Classic Yiddish Fiction: Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz

CHAPTER 5. Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels"

CHAPTER 5 Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels" After S. Y. Abramovitsh set a course for modern Yiddish fiction in the 1860s and 1870s, Sholem Aleichem wrote several novels in the 1880s that followed Abramovitsh's direction. He called Abramovitsh "the grandfather" of Yiddish literature in 1888 and fashioned himself as an obedient and devoted grandson. In this way, Sholem Aleichem simultaneously lent an appearance of stability to the shaky foundations of Yiddish literature and created a readymade pedigree for himself. 1 On the surface, Sholem Aleichem appears to have been unfamiliar with the writer's syndrome now called "the anxiety of influence ."2 But only on the surface. He played out the drama of his apprenticeship in relation to the best and the worst of his contemporaries -Abramovitsh and Shaykevitsh, who were familiar to general readers as Mendele and Shomer.3 Sholem Aleichem did not, however, merely build upon prior literary history; he helped to shape it, especially in his role as editor of The Jewish Popular Library (Di yudishe (olks-bibliotek, 1888-89). One of his stated goals was to reeducate Yiddish readers by shifting their attention from popular novels to superior works of fiction. GRANDFATHER AND GRANDSON Sholem Aleichem began writing to Abramovitsh in 1884-in Russian . At that time the inexperienced author introduced himself as "a young, but passionate, admirer of your talent; an admirer who is working the soil that you plowed, obstinately and diligently I Compare Dan Miron, "Sholem Aleykhem: Person, Persona, Presence," The Uriel Weinreich Memorial Lecture 1 (New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1972), p. 10. 2See Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973). 3Compare Shmuel Niger, Sholem Aleichem: zayne vikhtikste verk, zayn humor un zayn ort in der yidisher literatur (New York: YKUF, 1928), pp. 20-29. 135 136 SHOLEM ALEICHEM following the footsteps you have left so clearly in the fields of our Yiddish literature."4 When Sholem Aleichem presented himself as a humble laborer in this metaphorical field, he evidently hoped to be taken on as a trusted farmhand. He then called one of his own stories a "pale refle<:tion of your splendid Travels of Benjamin the Third." Four years later, as editor of The Jewish Popular Library, Sholem Aleichem repeated his commitment to Abramovitsh by stating that "I am following [or obeying] you in everything" ("1kh folg aykh in ales"), and he closed his letter with the phrase, "Your devoted grandson.":i An essay by Sholem Aleichem's close friend, Y. H. Ravnitzky, initially presents a comparable picture. Ravnitsky recalls that "like a fiery, passionate chassid of his rebbe, thus did Sholem Aleichem speak of the grandfather, Reb Mendele, even before he saw him with his own eyes." After Sholem Aleichem met Abramovitsh in 1888 and received a portrait of him, he placed it on his desk and "while writing he used to look at it often and ask himself, would the thing [he was writing] please him, Reb Mendele, or not?"6 Sholem Aleichem exchanged numerous letters with Abramovitsh in 1888. One letter from Abramovitsh is particularly relevant to the intertextual relationship between their works. Abramovitsh initially tells his self-proclaimed literary grandson: I would advise you not to write romances [romanenJ. Your genre is something else entirely. You are indeed (as you yourself say) my grandson. You understand what that means? Understand it well, follow grandfather and, God willing, you will become a talented writer. In general, all Yiddish romances are worthless. They nauseate me. If there are romances among our people, they are entirely different than among other peoples. One must understand this and write entirely differently.7 4Dos Sholem Aleichem bukh, ed. Y. D. Berkovitsh (New York: Sholem-Aleichem bukh komitet, 1926), p. 191. Henceforth cited as "SAB" by pagt: alone. 5Letter of 26 July 1888; in Tsum ondenk fun Sholem Aleichem: zamlbukh, ed. r. Zinberg and S. Niger (Petersburg: I. L. Peretz-fond, 1917), p. 84. Y. D. Berkovitsh discusses this correspondence in SAB 168. 6Tsum ondenk fun Sholem Aleichem, p. 51. 7Letter of 28 June 1888, reprinted in Dos Mendele bukh, ed. Nachman Mayze! (New York: Yiddisher kultur farband, 1959), p. 157; this volume is henceforth cited as "MB" by page alone. Abramovitsh's early letters to Sholem Aleichem were first printed in Shriftn 1 (1928),247-72. Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels" 137 After counseling Sholem Aleichem not to write novels, Abramovitsh attacks the entire genre of Yiddish romances.8 In this statement , the word roman means both "novel" in general and "a novel of romance" in its more original sense. Nineteenth-century European "romances" were literary works that often contained fantastic events and a "romance" between characters. But Sholem Aleichem chooses to interpret Abramovitsh's statement sociologically as referring to actual romances, to love affairs among the Jews. He even misquotes Abramovitsh's letter to make this reading more plausible. In his dedication playfully addressed to Reb Mendele the Bookseller, which opens the novel Stempenyu, Sholem Aleichem modifies the phrase "If there are romances among our people," instead quoting Abramovitsh as saying that "If there are romances in the life of our people...."9 He emphasizes the reference to actual Jewish life rather than to a literary form, and to counter Abramovitsh's condemnation, Sholem Aleichern rephrases Abramovitsh's words in a way that suits his ambitions . Instead of accepting that all romances written in Yiddish are worthless, Sholem Aleichem concedes only that love and romance are expressed differently among Jews; corresponding to the particularity of Jewish customs, he affirms, Yiddish romances must be unlike those produced by other cultures. This was a willful misreading. Sholem Aleichem did not wish to give up the genre of the novel; thus he twisted his mentor's words to mean that if he wrote a romance, it should accurately reflect Jewish mores. In one sense Abramovitsh's advice was probably right: Sholem Aleichem is best remembered for his short stories rather than for his novels. Yet Sholem Aleichem spent several years early in his career atttempting to show that he was capable of writing "Jewish novels." One of these works, Sender Blank and His Household, he later subtitled "a novel without a 'novel'" (a roman on a 'roman'). This seemingly paradoxical phrase employs the double meaning of the Yiddish word roman and might be translated more comprehensibly as "a novel without a romance." 8For a discussion of this correspondence in relation to Sholem Aleichem's novels, see Anita Norich, "Portraits of the Artist in Three Novels by Sholem Aleichern ," Prooftexts 4 (1984), 237-51. Norich does not point out that Sholem Aleichem misquotes Abramovitsh's letter of 28 June 1888, which enabled him to respond in accordance with his predilections. 'JIn Di yudishe folks-bibliotek 1 (1888), v; emphasis in original. See also SA 11: 123. 138 SHOLEM ALEICHEM Under the sway of his predecessor, he was not yet prepared to renounce this narrative form. When Abramovitsh advises Sholem Aleichem "not to write romances," then, he is primarily telling him not to write fanciful love stories. In Yiddish, this was the domain of popular novels (Shundromanen) associated with the name Shomer, the pseudonym of Nachum Meir Shaykevitsh. Abramovitsh suggests that literary "romances'" should take unique forms among Jews, rather than imitate a prevalent literary genre in other European languages . The literary figure Sholem Aleichem responds, in his dedication to Stempenyu, that this negative advice had an unforeseen effect: it actually provoked him to write the novel. The aspiring author felt impelled to attempt exactly what the master discouraged . Hence Stempenyu bore the subtitle a yudisher roman, meaning "a Jewish novel (or romance)." 10 Sholem Aleichem's burden was to show what this could mean, correctly framed and expressed . In his dedicatory letter, Sholem Aleichem comments: "Your words penetrated deep into my thoughts and I began to understand the extent to which a Jewish novel (a yudisher roman) must be different from all other novels, because Jewish life in general, and the conditions under which a Jew can love, are not the same as with all the other peoples" (SA 11: 123). Sholem Aleichem accepts Abramovitsh's view that the Jewish (or Yiddish) novel should not be a "romance" in the usual sense, because it must reflect the particular pathways of love and romance among Jews. Sholem Aleichem then states that in the novel Stempenyu he sought to embody Abramovitsh's insight in shaping the character of the Jewish girl, Rachel. He implies that a Jewish novel can achieve success only by thwarting the expectations of readers who desire a typical romance. Instead of allowing the reader to become engrossed in the infatuations of unreal men and women, the genuine Yiddish author must disappoint such expectations by pointing to the failure of romance in a Jewish context. Abramovitsh repeats his grandfatherly advice in another letter written to Sholem Aleichem six months later: "You have talent, great talent. I tell you once again, expressly, writing romances is WAs in the title Di yudishe (olks-bibliotek, here the adjective yudish signifies "Jewish" rather than" Yiddish," since it had not yet become a widely accepted term designating the language. Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels" 139 not for you. Your genre is something else entirely. Where you describe life, it is a pleasure to read. There is wit and humor. But where you play out a love story, nothing comes of it" (letter of 17 January 1889, reprinted in MB 163). Abramovitsh admires Sholem Aleichem's wit and humor so long as he describes realistic situations of life, but Abramovitsh contends that Sholem Aleichem spoils his more legitimate effects when he employs fantasy and emulates the popular romances of his day. In Abramovitsh's own first five novels, only Fishke the Lame contains hints of a love story, and even this is framed within a sympathetic description of the life of the poor. Abramovitsh's directives to his literary grandson transcend mere private advice; at issue is the proper quality of the emerging Yiddish tradition. Abramovitsh employs irony, parody, and firstperson narratives to wield satiric social criticism. In a related vein, he respects Sholem Aleichem's effective "wit and humor." The problem is that romance casts an unreal haze over the actual conditions of Jews in Eastern Europe, whereas one of Abramovitsh's stated goals was to show their grim situation as clearly as possible . II Hence Abramovitsh discourages Sholem Aleichem from slipping into an unsuitable genre. Sholem Aleichem essentially accepted Abramovitsh's aesthetic views and incorporated them into an unusual prose piece. In his devastating mock trial and literary polemic entitled Shomer's Trial (Shomer's mishpet, 1888), Sholem Aleichem passed judgment on the bestselling works of Nachum Meir Shaykevitsh, who published under the name Shomer. Although he continued to write novels after 1888, Sholem Aleichem publicly renounced the genre of the popular novel, the shundroman, and affirmed his commitment to the higher goals championed by Abramovitsh. The venom of this attack may have derived, in part, from Sholem Aleichem's selfcritical awareness that he had been guilty of similar offenses. I2 Another dimension of the relationship to Abramovitsh emerged in 1889, after Sholem Aleichem sent the manuscript of his second so-called "Jewish novel," Yosele the Nightingale (Yosele "See Abramovitsh's letter of 1885, translated from Russian, in MB 131-34. USee Sholem Aleichem's earliest love stories, discussed by Dorothy Bilik in "Love in Sholem Aleykhem's Early Novels," Working Papers in Yiddish and East European Jewish Studies 10 (1975), pp. 1-20. Sholem Aleichem's juvenilia were reprinted in Ale verk (Moscow: Der emes, 1948), vol. 1. 140 SHOLEM ALEICHEM solovey), to Y. H. Ravnitzky in Odessa. Ravnitzky recalls that "in Yosele the Nightingale there were a few passages which, as I read them, seemed as if they had been copied from Reb Mendele, and I soon pointed this out to the author." Sholem Aleichem's response showed a new striving for independence: "As far as I can tell, there is no imitation of the grandfather, I swear it righteously. But should you still find that it repeats itself, I beg very emphatically that you either throw them out [that is, the imitative passages] or revise them; just indicate to me first what and where" (Tsum ondenk fun Sholem Aleichem, p. 54). Sholem Aleichem insists that there is a significant difference between following (nokhfolgn) and imitating (nokhmakhn) Abramovitsh. Another problem arises with respect to one of Abramovitsh's widely acknowledged strengths, the description of natural scenes. Ravnitzky complained about the weakness of Sholem Aleichem's descriptions, and he received this answer : "To tell you the truth, I wanted to describe nature well; I was simply afraid it would come out imitative of [literally "dancedafter ," nokhgetantst] the grandfather" (ibid.). At one and the same time, Sholem Aleichem followed in Abramovitsh's footsteps and feared that his writing would appear imitative, like an unoriginal and outmoded dance. A further skirmish between grandfather and grandson occurred in 1890, when Sholem Aleichem acted as Abramovitsh's literary editor. 13 The Jewish Popular Library was to print a preface in the voice of Mendele the Bookseller, and the text proved unsatisfactory . Sholem AJeichem wrote to Abramovitsh that the use of obscure Hebrew expressions would make this preface incomprehensible to the general public; moreover, it was too critical of those who had suffered misfortunes. This reaction suggested his drift away from the type of satire employed by Abramovitsh. Still claiming to be an obedit:nt grandson, Sholem Aleichem offered to rewrite the work.14 The problem was resolved only by Sholem AleiL3This editorial quibble was preceded by a similar incident in 1888, regarding Abramovitsh's new version of The Magic Ring. See Abramovitsh's letter to Sholem Aleichem of 20 June 1888 (MB 154-55), discussed by Dan Miron in Der imazh fun shtet!: dray literarishe shtudies (Tel Aviv: I. L. Peretz fariag, 1981), pp. 54-55. 14This may have been an adaptation from the Hebrew story "Be-seter ra'am" of 1887 (see the letter of 14 January 1890, in Tsum ondenk fun Sholem Aleichem , p. 84). Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels" 141 chern's bankruptcy, which laid to rest his plans for publishing a third volume of The Jewish Popular Library. SENDER BLANK AND HIS HOUSEHOLD Most pertinent to Abramovitsh's specific influence on his "grandson " are Sholem Aleichem's three major novels from the late 1880s: Sender Blank, Stempenyu, and Yosele the Nightingale. These works illustrate some direct lines of influence that run from Abramovitsh "the grandfather" to Sholem Aleichem "the grandson ," including examples of parody. All three titles are the names of central male characters in the stories (like Abramovitsh's Fishke the Lame of 1869 and 1888)-yet all three novels break with the conventions of European "romance," even when they verge on becoming love stories, for their predominant goal is satire rather than seduction. Sender Blank and His Household, the title of the canonical 1903 second edition, was first published in 1888 as Reb Sender Blank and His Highly Esteemed Family (Reb Sender Blank un zayn fulgeshetste familie). The original subtitle called this book "a novel without a love story" (a roman on a libel, while in his revised second edition Sholem Aleichem subtitled it "a novel without a 'romance'" (a roman on a 'roman').15 Irony is implicit in the original title, which refers to the "highly esteemed" (fulgeshetst ) family although the novel pointedly uncovers its lowly motives and manners. At regular intervals, the narrator inserts humorous chapter headings and draws attention to the process of narration through self-conscious remarks. Such practices follow a literary tradition of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors such as Henry Fielding and Nikolai Gogol. On the issue of romance , Sholem Aleichem's narrator comments: "I see that my readers will guess that there is probably a beautiful girl involved, and Marcus is deeply in love ... No! You must remember that my novel is 'a novel without a romance'" (a roman on a ro15The first edition was Reb Sender Blank un zayn fulgeshetste familie: a roman on a libe (St. Petersburg: Israel Levi, 1888). See Sholem Aleichem's Ale verk, ed. N. Oyslender and A. Frumkin (Moscow: Der emes, 1948), vol. 2, p. 306, and Sholem Aleichem's ale verk (Warsaw: Folksbildung, 1903), vol. 2, p. 157. 142 SHOLEM ALEICHEM man).16 The narrator pretends to have no control over his characters when he asks, tongue-in-cheek: But what can I do with my young hero, if chance has not yet favored him? Can I tell him forcefully: "Go, Marcus, fall in love, write passionate letters, melt away like a candle, hang yourself, drown yourself, so that I willhave material for a 'most interesting novel"'? (Ibid.)I? Sholem Aleichem parodies the prevailing novelistic conventions that call for stereotypical events and mocks the popular authors who advertise "mos.t interesting" wares on their title pages. At the same time that he asserts his awareness of such conventions, he affirms his commitment to other principles; Sholem Aleichem implies that Jewish life does not possess such melodrama as is contained in books like Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. Ironic distance from popular novels is apparent from the start of Sender Blank, when Sholem Aleichem entitles his first chapter, "The Curtain Rises-and the Comedy Begins." Mocking the very conventions he assumes, the narrator writes: "All morning long, on the finest street of the city N. (thus begin all novelists, and thus I too begin), near a great two-storied wall, there arrive and depart carriages and cabs with diverse people; the passengers spring out and pay the coachman liberally, without haggling" (9). Except for the parenthetical remark, this sounds like the opening of any latenineteenth century realist novel. Sholem Aleichem is not, however, willing to let the conventions stand uncontested. To write a novel he must follow European standards, but his antipathy to the novels by Shomer precludes any full-fledged acceptance of novelistic norms. Hence he takes away with one hand what he gives with the other: "thus begin all novelists, and thus I too begin." Rather than 16Translated from Sender Blank un zayn gezindl, in Ale verk fun Shalem Aleichem (New York: Folksfand Edition, 1917-23), vol. 11, p. 46; henceforth cited by page alone. This posthumous edition was based on Sholem Aleichern 's 1903 version, which he revised extensively from the 1888 text. It was first issued in Shalem Aleichem's ale verk (Warsaw: Folksbilding, 1903), pp. 157-267. The original work has never been reprinted, but the editors of Sholem Aleichem's Ale verk (Moscow: Der emes, 1948), vol. 2, quote at length from passages that were omitted in the later text. 17These metafictional passages derive from the second edition of Sender Blank that was printed in Shalem Aleichem's ale verk (Warsaw: Folksbildung, 1903), vol. 2, p. 195. For a related discussion, see Shmuel Niger, Shalem Aleichem, p.27. Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish Novels" 143 merely use a standard opening scene, Sholem Aleichem draws attention to the fact that he is just pretending to do so. This dishonorable mention pokes fun at the seriousness with which other novelists employ mimetic conventions. Sholem Aleichem thus follows novelistic conventions at the same time that he calls attention to them and so places them in question. As the chapter proceeds, we understand that the titular character Sender Blank is lying on his deathbed and that his critical condition is the occasion for these visits. From the outset, this situation raises issues of wealth, power, and social class. Sholem Aleichem's narrator shows his sympathies and preferences when he quickly turns from the wealthy family to the perspective of the house servants. The second chapter continues the dramatic metaphor with its heading, "The Actors Perform Markedly Well." At first this might suggest a self-congratulatory tone on the part of the author. Once again, however, irony surfaces: the "good" acting is only the hypocrisy of Sender Blank's family. Throughout the book, the narrator maintains this jocular tone and employs irony at the expense of a bourgeois household, simultaneously keeping his distance from novelists by mixing the novelistic conventions with hints of other genres. By the end of the work, Sender Blank assumes a dramatic form and reaches its climax on the eve of Sender's death-when the "highly esteemed" family shows its true colors by playing cards and gambling late into the night. But since social satire is only one dimension of the book, Sholem Aleichem's narrator also takes this opportunity to parody the novelistic genre. He divides the ninth chapter into five theatrical acts, as if withdrawing his hand from the scenes they enact (98-105). Nevertheless, several introductory paragraphs in this chapter accentuate his irony: "It is a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to begin this chapter as would a genuine novelist, and to present my dear reader with heart-rending scenes and moving images, like all my friends, the novelists" (94). In a seemingly endless run-on sentence, the narrator subsequently shifts from mock-praise of his fellow writers to a fantasy in which all of their books are carted off and sold for paper. The narrator next turns to the situation of the reading public, which will eventually realize that it has been duped by melodramatic writing. In the ninth chapter, he complains of popular Yiddish novels that "have about as much in common with Jewish life as 144 SHOLEM ALEICHEM you have with the Shah of Persia." 18 Because literary tastes remain corrupt, however, the narrator concedes that "we will also try just for a minute to follow the fashion and give the reader a romantic scene" (95). Sholem Aleichem then describes a stereotypical summer night with its pale moon, stars like diamonds, and silent earth. The narrator recalls his walk on such a moonlit night, in search of inspiration for his novel. Even here Sholem Aleichem's "Jewish novel" resists becoming like the scorned romances, instead only referring to the cliches it seeks to avoid. Adapting an idiom from current Anglo-American philosophy of language, we may say that Sholem Aleichem's work mentions the conventions of romance but declines to use these conventions in earnest. The satire attacks both bourgeois Jewish society and the fictions it has helped to spawn. STEMPENYU In Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel (Stempenyu: a yudisher roman, 1888), Sholem Aleichem tries to satisfy Abramovitsh's demands while continuing to question the novelistic genre. He dispenses with the usual elements of romance in order to produce Jewish fiction that supposedly reflects Jewish life. As Meir Viner writes, Sholem Aleichem was deeply impressed by Abramovitsh's "demand that literature must not represent imagined heroes and situations according to a traditional novelistic scheme, but the true, genuine reality of popular life." 19 In his dedicatory letter addressed to Mendele the Bookseller, Sholem Aleichem emphasizes that his Jewish novel is "truly taken from life," yet facilitated by fantasy concerning the character of Stempenyu (124).20 Indeed, the author 's younger brother recalled that many of his fictional charac18Sholem Aleichem omitted this passage from the second edition of Sender Blank. See Ale verk (Moscow: Der emes, 1948), vol. 2, note on p. 332. 19M. Viner, "Vegn Sholem-Aleichem's humor," in Tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur in 19-tn yorhundert (ety'udn un materialn) (New York: YKUF, 1946), vol. 2, p_ 340. lOTranslations are based on Stempenyu: a yidisher roman, in Ale verk fun Sholem Aleichem (New York: Folksfond Edition, 1917-23), vol. 11;