Mendele Mocher SforimKirja-arvosteluja

La letteratura jiddisch ha avuto, nella sua stagione classica, un valore esemplare. Essa si presenta come l'espressione di legami reali fra il poeta e il mondo di affetti e di sentimenti, come un esempio .. (fonte: Google Books)

I was expecting old fashioned, but this book was surprisingly readable, and often sardonic. Written by my great-uncle--or maybe my great-great-uncle--under his nom de plume, which translates from Yiddish as "Mendele the Bookseller." His birth name was Jacob Abramovich. Based upon the Adventures of Don Quixote.

The sages of Glupsk, known for their ingenuity in making mountains out of molehills, chasing wild geese and locating mares' nests, have, by drawing sundry inferences, by reading between the lines, shown that the legend is not without a considerable amount of truth.

Discovered this at a sale this afternoon, a Don Quixote of the shtetl. Apparently the author grew bored and abandoned it, though he did translate it from Hebrew to Yiddish.

Several laugh out loud moments, mostly of the bumpkins being tormented by spouses variety. Take my wife--please. Two would be prophets heed the call of itchy feet and hit the road braving bedbugs, amorous calves and the machinations of conspirator.

I think this would be funnier and cleverer if I lived then and there. As it is, it sometimes feel too clever by half. Benjamin wants to follow in the tradition of Benjamin of Tudela (1130-1173) and J.J. Benjamin (1818-1864), who traveled to far-off places and he names himself Benjamin the Third. (J.J. Benjamin called himself Benjamin the Second.) He manages to convince his friend, Senderel, a day-dreamer and henpecked husband, to join him in his journeys as he tries to get to Jerusalem. In fact, they don't get much further than about three towns away from their shtetl. Benjamin doesn't really need to worry about leaving his family destitute, since he spent his days studying and hanging out in the synagogue while his wife provided their income.

I was troubled by the two men abandoning their wives, so that they are agunot, without any remorse. The details of the story give a sense of what everyday life was like in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. The introduction, uncredited, explains the importance of Shalom Jacob Abromovich, whose pen name is Mendele Mocher Seforim, to Yiddish and Hebrew literature.½

First volume of trilogy of works of Mendele (Sholem Yankef Abramovitsh), Sholom Aleykhem and Perets. Includes biography of Mendele and his major writings.