The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth CenturyWiener, Leo
History
The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century
Wiener, Leo
Yiddish literature -- History and criticism
"And thus old age has again made peace among the two companions of long
ago. They love each other again just as before when they were children,
and they did not know that one was pretty and the other homely, ... for
now they are again alike! Perele and Rōsele have both alike bent forms
and wrinkled faces; both have no teeth in their mouths, and their heads
droop alike. Only Perele has come to it from living too much, and Rōsele
from not living at all. The two gowns, which the same tailor has made
for them for the Passover from the same piece of cloth and according to
the same fashion, have pleased them equally well, and they need not
complain of the workmanship."
Of the many other shorter sketches we might mention the touching scenes
in his 'Purim and Passover,' in which 'How Grandfather's Child put on
her First Shoes' is the most pathetic. Not less pathetic is the one
named 'The Uncle,' in which are contrasted the open-hearted reception of
the wealthy uncle in the house of his poor nephew and the niggardly
treatment of the nephew by his relative in the large city. Through all
of Spektor's works passes the same melancholy strain, coupled with a
strict objectivity of conception. This objectivity does not leave him
even in cases where one would certainly expect him to express an opinion
of his own. He has given us, for example, a most important series of
sketches under the name of 'Three Persons,' in which the tendencies
among the Russian Jews in the last quarter of a century are described
with remarkable clearness; and he proceeds to point out their various
modifications under the influence of the riots. Here, it seems, one
would look for an individual conviction, for he must surely side with
one of the parties discussed by him so thoroughly; and yet he does not
once betray his personal preference. This series is indispensable to any
one who wants to study the current of opinion among the Russian Jews,
previous to the development of the Zionistic movement which now is
uppermost in their minds. We are introduced successively to the
Palestinian, the Assimilator, and the Neither-here-nor-there. A careful
psychological study is made of all, with apparently negative results as
to their respective merits. They are all three insincere with their
fellow-sufferers and belong to their organizations only for personal
advantage. The sad impression made by the reading of these interesting
chapters is anticipated by the motto placed at the head of them:
Laughing is not always in ridicule; laughing is sometimes a bitter
weeping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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