Translating Sholem Aleichem

History, Politics and Art

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 famouslyFiddler 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