[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 19.012

[Victor Bers]

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 19.012
September 11, 2009

1) Mark Rakovsky (Bob Rothstein)
2) Mark Rakovsky (Yale J. (Yekhiel Yosef) Reisner)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date:   August 24, 2009
Subject: Mark Rakovsky

In Mendele Vol. 19.010 Eli Rosenblatt asks about the writer, translator 
and publisher Mark Rakovsky. There is an entry about him in the "Leksikon 
fun der nayer yidisher literature." It gives his birth date as 1890; as of 
the publication date (1981) he was still alive in Warsaw. The article 
(vol. 8, columns 403-4) lists a remarkable variety of literary 
translations - from Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Russian. He is 
described as
having been ideologically "close to communism." In the 1930s he was 
imprisoned along with other leftists in Bereza Kartuska (then eastern 
Poland). He spent the war years in the Soviet Union, returning to Poland 
after the war.

"Christian Rakovsky, the Bolshevik and Soviet diplomat," also mentioned by 
E.R., is identified in the Russian Wikipedia as a Bulgarian who changed 
his birth name Krastiu Georgiev Stanchev to Khristian Georgievich 
Rakovskii.

Bob Rothstein

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 24, 2009
Subject:  Mark Rakovsky

Tayere khaveyrim!

Eli Rosenblatt wanted to know about this rather fascinating translator and 
publisher.First, you have to write his name in Polish:  Marek Rakowski. 
Once you've done that it pretty easy.  The Polish edition of Wikipedia has 
a short article on him indicating that he was born in Malkinia 
(neighboring the better-known town of Treblinka) on July 5, 1890.
Rakowski was a Polish literary critic and a translator from Polish, 
Russian, English,German, French, Spanish and Italian into both Hebrew and 
Yiddish.  He was among the founders of the Jewish Literary Union.  His 
debut as a literary critic came in 1916.  Due to his political views, he 
was interned in the Bereza Kartuska camp.  He spent 1939-1956 in the USSR, 
after which he returned to Poland, where he wrote for the Yiddish 
newspaper Folksshtime (nowadays in magazine format under the title Dos 
Yidishe Vort). Ha also translated a wide array of books from various 
languages into Hebrew.

Rakowski died in Warsaw on March 31, 1982 and was buried in the Jewish 
Cemetery. His tombstone (entirely in Polish, with not a Hebrew character 
to be seen, oddly enough) reads:  "Of Blessed Memory.  MAREK RAKOWSKI, 
born 1890, died 1982. Translator of foreign languages into Yiddish.  Wife, 
son and grandchildren."  The stone -- which has fallen over -- can be seen 
at http://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/id_35530/size_maxi/photo.jpg

Zayt mir gezunt un shtark,

Yale J. (Yekhiel Yosef) Reisner
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 19.012

Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct 
your mail as follows:

Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements 
of events, commercial publications, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or 
the like) to:

    victor.bers at yale.edu (in the subject line write Mendele Personal)

Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. 
inquiries and
comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature:

     mendele at mailman.yale.edu

IMPORTANT:  Please include your full name as you would like it to appear 
in your posting.  No posting will appear without its author's name. 
Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email 
addresses, as
responses will be posted for all to read.

In order to spare the shamosim time and effort, we request that 
contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard 
English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of 
transliteration into Latin letters. A guide to Romanization can be found 
at this site: http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275

All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address:
mendele at mailman.yale.edu

Mendele on the web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/

To join or leave the list: 
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele

i