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
Like the allegory, the fable has been a favorite subject of imitation
among the writers from the beginning of this century. We possess such,
partly translations or adaptations, partly original, from Suchostawer,
Dr. Ettinger, Gottlober, Reichersohn, Katzenellenbogen. Of
Suchostawer's, only one, a translation of one of Krylov's fables, 'The
Cat and the Mice,'[61] has come down to us. It was written in 1829, and,
like the fables by Ettinger, circulated in the thirties and forties, is
far superior to any translation from Krylov that has appeared before
1880. The most original production is that by Gottlober called 'The
Parliament,' a poem of more than one thousand lines, in which he gives
an explanation why the lion had been chosen king of all the animals.
While some of the matter contained in it is unquestionably borrowed from
other sources, yet the whole is moulded in so novel a form, with such a
pronounced Jewish setting and biting wit, that it occupies a place by
itself in the history of fables. After the candidacy of all the beasts,
from the donkey to the wolf, had been rejected as incompatible with the
highest security of the rest, the lion appears on the scene, and by his
majestic presence at once silences the contending parties; and he is at
once and unanimously chosen to his high post. "He rules in fairness,
does no wrong, not a sigh is heaved by any of the animals against him;
the forest is ruled as of yore: the weak lie still, the strong go free,
the great are great, the humble are humble: well to him who has sharp
teeth! It has been so of old, and you cannot change the course of
things. But no one need complain of the lion as long as he feels no
hunger in his stomach, for then he is all peace and rest,--God grant
there be many such!"
The whole of Krylov was translated into Judeo-German, though with but
moderate success, in 1879 by Zwi Hirsch Reichersohn, and more weakly
still in 1890 by Israel Singer. Two of the fables have been admirably
rendered by Katzenellenbogen, who has also produced a number of
excellent poems in the popular style which surpass those of Goldfaden in
regularity of structure. He has also translated a few poems from the
Russian and Hebrew, all with the same degree of care displayed in the
renderings from Krylov. His songs have not been disseminated among the
people, the most of them not having been published until quite lately.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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