Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.112 September 14, 1995 1) Fir kashes (TeX font copyright) (Pierre Lewis) 2) Henry James and other matters (Dvosye Bilik) 3) Khaymyankl in forverts (Hershl Hartman) 4) Henry james revisited (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 5) Shnirele, Perele (Morrie Feller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 15:00:00 -0400 From: lew@bnr.ca Subject: Fir kashes (TeX font copyright) I have a couple of postscript files with the text of the fir kashes. These were prepared with a TeX system. I would like to know who owns the copyright to the font that was used in these files. I don't remember where I got them from unfortunately (a few years back). They were: 4kashes.ps 4kashes.big.ps A groysn dank, Pierre Lewis Montreal 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Sep 95 17:01 EDT From: dorothy_bilik@umail.umd.edu Subject: Henry James and other matters I have not been contributing lately for various reasons including an email hiatus which was not my doing. But as a dedicated Jamesian I have sought other connections than the master's unflattering description of the lower east side. I also recall Ab Cahan's lauding of James' (and to a lesser extent Howells') realism in contrast to the more popular Richard Harding Davis. I love the thought of James, Howells and Cahan hobn hanoe fun Yidishn teyater. A very warm yasher koyakh to Sven Valne and other new Mendelyaner. I shall be in Barcelona on Roshashone, but before I wish you all l'shone toyve I want to respond again to the question of Bashevis and his standing among some Yiddish readers. Irving Howe,of course, expressed it brilliantly when he noted that Yiddish readers were ambivalent about Singer because of the porposefulness-- takhlis--of almost all Yidlit. Whenever there was the hint of hedonism. art for art's sake,aestheticism in Yiddish literature, history in the form of poverty, antisemitism, pogrom, Holocaust would force literature into a more programmatic direction. Remember Zishe Landau's witty appeal to Yiddish poets to stop being the rhyme department of the Jewish labor movement.Then comes a cataclysmic event like the Triangle fire. (yes, I know I am oversimplifying) Singer was a superb prose craftsman, a racy story teller, without the political puritanism and gentility of most mainstream Yidlit.But anyone who has read him in the original, or better still, has heard him read by an educated native speaker cannot help but acknowledge his mastery of Yiddish prose. Cynthia Ozick has graphically explored the contradiction of a Jewish writer who "only" tells stories, but for a Yiddish writer the absence of explicit moral purpose--takhlis-- is by definition a contradiction. Yes, of course there are many exceptions but they are much less famous and are less likely objects of envy and schadenfreude than was I.B. Singer. This comment is in response to a request made earlier this spring about ambivalence to Yidlit's only Nobel laureate. Adios and l'shone teyve, Dvosye Bilik 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 14:15:28 -0400 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Khaymyankl in forverts a dank dir far de oystzugn funm farbahaltenem arkhiv. kh'hob fun lang gevust az ab kahan hot zikh opgezogt tsu drukn sholem aleykhemen, ober ikh hob nit gevust az s'iz geven tsulib dem vos er hot gehat a bilkhern shrayber in shtal--an emesn yenki. du host ober farfelt tsu derklern di mendelyaner farvos di gebrakhte briv hobn keynmol nit derzen di likhtike shayn: kahan'en un zayne maysim hot men nit getort kritikirn--nit in di shpaltn fun _zayn_ blat! Hershl Hartman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 22:43:57 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Henry James revisited Tsvishn mayne eltern's papirn, hob ikh di vokh gefunen an alte tzaytung, tzefaln, tzerisn un farbroynt, ober di folgende poeme iz nokh klor vi a vaserfal in New Hampshire: her zikh tzu, Khaym Yankl, or lend an ear, Henry James ikh shtay baym s h p i t znakht fenster un reykher papirosen palivenes, un trakhtkholm fun mayn kishevdike gevezene gelibte - (keyner, afilu nisht der regn hot azoyne kleyne pitsenyunkele hent). der shlof iz avek, flink rayt er vi a shvartze kats oyf a gepatelte ferd vayl ikh leyen dayne verter in forverts langzame shvere tunkle verter kum kum k u m vos zey krikhn in langelangelange zatsn biz in der umendikeyt. mek ois di langelangelangelangelange zatsn, ayl zikh a bisl, gib zikh a treysl, otem shneler, shtay oif shtay oif un shraybshoin a lebedike maysele shraybmir on eyn sheyn lebedike V O R T. - e.e. cummings April 12, 1905 Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan (Mirl) Boynton Beach, Florida 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 15:40:28 -0700 (MST) From: feller@indirect.com Subject: Shnirele, Perele I would like to thank publicly those Mendelyaners (or is it Mendelniks?) who responded so generously and promtly to my request regarding the song: "Shnirele, Perele". Again, Mendele has shown itself to be an outstanding source of information with subscribers who give of themselves. For those who may be interested, my request resulted in learning about a great source of Yiddish folksongs. It is: "anthology of yiddish folksongs" in four volumes, out of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987. Morrie Feller Phoenix ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.112