Onions and Cucumbers and Plums: 46 Yiddish Poem in English [Paperback]

Sarah Betsky-Zweig (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Yiddish --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr (February 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814316743
• ISBN-13: 978-0814316740
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,936,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bilingual Yiddish- English poetry, July 10, 2009

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Onions and Cucumbers and Plums: 46 Yiddish Poem in English (Hardcover)

What a wonderful collection. It is done in the most thoughtful way. The poems appear in Yiddish on one side of the page, and the English translation is nearby. There is also the Yiddish version in its original Hebrew letters. There is a good set of biographical descriptions of the writers as an appendix to the work.
I do not know Yiddish well- enough to evaluate the translation- work. But the poems read very well in English.
There is also a very good introduction to Yiddish poetry by Sarah Zweig Betsky the editor of the work.
The forty- six poems which as Betsky says are 'written in a thousand year old language in the twentieth century.'
Among the poets are:David Einhorn, Avraham Sutskever, Kadie Molodowsky, Aaron Zeitlin, Zisha Landau, Reuben Iceland, Moyshe Kulbak, M.I. Halperin, Itzik Manger, J. Glatstein, Mani Leib, Melech Ravitch, J.Adler, Ephraim Auerbach, A.Almi, H.Leivick and Chaim Grade.

Here is the Yiddish and the English translation of the opening stanza of Ephraim Auerbach's powerful poem of seperation , death, and perhaps guilty survival. 'Groye Feters' 'Grey Uncles'

All my uncles put on beards of grey
Their faces going wrinkled like old hide
they ranged themselves , facing the farthest way
at my ruined house, at my bleak doorside

Ale mayne feters hobn ongeton zikh groye berd,
hobn zikh di penmer tsekneysht vi alte fel
un zikh oysgeshelt tsum vaytn veg gekert
bay mayn khorever heym, oyn mayn khorever shvel.

And the closing stanza.

Nights on trains.Days on ships. Dust. Rain.
Grey beards, unkempt, on nooses swing and slack,
In the wind at sea, or at a dripping pane,
I hear my angry uncles call me to come back.

Nekht oyf banen Teg oyl shiftn.Vaser. Shtoyb.
Groye berd tseshoybert hoyden zikh oyf shtrik.
Ikh-in vint fun yam, tsi bay a loyfndiker shoyb-
her, vi mayne beyze feters rufn mikh tsurik.