Newspaper Page Text
T
Friday, April 10, 1K4
THE BOUTHBBN IIIAIL1II
Off The Record
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
A Wedding of Words . . .
Aleph Katz, known throufdxjut the
Yiddish literary world as “Aleph,"
has now published his eighth book
of verse — Die Emesse Khassane
(Quite a Wedding).
Since publication of the new book,
excellently illustrated by I sac Fried-
lander, coincides with his reaching
of sixty-five, an age when most
writers look back on their laurels
in retrospect, it is proper to remark
that aging had seemingly done to
Aleph’s art what it does to wine.
Aleph in one of his very first
poems in the 160-page volume tells
us that there is a poem in every
thing, even in the silent stone that
reposes petrified with crying. His is
a quest for the mystery that is
creativeness, for “the magic of the
word” has lingered with burning on
his tongue probably from the day he
untangled it into first word. All poets
are driven to their purpose by a
mysterious compulsion. With Aleph,
however, the drive seems to stem
from even deeper wells—an almost
awesome dedication to word, to the
Jewish word.
The story of the poem lending its
title to the book is about weird
wedding guests at an unreal wed
ding. By the sheer power and magic
of words that are uniquely fitting
to the theme, Aleph Katz permits
us to savor the symbolism of the
poem while not giving away his own
secret, which is the essence of true
art. This is a purely personal poem,
yet it transcends restricted meaning
by merely hinting at wider sugges
tion. The hadchan, or jester, is of
course part and parcel of the anci
ent wedding ceremonial, but in the
poem the stress is not on the mom
ent of tradition but on the voice of
the singer, the poet, the jester and
the rhyme-maker in the scheme of
festivity.
One of the finest lines in that poem
is the scene in which the bride loses
her veil, which is transformed as it
falls into a bird in flight, casting
a pall of fright upon bride and
groom. Even the jester, stubborn in
merrymaking from very birth, is
now at a loss for a word that could
divert the gloom. Instead of giving
out mirth and song he stands with
open mouth, aghast at the sight,
silent with rhyme as if it were a
bone in his throat.
When the jesters are silenced all
is not well.
Writing about verse in another
tongue is not the easiest of tasks,
since the savor of a poem is in the
uniqueness of its color, its language,
its indigenous idiom. The poet him
self tells us
Who can translate the language of
tears?
Who can recast the language of
joy?
They must be heard in the
language that brought them
To life in the radiance of words.
“Only words with roots,” Aleph
Katz goes one, "can recount the
tale of joy and the dirge of woe.”
The poet is so rooted deep in Jew
ishness and in the tongue that has
been silenced by the unmentionables
that fifty years or more of living in
America have not alienated him
from the almond-and-raisin echo.
His theme is largely the meaning
of poetry and the urge to create.
Aleph’s range of symbolism is
All Types
Cutter Repairs
Roof Repairs
Sheet Metal Work
All work guaranteed.
REFERENCES FURNISHED
CALL
Lamar Harris
794-2593
amazing, finding perhaps its finest
expression in the poem "The Devil
and Feivel the Baker.” The baker
is not just a baker but the artist,
the poet, in the process of creation.
When the baker sees the dough
rising in majesty he is possessed by
pure joy and his heart rises high
and free and in prayer. The Devil
speaks derisively, cynically, of the
baker and his art in a devilish at
tempt to divert him from purpose,
but the fire of creation is upon the
baker and he will not yield, as if
he were laboring under divine de
cree.
In another poem, a ballad, Aleph
Katz in the wooch is so overpowered
by the distance of the blueness of
the sky above that he becomes "as
■nail and alone as a child.” Modesty
is a fitting virtue even to a poet
who has now authored eight books.
But in truth Aleph is not “alone” or
“small” except perhaps in the mom
ents when he is alone with his med
ium. He is truly possessed by a
rare, a divine, compulsion to create,
to reach out for meaning in his art
and the mystery that surrounds us
all.
Poets are trotfcled people, with a
cloud that is often imperceptible and
impenetrable to others. But in es
sence it is enough when the reader
merely surmises. Revelation is the
art of the prophet. The artists
throughout the ages have largely
been the most unrevealing of figures
in history.
Aleph Katz’ poetry is mystical
yet vivid, tinted with rare imagery
but in a mold mad a technique that
rank him among the masters of the
It has been said that art begins
when the artist has bridged that
gap with sagacity and a truly tniqaa
artform.
om0
W. &UnJ Ji CoJiat W.lc
to visit Atlanta?s OLDEST Genuine
Chinese & American Restaurant
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “The Very Best/”
26H CAIN ST, NJ5. JA. 1-41H
Half Block Bast of Henry Grady Hotel
• Authentic Cantonese Chinese Food
• Delicious American Food
Daily II AJL to U MI 8 slide ye IS NOON to 11 FJL
A BIG
BONUS EXTRA
FROM YOUR
NORGE VILLAGE
2153 NORTH DECATUR ROAD PHONE 634-9653
BETWEEN CLAIRMONT RD. & McDONALDS HAMBURGER
Time To Clean Blankets For Storage
SPECIAL!
During The Month Of April
BLANKETS
DRY-CLEANED
ONLY
ea.
also all garments dry-cleaned at your
LAUNDRY ANO CLEANING
\y i l_ i— a cm m
NORTH DECATUR PLAZA
Moth Proofed — Mildew Proofed
FREE!
St5 -Automatic! NOTHING EXTRA FOR YOU TO DO!
ALL GARMENTS - 8 LDS. DRY CLEANED - S2.00