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 18:31:24 -0400 (EDT) From: ptyaxel@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Korn's _A nay kleyd_ Mikhl Herzog (5.080) is quite right to point out that Rokhl Korn must have used the noun _leyd_ 'suffering, sorrow' (and not the first-person verb _layd_ 'suffer') to rhyme with _kleyd_. It's a rhyme to the ear as well as to the eye; and anyway, the syntax demands the noun. A careless romanization on my part (5.078), which I hope hasn't spoiled the effect of the delicate lyric for those who've just experienced it for the first time. Also in 5.080 Bernard Katz wonders about the translation of _un s'iz a yeder vays-glezerner knop,/vi a trer ..._ I think the problem is with the _a_ in _a yeder_. I don't know what expressions like this are called, but I take it to mean that the _yeder_ is intensified, so that a limping translation of lines three and four would be 'and each and every white-glass button is like a tear...' (Does this sound right to others?) _faldn_ must indeed mean 'folds', though as Bernard notes, Weinreich (like Harkavy) knows only _falb_ for the noun 'fold'. Here's the poem correctly romanized, together with Ruth Whitman's non-limping translation: A nay kleyd A new dress Ikh hob zikh ongetun haynt, Today for the first time tsum ershtn mol after seven long years nokh zibn lange yor I put on a nay kleyd. a new dress. Nor s'iz tsu kurts far mayn troyer But it's too short for my grief, un tsu eng far mayn leyd, too narrow for my sorrow, un s'iz a yeder vays-glezerner knop, and each white-glass button vi a trer, like a tear vos flist fun di faldn arop flows down the folds farshteynert un shver. heavy as a stone. (Stockholm, 1947) Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 22:53:59 -400 From: jm400@rnc2.rosenman.com Subject: Yiddish fonts WordPerfect Hebrew (a supplement to the WordPerfect program) has a standard keyboard of Hebrew characters, with _all_ Yiddish characters as selectable alternatives (e.g., double-Yod (with/without patach); double-Vov; vov-yod). You can also "force" a kometz-aleph and similar characters, although they don't show up on the screen as such (perhaps they do in windows--I'm in DOS). The only way I was able to get this program was to call WordPerfect in Utah (there's an 800 number)--no retailer around here had ever heard of it. There's also a product called MegaWriter put out by a company in Texas which includes Latin, Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, and Russian keyboards, all of which may be used at any time in a document by hitting a function key. I was never able to get it to print on my non-laser printer, and so returned it to the vendor. I still have the information about purchasing it, if you're interested. (The company also advertised that it had the entire Chumash input in searchable Hebrew text, with nikudos.) Joel Maxman New York City ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.082