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Menke: The Complete Yiddish Poems of Menke Katz
Menke Katz (1906-1991) is the only Yiddish poet to become a major poet in English too. In his lifetime he published nine book in each language. This volume contains an English translation of Menke Katz's complete Yiddish works. Illustrated 100 page introduction by Dovid Katz contains numerous rare photographs; the collection also features three maps and a preface by publisher Harry Smith. Poems were translated by Benjamin and Barbara Harshav.
779 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2005
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November 28, 2021
How to rate a life's work? (Ok, not entirely since this is half of his work - his English poetry couple make for a vol. 2 of Menke). It is difficult to put a note, since this is a little over 9 books, with the previously unpublished final poems. I'll write down here briefly what I thought of each book and the volume, if you're looking at reading some (I just read the whole think chronologically since I didn't know where to start).
The historical / biographical introduction is very impressive on some levels, but a bit strange on others. The documentation (critics, etc.) about, for example, Three sisters and The Burning Village I & II is HUGE. It seems like there is everything! On the other hand, almost nothing is said of other books. I really wanted to know more about how The Burning Village III was welcomed after the "huge debate" around vol. I & II, but all it says about vol. III is that it came out in a book with circumstantial press poems omitted from this volume. The same goes for The Simple Dream - it says almost nothing, even though I really thought there would be much to say.
I thought it would have been interesting, otherwise, to re-arrange the book, with a brief bio at the start of the book, and then sections "about the work" either before each poetry collection, or after it. It is interesting to have parts about the books, but I preferred reading sections the introduction / biography after I had read the poetry collection corresponding to said section, that way I had in mind the poetry that was at hand.
Overall, my favourite books were Dawning man, The simple dream, and Burning village vol. III. I suppose, in part, because they had more of an optimistic side to them. My favourite was The simple dream, even though there were way more religious references, etc. (the three last ones do, but the last two still have A LOT more than The simple dream). Even though I'm quite the atheist, I enjoyed The simple dream with all the religious references, though I probably didn't fully understand some of them. The Burning village vol. III isn't per say better in quality than vol. I & II, but it varies more. There are passages in it, of delightful optimism, and passages of what we would now call PTSD flashback. The subject matter is impressive, especially taking into the time when it was written, where few people actually talked about PTSD openly. Vol. I & II are good, just a little repetitive at times. I mean, they get a little heavy. They are good though.
An excerpt from an anarchist paper called Three Sisters something like "one of the most depressing books you could read", and that is true. It's probably one of the darkest, saddest books of poetry I've ever read. Beautifully written though, and very lively (ironically) in its subjects, vivid in its imagery. Be ready to read something dark when you read it though (I wasn't, haha).
The least interesting, for me were Grand Mother Mona, Midday, and Safad.
Grand Mother Mona has good parts, but most of it wouldn't be understandable without the introduction / historical context (I exceptionally read the introduction while reading it, because I felt something was missing). The book is mainly what in French would be called "un règlement de comptes" - settling debts. Telling people he disagreed with to go suck a lemon, poetically. There are some nice poems. Some poems make a point, then the next poem makes the opposite point. The book was written during a shit debate to essentially say "Let me write about what I want to in the way I want to". In this regards, he is right. But the book outside of that debate hasn't necessarily aged well. There are still nice poems, of course.
Midday is the weakest of the lot. A kind of jumble of loose poems, taken from different times, different contexts. A lot of it fits into a "militant Yiddish" mind set. I can get that those poems "Enemy of Yiddish, enemy of my people" mean a lot to someone who speaks Yiddish. Self asserting, self empowering, etc. Very good! But outside of that, I can't say they were really interesting. Three parts "A hut in the woods", "Evening in New York" and "Good bye" were very nice. The rest I think is really more for a Yiddish audience. Then again, there are many poems I would call "personal poems". They are nice, but don't necessarily mean something to people outside of the author's circle, I think.
Safad isn't bad. There are many more religious poems that I found quite "bleh" and a few more banal ones. There are very good ones though; I especially liked the final poems. I understand that as most poems are sonnets though, the books must be stylistically more impressive in Yiddish.
The last poems (final sonnets) are beautiful.
So, for anyone looking at reading some Menke, here is the order by which I would proceed if I should read the book over :
The simple dream
dawning man
The Burning village (parts I, II & III)
Three sisters
Safad
Grandmother Mona takes the floor
Midday
In any case, that's just my opinion. I feel like I could still read more Menke, so that's a good sign! Maybe not immediately though.
The historical / biographical introduction is very impressive on some levels, but a bit strange on others. The documentation (critics, etc.) about, for example, Three sisters and The Burning Village I & II is HUGE. It seems like there is everything! On the other hand, almost nothing is said of other books. I really wanted to know more about how The Burning Village III was welcomed after the "huge debate" around vol. I & II, but all it says about vol. III is that it came out in a book with circumstantial press poems omitted from this volume. The same goes for The Simple Dream - it says almost nothing, even though I really thought there would be much to say.
I thought it would have been interesting, otherwise, to re-arrange the book, with a brief bio at the start of the book, and then sections "about the work" either before each poetry collection, or after it. It is interesting to have parts about the books, but I preferred reading sections the introduction / biography after I had read the poetry collection corresponding to said section, that way I had in mind the poetry that was at hand.
Overall, my favourite books were Dawning man, The simple dream, and Burning village vol. III. I suppose, in part, because they had more of an optimistic side to them. My favourite was The simple dream, even though there were way more religious references, etc. (the three last ones do, but the last two still have A LOT more than The simple dream). Even though I'm quite the atheist, I enjoyed The simple dream with all the religious references, though I probably didn't fully understand some of them. The Burning village vol. III isn't per say better in quality than vol. I & II, but it varies more. There are passages in it, of delightful optimism, and passages of what we would now call PTSD flashback. The subject matter is impressive, especially taking into the time when it was written, where few people actually talked about PTSD openly. Vol. I & II are good, just a little repetitive at times. I mean, they get a little heavy. They are good though.
An excerpt from an anarchist paper called Three Sisters something like "one of the most depressing books you could read", and that is true. It's probably one of the darkest, saddest books of poetry I've ever read. Beautifully written though, and very lively (ironically) in its subjects, vivid in its imagery. Be ready to read something dark when you read it though (I wasn't, haha).
The least interesting, for me were Grand Mother Mona, Midday, and Safad.
Grand Mother Mona has good parts, but most of it wouldn't be understandable without the introduction / historical context (I exceptionally read the introduction while reading it, because I felt something was missing). The book is mainly what in French would be called "un règlement de comptes" - settling debts. Telling people he disagreed with to go suck a lemon, poetically. There are some nice poems. Some poems make a point, then the next poem makes the opposite point. The book was written during a shit debate to essentially say "Let me write about what I want to in the way I want to". In this regards, he is right. But the book outside of that debate hasn't necessarily aged well. There are still nice poems, of course.
Midday is the weakest of the lot. A kind of jumble of loose poems, taken from different times, different contexts. A lot of it fits into a "militant Yiddish" mind set. I can get that those poems "Enemy of Yiddish, enemy of my people" mean a lot to someone who speaks Yiddish. Self asserting, self empowering, etc. Very good! But outside of that, I can't say they were really interesting. Three parts "A hut in the woods", "Evening in New York" and "Good bye" were very nice. The rest I think is really more for a Yiddish audience. Then again, there are many poems I would call "personal poems". They are nice, but don't necessarily mean something to people outside of the author's circle, I think.
Safad isn't bad. There are many more religious poems that I found quite "bleh" and a few more banal ones. There are very good ones though; I especially liked the final poems. I understand that as most poems are sonnets though, the books must be stylistically more impressive in Yiddish.
The last poems (final sonnets) are beautiful.
So, for anyone looking at reading some Menke, here is the order by which I would proceed if I should read the book over :
The simple dream
dawning man
The Burning village (parts I, II & III)
Three sisters
Safad
Grandmother Mona takes the floor
Midday
In any case, that's just my opinion. I feel like I could still read more Menke, so that's a good sign! Maybe not immediately though.
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