A must read story from today's Wall Street Journal about the commemoration of 150 years after Sholem Aeichem birth.
In this polyglot, unstable and government-censored literature, pseudonyms were also the norm. Once Sholem moved decisively from Hebrew to Yiddish and began to develop his brand of literary humor, he morphed his proper name into a common term of greeting, the equivalent of "Hello there" or "How do you do?"
"Sholem Aleichem," the phrase that welcomes angels into the home on Sabbath eve or salutes an old friend on the street, suggested that this was a writer for all occasions: one who drew so freely on Yiddish folk expressions that his writing would be called "the living essence of the folk itself." In imitation of his art, many Jews began sounding like the monologists of his fiction.
[link to the story]
"Sholem Aleichem," the phrase that welcomes angels into the home on Sabbath eve or salutes an old friend on the street, suggested that this was a writer for all occasions: one who drew so freely on Yiddish folk expressions that his writing would be called "the living essence of the folk itself." In imitation of his art, many Jews began sounding like the monologists of his fiction.
[link to the story]
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