Article
"The Brown Dragon Has Flown," and "Once Upon a Time There Was a King"
Pakn treger
(2018)
Abstract
Leyzer Wolf (1910-1943), like Der Nister and Dovid Bergelson, was a thoroughly modern writer whose deep knowledge of world literature was matched by his feeling for the rhythms and nuances of everyday Yiddish spoken by the common man. He drew on the rich folk culture of his native Shnipishok (a working class neighborhood in Vilna) in satire and parody that reflected his voracious reading. A fiery presence on the political scene, Wolf weaponized his literary talent, taking aim at the growing Fascist threat from Germany. He celebrated Soviet troops' arrival in his hometown, seeing it as the culmination of his lifelong affinity for Communism. When the Soviet forces withdrew, Wolf fled with them, eventually ending up in Moscow, where he would recite his poems at literary gatherings during the war years. The introduction to his book of poems, De broyne bestye, published posthumously in 1943, describe how he would inspire local Yiddish poets with fiery denunciations of the Nazi regime (alluded to in the title of the book) garbed in the language of folktale and folksong.
The second poem translated here, “Once Upon a Time There Was a King,” is a reinterpretation of the melancholy Yiddish lullaby “A mol iz geven a mayse," revised to denounce local collaborators with the Fascist regime.
Disciplines
Publication Date
October, 2018
Citation Information
Sarah Ponichtera. ""The Brown Dragon Has Flown," and "Once Upon a Time There Was a King"" Pakn treger (2018) ISSN: 1093-1627 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sarah-ponichtera/8/