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The official last physical book I got out of the New York Public Library was called Landmark Yiddish Plays: A Critical Anthology, which has been sitting on my shelf for several months since the petering-out of my last Yiddish-literature binge, and which was a DEFINITE level up in the bizarre/fascinating realm from my last foray into Yiddish literature.
Silliness and Sanctimony: So this is a drawing-room comedy of manners from the 18th century -- contemporaneous with (and influenced by), like, Moliere -- and the author was a major figure in the Jewish enlightenment who was very pro-secularism and assimilation, and anti-Hasidism. It's ... really not hard to tell.
A RICH JEWISH FATHER: So I am arranging my daughter's marriage to this Hasidic scholar I have hired to study Bible with me.
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: That is ... the worst. Just the worst idea ever.
THE HEROINE: Ugh! I'm running away with this goy nobleman!
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: That is ... also not a great idea, but we're all agreed that it's basically your dad's fault, for being a dick.
THE HEROINE'S UNCLE: So I found your daughter in a brothel! Don't worry, she's fine, no harm done really. Guess who else I found in that brothel? YEAH. YOUR FAVORITE religious scholar. Are we all agreed now that religious Jews are stupid hypocrites, arranged marriages are terrible, and we should all embrace the Enlightenment?
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: Yeah! Yeah, I guess we are!
Serkele: This a pretty straightforward domestic comedy/Cinderella story about a hypocritical hypochondriac who steals her disappeared brother's inheritance and takes advantage of her sweet, beautiful niece, who really just wants to believe that her aunt is a nice person! Add a con artist who wants to marry into the family, a noble young student who's in love with the niece, a cute romantic subplot about a couple of the household servants, a ~*~mysterious stranger~*~, and a chorus of police officers wandering around pointing and laughing at everyone, and this is all pretty generally enjoyable.
The Two Kuni-Lemls: One of the very first plays of the Yiddish theater boom period around the turn of the century, this is another variation on Silliness and Sanctimony's theme of "ugh, who wants to marry a Hasid?" except wackier, and also, a musical! Basically the plot revolves around the heroine's boyfriend disguising himself as Arranged Match Kuni-Leml so that he and the heroine can get married, which leads to a lot of mistaken-identity hijinks -- as when, for example, the heroine accidentally starts making out with the real Kuni-Leml because she thinks he's her boyfriend in disguise, and he's like "OH GOD NO, SINFUL GIRL PARTS, GET IT AWAY!" INCLUDING a full chorus of chipper young med students pretending to be ghosts.
(Super ablist, though. It's not enough for poor Kuni-Leml to be an easily scandalized religious Jew who is no match for the heroine's dashing young med student boyfriend; he also has to have a limp and a stutter, which are not treated kindly.)
Miriam: I expected this one to be dull and depressing -- it's the sad story of an innocent young seamstress who is seduced by a rich boy, and ends up as a prostitute -- but actually I thought it was good? Lots of scenes of the family that Miriam lives with being like "NO MIRIAM THIS WILL NOT END WELL" and Miriam being like "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MOM!!!" but, I mean, the dynamics between Miriam and her adopted temporary family are really interesting. The final scene is Miriam and two other prostitutes locking themselves away to have a girls' night and rant, with remarkably little judgment on the part of the author.
The Duke: OK. The Duke is about a rich Polish nobleman who converts to Judaism, but -- no, I'm sorry, I have to summarize this for you.
ACT 1:
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: *hanging out doing small-town Jewish things*
THE DUKE'S SON: Hey hey hey I am home from France, where I was studying with a rabbi, who was awesome! So much awesomer than these sad pathetic small-town Jews who spend all their time groveling!
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: well maybe that's because of our centuries of oppression and because nobles are dicks with absolute power over our lives, asshole
THE DUKE'S SON: What?
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: Nothing!
THE DUKE'S SON: Anyway I'm going to make out with your daughter now.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: Nihilist sexual awakening, GO!
ACT 2:
THE DUKE: I caught a bear! You know what this bear needs? TROUSERS.
THE BISHOP: ... what. but. wh...y....
THE DUKE: I am going to make this Jewish tailor make my bear some TROUSERS and it will be HILARIOUS.
JEWISH TAILOR: ... what. but. wh...y....
THE DUKE: Because I enjoy massively humiliating people, that's why.
(THE DUKE'S FOOL: FYI, the Duke? A JERK.
EVERYONE ELSE: Yeah, we're getting that.)
THE DUKE'S SON: Hey dad your bear just tried to murder some people, so I killed it. Cool?
THE DUKE: Dangit!
JEWISH TAILOR: OK guys I finished making these bear trousers! I think they're pretty great if I say so myself!
EVERYONE ELSE: ...
ACT 3:
THE PRIEST: You know you should stop your son making out with that Jewish girl.
THE DUKE: Ha ha lol no, my son is not making out with a Jewish girl!
THE PRIEST: ...
THE DUKE: It is I who am making out with the Jewish girl! LOL!
THE PRIEST: ... well, this is awkward.
ACT 4:
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS SO I AM GOING TO SEDUCE ALL THE THINGS
THE SMALL-TOWN JEWS: oh my god
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: PARTY TIIIIIIIME
THE SMALL-TOWN JEWS: this is horrendous
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: BRING ME YOUR HOTTEST RABBINICAL STUDENT AND I WILL HELLA CORRUPT HIM
THE RABBI: get thee behind me, harlot! stay away from our virtuous rabbinical student!
VIRTUOUS RABBINICAL STUDENT: Yo.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: ... are you kidding me, the virtuous rabbinical student that I've been fantasizing about corrupting is the fucking duke's son who corrupted me, what the fuck. What the fuck. I hate everything.
ACT 5:
THE DUKE'S SON: Look, the thing is, I do think Judaism's cool, I really want to be a Jew, but, like, not like these embarrassing pathetic real-life Jews. Like a noble Jew. Like a BADASS Jew. You know what? I'm gonna martyr myself! For Judaism! MY CENTURIES OF NOBLE CHRISTIAN BLOOD DEMAND IT.
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: Hey! Hey! Duke! Please pardon your son from being burned at the stake for heresy!
THE DUKE: I mean, I have the pardon right here, but ... while it sucks that my son is going to be burned at the stake and all ... look, I would just be a terrible dad if I stopped him from following his dream!
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: ...
THE DUKE: I respect his agency too much, is the thing.
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: ...
THE DUKE: And I just want to say I'm so proud of him, as a father, for finding something in his life that he finds really meaningful. OK, light the bonfire!
THE DUKE'S FOOL: Man, I just love the smell of toasting nobleman in the morning.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: All I can say is, life is terrible, and this shit is hilarious.
I genuinely can't tell how we are supposed to take most of this. Is it a commentary on cultural appropriation? A genuine indictment of the Jewish people for being sad and depressing and uncool? A satire on class distintions? All of the above? Do the bear trousers ... symbolize ... something ....? WHO CAN SAY? Certainly not me, but I spent the whole text completely fascinated, that's for sure.
Silliness and Sanctimony: So this is a drawing-room comedy of manners from the 18th century -- contemporaneous with (and influenced by), like, Moliere -- and the author was a major figure in the Jewish enlightenment who was very pro-secularism and assimilation, and anti-Hasidism. It's ... really not hard to tell.
A RICH JEWISH FATHER: So I am arranging my daughter's marriage to this Hasidic scholar I have hired to study Bible with me.
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: That is ... the worst. Just the worst idea ever.
THE HEROINE: Ugh! I'm running away with this goy nobleman!
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: That is ... also not a great idea, but we're all agreed that it's basically your dad's fault, for being a dick.
THE HEROINE'S UNCLE: So I found your daughter in a brothel! Don't worry, she's fine, no harm done really. Guess who else I found in that brothel? YEAH. YOUR FAVORITE religious scholar. Are we all agreed now that religious Jews are stupid hypocrites, arranged marriages are terrible, and we should all embrace the Enlightenment?
EVERYONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY: Yeah! Yeah, I guess we are!
Serkele: This a pretty straightforward domestic comedy/Cinderella story about a hypocritical hypochondriac who steals her disappeared brother's inheritance and takes advantage of her sweet, beautiful niece, who really just wants to believe that her aunt is a nice person! Add a con artist who wants to marry into the family, a noble young student who's in love with the niece, a cute romantic subplot about a couple of the household servants, a ~*~mysterious stranger~*~, and a chorus of police officers wandering around pointing and laughing at everyone, and this is all pretty generally enjoyable.
The Two Kuni-Lemls: One of the very first plays of the Yiddish theater boom period around the turn of the century, this is another variation on Silliness and Sanctimony's theme of "ugh, who wants to marry a Hasid?" except wackier, and also, a musical! Basically the plot revolves around the heroine's boyfriend disguising himself as Arranged Match Kuni-Leml so that he and the heroine can get married, which leads to a lot of mistaken-identity hijinks -- as when, for example, the heroine accidentally starts making out with the real Kuni-Leml because she thinks he's her boyfriend in disguise, and he's like "OH GOD NO, SINFUL GIRL PARTS, GET IT AWAY!" INCLUDING a full chorus of chipper young med students pretending to be ghosts.
(Super ablist, though. It's not enough for poor Kuni-Leml to be an easily scandalized religious Jew who is no match for the heroine's dashing young med student boyfriend; he also has to have a limp and a stutter, which are not treated kindly.)
Miriam: I expected this one to be dull and depressing -- it's the sad story of an innocent young seamstress who is seduced by a rich boy, and ends up as a prostitute -- but actually I thought it was good? Lots of scenes of the family that Miriam lives with being like "NO MIRIAM THIS WILL NOT END WELL" and Miriam being like "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL MOM!!!" but, I mean, the dynamics between Miriam and her adopted temporary family are really interesting. The final scene is Miriam and two other prostitutes locking themselves away to have a girls' night and rant, with remarkably little judgment on the part of the author.
The Duke: OK. The Duke is about a rich Polish nobleman who converts to Judaism, but -- no, I'm sorry, I have to summarize this for you.
ACT 1:
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: *hanging out doing small-town Jewish things*
THE DUKE'S SON: Hey hey hey I am home from France, where I was studying with a rabbi, who was awesome! So much awesomer than these sad pathetic small-town Jews who spend all their time groveling!
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: well maybe that's because of our centuries of oppression and because nobles are dicks with absolute power over our lives, asshole
THE DUKE'S SON: What?
SOME SMALL-TOWN JEWS: Nothing!
THE DUKE'S SON: Anyway I'm going to make out with your daughter now.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: Nihilist sexual awakening, GO!
ACT 2:
THE DUKE: I caught a bear! You know what this bear needs? TROUSERS.
THE BISHOP: ... what. but. wh...y....
THE DUKE: I am going to make this Jewish tailor make my bear some TROUSERS and it will be HILARIOUS.
JEWISH TAILOR: ... what. but. wh...y....
THE DUKE: Because I enjoy massively humiliating people, that's why.
(THE DUKE'S FOOL: FYI, the Duke? A JERK.
EVERYONE ELSE: Yeah, we're getting that.)
THE DUKE'S SON: Hey dad your bear just tried to murder some people, so I killed it. Cool?
THE DUKE: Dangit!
JEWISH TAILOR: OK guys I finished making these bear trousers! I think they're pretty great if I say so myself!
EVERYONE ELSE: ...
ACT 3:
THE PRIEST: You know you should stop your son making out with that Jewish girl.
THE DUKE: Ha ha lol no, my son is not making out with a Jewish girl!
THE PRIEST: ...
THE DUKE: It is I who am making out with the Jewish girl! LOL!
THE PRIEST: ... well, this is awkward.
ACT 4:
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS SO I AM GOING TO SEDUCE ALL THE THINGS
THE SMALL-TOWN JEWS: oh my god
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: PARTY TIIIIIIIME
THE SMALL-TOWN JEWS: this is horrendous
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: BRING ME YOUR HOTTEST RABBINICAL STUDENT AND I WILL HELLA CORRUPT HIM
THE RABBI: get thee behind me, harlot! stay away from our virtuous rabbinical student!
VIRTUOUS RABBINICAL STUDENT: Yo.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: ... are you kidding me, the virtuous rabbinical student that I've been fantasizing about corrupting is the fucking duke's son who corrupted me, what the fuck. What the fuck. I hate everything.
ACT 5:
THE DUKE'S SON: Look, the thing is, I do think Judaism's cool, I really want to be a Jew, but, like, not like these embarrassing pathetic real-life Jews. Like a noble Jew. Like a BADASS Jew. You know what? I'm gonna martyr myself! For Judaism! MY CENTURIES OF NOBLE CHRISTIAN BLOOD DEMAND IT.
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: Hey! Hey! Duke! Please pardon your son from being burned at the stake for heresy!
THE DUKE: I mean, I have the pardon right here, but ... while it sucks that my son is going to be burned at the stake and all ... look, I would just be a terrible dad if I stopped him from following his dream!
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: ...
THE DUKE: I respect his agency too much, is the thing.
THE DUKE'S SON'S FRIENDS: ...
THE DUKE: And I just want to say I'm so proud of him, as a father, for finding something in his life that he finds really meaningful. OK, light the bonfire!
THE DUKE'S FOOL: Man, I just love the smell of toasting nobleman in the morning.
SMALL-TOWN JEWISH GIRL: All I can say is, life is terrible, and this shit is hilarious.
I genuinely can't tell how we are supposed to take most of this. Is it a commentary on cultural appropriation? A genuine indictment of the Jewish people for being sad and depressing and uncool? A satire on class distintions? All of the above? Do the bear trousers ... symbolize ... something ....? WHO CAN SAY? Certainly not me, but I spent the whole text completely fascinated, that's for sure.
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i know some past grad students who adopted this as their life motto around comps time
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(Random question, but would you happen to have any recs for books on British Jewish history? In particular, what life was like for people around the early 19th century. It's for a writing thing!)
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The Duke's son sounds like every Christian I know.Speaking of Yiddish literature, I've been eyeing this for a while on Amazon trying to justify buying it: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0815633556/
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!!!!
...bear trousers?
This is the point where I wonder if "bear trousers" was a reference we're missing. Much the way we might reference "shooting wolves from a helicopter" and everyone knows we're mocking Sarah Palin and right-wing demagogues in general.
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The Duke sounds awesome. And stupid. And...awesomely stupid. Someone should make a play (or was this a play?)
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The Duke is Il Dottore [or in this case, Il Duce]! The rich Jewish father is (of course) Pantelone!