{"title":"Dance as a Tool of Pleasure and Humiliation in I. J. Singer’s The Brothers Ashkenazi","authors":"S. Gollance","doi":"10.2979/prooftexts.39.3.04","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Dance is a crucial yet largely unrecognized motif in I. J. Singer’s Yiddish-language family epic Di brider Ashkenazi (The Brothers Ashkenazi), which chronicles Jewish life in Łódź. In his famous article, “Mayufes: A Window on Polish-Jewish Relations,” Chone Shmeruk recounts how a Polish officer orders the brothers Max and Yakub Ashkenazi to dance a humiliating mayufes—Yakub resists, and the officer shoots him. Shmeruk claims Singer’s rendition is “perhaps the most poignant mayufes of all.” While this scene of forced dancing is arguably the best-known scene in the novel, this article approaches it in connection with an earlier transgressive mixed-sex wedding dance and demonstrates how dancing scenes in the novel juxtapose late nineteenth-century dreams of embourgeoisement with the reality of early twentieth-century antisemitism. As such, the dance floor both challenges and reifies power structures in the novel. What is more, these dance scenes take place at crucial moments in the plot, emphasizing the moments of rupture and reconciliation between the eponymous brothers and highlighting the physical contrast between cerebral striver Max and lusty, good-natured Yakub. By examining these seemingly disparate dance scenes, it is possible to gain a deeper perspective into the ways acculturation and antisemitism operate on the Polish-Jewish body.","PeriodicalId":43444,"journal":{"name":"PROOFTEXTS-A JOURNAL OF JEWISH LITERARY HISTORY","volume":"11 1","pages":"422 - 453"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PROOFTEXTS-A JOURNAL OF JEWISH LITERARY HISTORY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2979/prooftexts.39.3.04","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:Dance is a crucial yet largely unrecognized motif in I. J. Singer’s Yiddish-language family epic Di brider Ashkenazi (The Brothers Ashkenazi), which chronicles Jewish life in Łódź. In his famous article, “Mayufes: A Window on Polish-Jewish Relations,” Chone Shmeruk recounts how a Polish officer orders the brothers Max and Yakub Ashkenazi to dance a humiliating mayufes—Yakub resists, and the officer shoots him. Shmeruk claims Singer’s rendition is “perhaps the most poignant mayufes of all.” While this scene of forced dancing is arguably the best-known scene in the novel, this article approaches it in connection with an earlier transgressive mixed-sex wedding dance and demonstrates how dancing scenes in the novel juxtapose late nineteenth-century dreams of embourgeoisement with the reality of early twentieth-century antisemitism. As such, the dance floor both challenges and reifies power structures in the novel. What is more, these dance scenes take place at crucial moments in the plot, emphasizing the moments of rupture and reconciliation between the eponymous brothers and highlighting the physical contrast between cerebral striver Max and lusty, good-natured Yakub. By examining these seemingly disparate dance scenes, it is possible to gain a deeper perspective into the ways acculturation and antisemitism operate on the Polish-Jewish body.
摘要:在I. J. Singer的意第绪语家庭史诗《阿什肯纳兹兄弟》中,舞蹈是一个重要的主题,但在很大程度上没有被认识到,这部史诗记录了Łódź犹太人的生活。Chone Shmeruk在他著名的文章《马尤费斯:波兰与犹太人关系的窗口》中,叙述了一名波兰军官如何命令马克斯和雅库布这对德系犹太人兄弟跳羞辱性的马尤费斯舞——雅库布反抗,然后军官开枪打死了他。Shmeruk称辛格的演唱“可能是所有歌曲中最令人心酸的”。虽然这一被迫跳舞的场景可以说是小说中最著名的场景,但本文将其与早期越界的男女混合婚礼舞蹈联系起来,并展示了小说中的舞蹈场景如何将19世纪晚期的中产阶级梦想与20世纪早期的反犹主义现实并列。因此,舞池在小说中既是对权力结构的挑战,也是对权力结构的具体化。更重要的是,这些舞蹈场景发生在情节的关键时刻,强调了同名兄弟之间的决裂与和解的时刻,并突出了大脑奋斗者马克斯和精力充沛、脾气善良的雅库布之间的身体对比。通过研究这些看似不同的舞蹈场景,可以更深入地了解文化适应和反犹主义在波兰犹太人身上的运作方式。
期刊介绍:
For sixteen years, Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History has brought to the study of Jewish literature, in its many guises and periods, new methods of study and a new wholeness of approach. A unique exchange has taken place between Israeli and American scholars, as more work from Israelis has appeared in the journal. Prooftexts" thematic issues have made important contributions to the field.