Translating Sholem Aleichem: History, Politics and Art (Legenda Studies in Yiddish)

Sholem Aleichem, whose 150th anniversary was commemorated in March 2009, remains one of the most popular Yiddish authors. But few people today are able to read the original. Since the 1910s, however, Sholem Aleichem's works have been known to a wider international audience through numerous translations, and through film and theatre adaptations, most famously Fiddler on the Roof. This volume examines those translations published in Europe, with the aim of investigating how the specific European contexts might have shaped translations of Yiddish literature. With the contributions: Olga Litvak -- Found in Translation: Sholem Aleichem and the Myth of the Ideal Yiddish Reader Alexander Frenkel -- Sholem Aleichem as a Self-Translator Eugenia Prokop-Janiec -- Sholem Aleichem and the Polish-Jewish Literary Audience Gennady Estraikh -- Soviet Sholem Aleichem Roland Gruschka -- 'Du host zikh a denkmol af eybik geshtelt' The Sovietization and Heroization of Sholem Aleichem in the 1939 Jubilee Poems Mikhail Krutikov -- A Man for All Seasons: Translating Sholem Aleichem into Soviet Ideological Idiom Gabriella Safran -- Four English Pots and the Evolving Translatability of Sholem Aleichem Sabine Koller -- On (Un)Translatability: Sholem Aleichem's Ayznban-geshikhtes (Railroad Stories) in German Translation Alexandra Hoffman -- Laughing Matters: Translation and Irony in 'Der gliklekhster in Kodne' Kerstin Hoge -- Lost in Marienbad: On the Literary Use of the Linguistic Openness of Yiddish Anna Verschik -- Sholem Aleichem in Estonian: Creating a Tradition Jan Schwarz -- Speaking Tevye der milkhiker in Translation: Performance, Humour, and World Literature MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 List of Illustrations 11 List of Contributors 12 Introduction 14 1 Found in Translation: Sholem Aleichem and the Myth of the Ideal Yiddish Reader 19 2 Sholem Aleichem as a Self–Translator 38 3 Sholem Aleichem and the Polish–Jewish Literary Audience 60 4 Soviet Sholem Aleichem 75 5 ‘Du host zikh a denkmol af eybik geshtelt’: The Sovietization and Heroization of Sholem Aleichem in the 1939 Jubilee Poems 96 6 A Writer for All Seasons: Translating Sholem Aleichem into Soviet Ideological Idiom 111 7 Four English Pots and the Evolving Translatability of Sholem Aleichem 126 8 On (Un)translatability: Sholem Aleichem’s Ayznban–geshikhtes (Railroad Stories) in German Translation 147 9 Laughing Matters: Irony and Translation in ‘Der gliklekhster in Kodne’ 163 10 Lost in Marienbad: On the Literary Use of the Linguistic Openness of Yiddish 178 11 Sholem Aleichem in Estonian: Creating a Tradition 195 12 Speaking Tevye der milkhiker in Translation: Performance, Humour, and World Literature 212 Index 228 This book explores the rich treasury of Sholem Aleichem translations, focusing primarily on the European context. It suggests that the many-faceted issue of translating Sholem Aleichem can be considered from the different perspectives of history, politics, and art.