Friday, February 6 at 6:30pm at PSJC and on Zoom
 

Rescuing and Translating Lazar Wolf, the Yiddish Sensation of Interwar Vilna.

Speakers: Sarah Ponichtera and Robert Newman

Sarah and Roby will be speaking about their project to translate the writings of Lezyer Wolf, the pen name of Eliezer Meckler, a poet who was active in the Yiddish literary scene of interwar Vilna. Wolf was a literary sensation of the period, making dramatic gestures such as his 1930 attempt to break the world record for writing poetry, writing 1001 untitled pieces in a matter of weeks. As the YIVO Encyclopedia states, “Wolf is best remembered for his lack of composure,” writing sharp parodies that drew equally on the classics of European literature and Yiddish folktales and lullabies. He lived in a working class suburb of Vilna known as Shnipeshok, where he imbibed class consciousness as well as Yiddish culture. As the Germans invaded Vilna in 1939, he fled with Soviet forces, making his way around the Soviet Union for several years before dying of starvation and illness in a village outside Samarkand in 1943.