[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 25.004

Tue Aug 18 07:11:56 EDT 2015

Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 25.004
August 18, 2015

1) Redundant direct object (Moshe Taube)
2) Original versions of Bashevis's stories for children (Hugh Denman)
3) In geveb (Redaktsye)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 16
Subject: Redundant direct object

Nothing redundant about "im" in this sentence [from 25.003: Tsuzamen mit
der shtot iz gevaksn dos hoyz fun reb avrom hersh ashkenazi, vos me hot im
gerufn dantsiker.] This is the norm.

Moshe Taube

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 18
Subject: Original versions of Bashevis's stories for children

In Mendele: Personal Notices and Announcements (16 Aug. 2015), Norman Buder
enquired whether readers could help him identify the original Yiddish
versions of 18 of Bashevis's stories for children [see
http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/mendele/2015-August/000957.html]. As this
appears to be a matter of some general interest, I venture to reply via
Mendele itself in the hope of making a minute contribution to the
bibliography of his oeuvre in both Yiddish and English which continues to
grow more complex even after the publication of David Neal Miller's two
contributions (1979 & 1983) as well as Roberta Saltzman's admirable and
much more comprehensive Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Bibliography of His Works
in Yiddish and English, 1960-1991 (2002), 221 pp.

Some Yiddish originals remain unidentified, concealed perhaps by modified
titles. Others may in fact never have been published at all and their
originals, if they have not been lost or destroyed, may exist only in
manuscript form. This may particularly be the case in later years when
Bashevis had with some reluctance come to the conclusion that it was only
through the medium of the English language that he might achieve the renown
he so much desired. However, from Fraynd Buder's list, I am able to offer
the following identifications:

The original version of the title story of Mazel and Shlimazel or the Milk
of a Lioness, tr. Elizabeth Shub, ill. Margot Zemach, New York: Farrar
Straus and Giroux, 1967, 42 pp. was 'Di geshikhte fun mazl un shlim-mazl',
Forverts (12 May 1966), 2, together with 'Vi azoy mazl hot farvandelt a
poyer in a har', Forverts (18 May 1966), 2 and 'Vi azoy mazl hot oysgemolkn
di milkh fun a leyb', Forverts (23 May 1966), 2 (all signed: Varshavski).

When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories, tr. the author & Elizabeth
Shub, ill. Margot Zemach, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971, 79 pp.
represents 'Vi azoy shlumiel iz avek keyn varshe', Forverts (19 Sep. 1967),
2 & 6 & (20 Sep.), 4-5.

The Golem, tr. the author, ill. Uri Shulevitz, New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1982, 83 pp. was originally 'Der goylem', Forverts (25 & 26 Apr. &
2, 3, 9, 10, 16 & 17 May 1969), 2 (in each case).

'Joseph and Koza: or, the Sacrifice to the Vistula', tr. the author &
Elizabeth Shub, ill. Symeon Shimin, New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux,
1970, 38 pp. represents 'Yoysef un koza oder a korbn fun der vaysl',
Forverts (6, 12 & 13 Jul. 1968), 2 (in each case) (signed: Varshavski);
reprinted as 'Yoysef un koza: dertseylung', Di goldene keyt 131 (Tel Aviv,
1991), 134-43.

Alone in the Wild Forest, tr. the author & Elizabeth Shub, ill. Margot
Zemach, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968, 115 pp. [= 'In vildn
vald aleyn', Forverts (7 Dec. 1968), 22-3, (13 Dec.), 2 & 5 (14 Dec.), 2,
(20 Dec.), 2, (21 Dec.) 2 & 5 (signed: Varshavski)].

The Topsy-Turvy Emperor of China, tr. the author & Elizabeth Shub, ill.
William Pène du Bois, New York: Harper Row, 1971, 32 pp. [= 'Der kinig in
khine vos hot alts ibergekert kapoyr', Forverts (8 Nov. 1965), 4].

The Wicked City, Stories for Children, tr. the author & Elizabeth Shub,
ill. Leonard Everett Fisher, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972, 39
pp. [= 'Avrom un lot', Forverts (25 Oct. 1968), 2 & 5, (26 Oct.) 2 (signed:
Varshavski)].

The Fools of Chelm and Their History, tr. the author & Elizabeth Shub, ill.
Uri Shulevitz, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, 57 pp. [= 'Nokh
vegn di khelemer khakhomim', Forverts (12, 18, 19, 25, 26, Feb. & 3 & 4
Mar. 1972), 2 (in each case)].

'Naftali the Storyteller and His Horse, Sus', Naftali the Storyteller and
His Horse, Sus, tr. Joseph Singer, Ruth Schachner Finkel & the author, New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976 [= 'Naftole der mayse-dertseyler un
zayn ferd, sus', Forverts (4, 5, 11 Dec. 1975), 2 (in each case)].

'Shrewd Todie and Lyzer the Miser', When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw: and Other
Stories, tr. the author & Elizabeth Shub, New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 1968 [= 'Todye der khokhem un leyzer der karger', Forverts (28 Aug.
1967), 2 & 5].

The above information is derived to some extent from my own observations,
but predominantly from Saltzman (with some minor corrections).

Other readers may perhaps be in a position to offer further identifications.

Of course, the children’s stories Fraynd Buder chose to query represent
only a small proportion of IBS’s works for young readers, let alone of his
total oeuvre, so this is only a token sample of the problem. This whole
question raises another important issue, namely which version should count
as the original. The answer is not as obvious as it might at first seem.
Sometimes the one, sometimes the other for complex reasons I won’t attempt
to describe here. Suffice it to say that in many cases the ideal version
(still) does not exist, since it would ideally consist of the original
Yiddish, but incorporating some of the editorial changes made by Bashevis
while working on the translation. This is something that was discussed by
Khone Shmeruk.

Hugh Denman (University College London)

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 18
Subject: In geveb

The moderators issue a hearty shkoyekh to the promising new journal In
geveb, which officially launched yesterday:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ingeveb.org_&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=D8C0VFGQIMfNsn7w8b0vfE3r3ePhWQ7ssdhDNAOIA7Y&m=QDAOMDA7AMt-wooMQTSGu7HkLTD4X8P-g4ZMT1uAwUs&s=XnYW0UVIiI_uDFMQeyPjhJQzOgXr1bdnOhsuwGiDLGw&e=

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 25.004

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, requests to which responses should be
sent exclusively to the request's author, 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.  They must also include the
author's name as you would like it to appear.

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:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.yivoinstitute.org_about_index.php-3Ftid-3D57-26aid-3D275&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=D8C0VFGQIMfNsn7w8b0vfE3r3ePhWQ7ssdhDNAOIA7Y&m=QDAOMDA7AMt-wooMQTSGu7HkLTD4X8P-g4ZMT1uAwUs&s=ZYdeKIkeF_Yz0OyDKrKSygAHhr-tqtaxJy80wfNGNpI&e=

All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address:

mendele at mailman.yale.edu

Mendele on the web [interim address]:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__sites.google.com_site_mendeledervaylik&d=AwIGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=D8C0VFGQIMfNsn7w8b0vfE3r3ePhWQ7ssdhDNAOIA7Y&m=QDAOMDA7AMt-wooMQTSGu7HkLTD4X8P-g4ZMT1uAwUs&s=gjXUhLt86wXjAaKiq0SvP6doT7mZ8LMRW7QMii11cuA&e=

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