Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Monday, May 4, 2020

The Cleaver’s Daughter by Avrom Sutzkever Translated b y Zac k a r y Sho l e m be r g e r - from Yiddish - first published 1975




The Cleaver’s Daughter by Avrom Sutzkever Translated b y Zac k a r y  Sho l e m be r g e r - from Yiddish - first published 1975

Link to the story 

https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/yiddish-translation/cleavers-daughter

Abraham Sutzkever (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם סוצקעווער — Avrom Sutskever; Hebrew: אברהם סוצקבר; July 15, 1913 – January 20, 2010) was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. The New York Times wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet of the Holocaust."

July 15, 1913 - Smarhón, Belarus

January 20, 2010 - Telaviv, Israel

“What potion should I give the night so she’ll always wonder?”
BY ABRAHAM SUTZKEVER
TRANSLATED BY ZACKARY SHOLEM BERGER
"What potion should I give the night so she’ll always wonder?
Her pounding heart’s a rider galloping from the burning wood.

Maybe my pharmacist is awake the next street over?
In a crucible of  bone, snake tears mixed with herbs.

Should I hurry? Call the doctor? A heart like hers is rare.
And to tell the truth, if it shattered, what would I do?"

Last month I posted on a very interesting short story by Avrom Sutskever, "An Answer to a Letter".  There is a letter from an immigrate in New York City and a reply by his friend back in Belarus.

Today's story is set in Vilna.  Longer than the prior story it centers on the history of the narrator's long lasting romance with a local girl.  It goes into detail in the descriptions of the general store where the girl works, an orphan, for relatives.  We see a pre-adolescent relationship develop into a real romance.  A story very much worth reading.








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