|
Yiddish literature
Several examples of medieval Yiddish literature
have survived. These are for the most part glosses written
in the
western Yiddish dialect as margin notes of Hebrew religious
manuscripts.
An unusual discovery is a collection of religious and
secular poetry
dating back to the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, found
in the late
nineteenth century in the genizah of a Cairo synagogue.
Until the eighteenth century, Yiddish literature by and
large was
made up of oral tradition, such as fairy tales, fables and
songs, just
as in the surrounding cultures.
A printed Yiddish version of an Italian romance by Buovo
d'Antona
(1540, modeled on the English work by Sir Bevis of
Southampton) was
published in Yiddish in Germany by Elijah Levita in 1542.
The many
versions of this work, titled Bove Mayse [Yiddish, Bova's
Stories], were
found in all countries having Ashkenazy populations. The
work was
ever-popular, particularly among female readers, which
explains why its
title was sometimes translated as Bobe Majse (Yiddish,
Grandma's
Stories; a much more pejorative translation would be:
Women's Talk).
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a number of
midrashim
were translated into Yiddish, as well as the lives of the
great figures
of Judaism and popular secular literature, printed under the
joint title
Majse Buch [Yiddish, Book of Stories]. Texts of performances
associated
with the religious ceremonies of Purim (purimshpil) were
being written
and sometimes even published in Yiddish.
Historical songs have also survived in Yiddish, some of
which were
incorporated into the synagogal liturgy, such as those
commemorating the
victims of a massacre during Cossack uprising of 1648. There
were also
epic poems based on Biblical and Talmudic themes, as well as
excerpts
from the Bible printed in Yiddish that were especially meant
for women.
Most popular was a book titled Tsene urine [Hebrew, Come Out
and Look],
which was written by a rabbi named Yaakov ben Itzhaak
Ashkenazy
(1550-1628) of Janow Lubelski, first published in 1622.
|
Chasidic literature, written both on religious
subject matter as well as within the realm of folklore,
appeared in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In addition to Talmudic
treatises
and commentaries on the Bible, the teachings of various
tzaddikim were
also published in Yiddish, often in the form of parables and
aphorisms.
Among the most beautiful are stories about the life and
teachings of
Baal Shem Tov: Shivechey ha-BeShT (Hebrew, Praise of Besht,
1809); and
the parables of rabbi Nachman of Braclaw.
The beginnings of modern Jewish literature are connected
with
Haskalah, although the main thrust of this movement was not
associated
with writings in the Hebrew language. Enlightenment
supporters
recognized Hebrew as the language of the Jewish elite.
Yiddish writings
advanced the idea of Enlightenment among the masses.
Menachem Mendel
Levin translated the Book of Psalms into Yiddish, and was
also the
author of anti-Chasidic comedies that have not survived.
Itzhaak Euchel
and Aron Wolfsohn, colleagues of Moses Mendelssohn, wrote
the following
comedies: Reb Henoch oder was tut me damit [Yiddish, Mr.
Henoch or What
to Do With This?] and Leichcinn und frummerlei [Germanized
Yiddish,
Lekkomy�lno�� i bigoteria], modeled on
purimshpile. The Galician
Haskalah activist J. Perl, in addition to many works in
Hebrew, also
left manuscripts in Yiddish. In 1864, S. J. Abramowicz,
known by his pen
name Mendele Mojcher Sforim, published his first short story
in Yiddish
in the weekly Kol Mevaser [Hebrew, Voice of the Messenger],
a
supplement to the Hebrew periodical Ha-melits [Hebrew,
Speaker],
published in Odessa. The popularity of his short stories
gained him the
nickname "father of Yiddish literature". His short stories
The Nag [old
horse -translator's note] and The Jewish Don Quixote (1875)
were the
first works in Yiddish to be translated into Polish (under
the titles
Szkapa and Donkiszot zydowski).
In the second half of the nineteenth century, two other
classic
authors of Yiddish literature were writing--Sholem Aleykhem
and Isaac
Leib Peretz. The former developed his own unique style,
drawing on
Jewish folklore, combining humor and sadness, lyrical
reflection and
satire. Peretz introduced European styles into Yiddish
literature, such
as realistic short stories (remaining under the influence of
Polish
Positivism), as well as modernism and symbolism, adapted to
Jewish
culture, which was called "Chasidic neo-Romanticism". The
novel Hasidish
(Yiddish, Chasidic Motifs, 1900) belonged to the second
group, as did
the plays Di goldene keyt (Yiddish, The Golden Chain, 1903),
Baynacht
oyfn altn mark (Yiddish, Night on the Old Market Square,
1906).
|
In interwar Poland, modern Yiddish literature
flourished, particularly that which was associated with
Yiddishism, and
also with new literary movements, such as Expressionism.
During this
period, groups such as Yung Idysh and Khaliastre were active
in certain
circles of artists and poets, including Expressionists and
Futurists,
such as M. Broderson, U. C. Grinberg, P. Markisz and M.
Rawicz. In
Wilno, a group of poets and artists known as Yung Vilne was
founded,
whose members included C. Grade and A. Sutzkever. Symbolism
and
surrealism existed in prose and poetry at that time; I.
Manger was one
of the leading surrealist. Other prominent Yiddish writers
of this
period included S. Ash, J. Opatoshu, the brothers I. Y. and
I. B.
Singer, Y. Perle, M. Burshtyn and I. Rabon.
In the early 1930's, there was a workers' poetry
movement,
ideologically connected with leftist Jewish movements, such
as the Bund
and Poale Zion), as well as with communism. In the twentieth
century,
collections of songs began to be published, some of which
can be
categorized as urban folklore, such as Folkstimlech
(Yiddish, On a Folk
Note, 1920), by M. Gebirtig. From 1900 to 1925, Yiddish
literature,
particularly poetry, flourished in the United States and
Soviet Russia,
too.
Yiddish oral tradition played a special role during the
Second World
War, when conditions in the ghettos meant that professional
writers and
poets were also limited to this genre. The Ringelblum
archive [now
housed at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw -
translator's note]
contains several hand-written testimonies regarding this
phenomenon.
Yiddish literature disappeared along with the Polish
Jews. After the
Second World War, very few writers continued writing in
Yiddish. These
included the prose writer I. B. Singer in the United States;
A.
Sutzkever in Israel; and J. Zonshayn and E. Rayzman, who
published their
poetry in Poland. See also: press; theater.
(A.C./CM)
|
MAIN PAGE