30 October 2004 - Saturday
We've got the sickness already
I finished reading Sholem Aleichem's Tevye the Dairyman over fall break. This cycle of short stories served as the primary basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and may be the most widely read work in Yiddish literature.
The first three stories are fairly lighthearted: serious questions receive allusion, but Aleichem's irony is comic rather than sardonic. The later stories become much darker, more intense, and more provocative. The final chapter, for example, includes this passage:
One hot summer day I was sitting on my front stoop, the wheels spinning round in my head. How can it be, I thought, how is it possible that such a thing can happen in times like these, in such an intelligent world full of smart people? And where is God in all this—where, oh where, is our old Jewish God? Why doesn't He do something? Why doesn't He say something? Why, why, why, why, why . . .At this point, someone does ride up to Tevye's home "on his white horse," but it is not the Messiah -- at least, not an Anointed of salvation. It is the village policeman with an eviction order. Jews are no longer welcome in the area.Well, once you get on the subject of God, you beat your brains out about other things too. What was life all about? Was there more of it after death? Why hadn't the Messiah come yet? Ai, I thought, wouldn't it be clever of him, the Messiah, to come riding down to us on his white horse right this minute! Just think how grand that would be! Why, we've never needed him so badly! There's no knowing what goes on in the mind of a rich Jew, of a Brodsky in Yehupetz, for example, or of a Rothschild in Paris—the Messiah may be the furthest thing from it; but we poor Jews of Kasrilevke, and of Mazapevke, and of Zlodeyevke, and even of Yehupetz, and yes, Odessa too, can't wait for him any longer—no, we absolutely can't wait another day! The only hope left us is for God to work a miracle and send us the Messiah right away . . . [translation by Hillel Halkin; ellipses in original]
I plan to read many, many more stories by Sholem Aleichem.
| Posted by Wilson at 23:32 Central | TrackBack| Report submitted to the Humanities Desk
The plot of Fiddler on the Roof was taken primarily from four of the eight short stories. The musical is scrupulously faithful these four stories, although it makes reasonable additions and modifications for the sake of the new medium and audience. (The "fiddler on the roof" metaphor, for example, comes from the work of a different author altogether.)
The adaptors were obviously very careful in their work. The song "If I Were a Rich Man," for instance, sets to music a paragraph from the second story (complete with the geese and the wife's double chin), which was not otherwise used.
The thoughts of Wilson on 2 November 2004 - 0:25 Central+ + + + +
(You must preview your comment before posting it)
Fiddler on the Roof is one of my favorite musicals. I'm glad you've read the books. I'm going to go look them up online. How close did the show get to the real stories?
The thoughts of Rachel on 1 November 2004 - 22:54 Central+ + + + +