(no subject)

[skygiants]

A friend of mine diagnosed, correctly, that I was the correct audience for In the Land of Happy Tears: Yiddish Tales for Modern Times and passed me on her copy -- it's a collection of Yiddish-language short stories, translated and aimed at kids.

The stories are broken down into three sections - "Bravery," "Rebellion," "Justice," and "Wonder" - so, I mean, there is very clearly an agenda (that I approve of!) at work here in the selections. This made it no less hilarious to me when I hit the story titled The Wise Hat, about a magical hat that confers wisdom on a king's advisors, which concludes as follows:

By the next day, a revolution began. King Yuhavit was decapitated. The former fool, who remained a fool, was hanged. The former sage, who had now also become a fool, was shot. Their clothing and their hats were destroyed. And now everything is as it should be.

I MEAN, OKAY.

Of the eighteen stories in the collection, I would estimate that only three or four are really actively Jacobin, but they definitely add a zesty punch to a collection that is otherwise full of, like, Some Pretty Leaves Travel From Autumn Land To Green Land and The Diary Of An Adorable Young Squirrel.

From another story, about identical twin brothers:

Because aside from a healthy chunk of real estate, the brothers had also inherited some bad blood -- blue blood, their parents had called it. The parents were even proud of it, and this in itself was enough to show the kinds of brains they had, not knowing that healthy people's blood is red and not blue!

...actually, now that I'm looking, it seems like all of the really revolutionary ones are by Moyshe Nadir, an author and Yiddish theater critic who was so rude in his reviews that he started having to attend the theater in disguise to avoid getting thrown out. Clearly, an author to investigate!

Other turn-of-the-century authors in the anthology include Leon Elbe (airy little folktales about leaves and kites and the moon), Jacob Kreplak (elliptical and somewhat melancholy child's-eye-view realism), Jacob Reisfader (folktales about virtuous children), Rachel Shabad (folktales about virtuous adults) and Sonia Kantor (Daily Lives of Animals; no biographical details known! a mystery!)

Comments

[sovay]

Moyshe Nadir, an author and Yiddish theater critic who was so rude in his reviews that he started having to attend the theater in disguise to avoid getting thrown out.

Wow.

[skygiants]

The more I learn about the Yiddish theater scene, the more I realize I will absolutely never know enough about the Yiddish theater scene.

[sovay]

The more I learn about the Yiddish theater scene, the more I realize I will absolutely never know enough about the Yiddish theater scene.

This is almost certainly true, but I still want to read Nadir's reviews.

[skygiants]

It is honestly the exact sort of thing that I'm learning Yiddish for (which means of course at the very slow rate I'm going that I'll be able to actually read them in, uh, maybe six or seven years? a work in progress)

[osprey_archer]

By the next day, a revolution began. King Yuhavit was decapitated. The former fool, who remained a fool, was hanged. The former sage, who had now also become a fool, was shot. Their clothing and their hats were destroyed. And now everything is as it should be.

Sounds like a pretty standard revolution there honestly. Does this mean the wise hat has been destroyed, too?

[skygiants]

Of course! The loss of the wise hat is actually what kicks the whole thing off; the hat blows away, the sage wishes the crowd "good shabbes" on a Wednesday, and that's when everyone decides there's really no solution but to decapitate them all.

[conuly]

Quite rightly.

[lemon_badgeress]

so what i’m hearing here is, down with hats

[skygiants]

If you chop everyone's heads off, they can't wear any hats. Problem solved!

[lemon_badgeress]

it does have admirable simplicity going for it!

[chestnut_pod]

"Moyshe Nadir, an author and Yiddish theater critic who was so rude in his reviews that he started having to attend the theater in disguise to avoid getting thrown out."

I need to find me some of these.

[skygiants]

A brief Google turned me up no reviews in translation but I did find a nonfiction book about this guy, satire, and the Yiddish theater that I have already put on hold at the library ...

[chestnut_pod]

*chinhands*

Really? What was the title?

[skygiants]

It's called Messiahs of 1933: how American Yiddish theatre survived adversity through satire and I'm very excited about it ... but the library turns out to have lost it! TIME FOR A QUEST.

[chestnut_pod]

Thank you so much! Time for a quest of my own!

[krait]

By the next day, a revolution began. King Yuhavit was decapitated.

So they went from Yuhavit to Weallhavit? :D

[skygiants]

YES. Theworkerhasit!