Friends, readers, musicians in search of lyrics! Forgive the descent into self-promotion, but I have just gotten word from University of Wisconsin Press that Proletpen, America's Rebel Yiddish Poets will be offered in its attractive hardcover edition at only $26.99, down from its earlier $45 (it can also be purchased electronically for $16.95). I translated the 100 poems in this volume while I was in graduate school, and edited it together with David Weintraub of the Dora Teitelboim Foundation. The book is bilingual. It also features woodcuts by the illustrator Dana Craft. The historical introduction is by Dovid Katz whose father, the poet Meynke Katz, features prominently in the volume. Most of the poems here are from the 1930s, and most of the poets were fellow travelers (if not members) of the CPUSA, which means that there are love songs here to Lenin and red flags. But there are also love songs to people, and sad songs about war and the unforgiving city landscape.
The sentiments in these poems range from political alignment with leaders like Julio Melo and Anna Pauker to vitriolic criticism of the Party. In the five years since the book came out, I have come to see them as emotional documents that give us the tiniest glimpse into the fury of a strange, and often forgotten, episode in American history.
I have a fantasy that a musician will pick up this volume and put together an indie rock album based on these poems. Klezmer would also do nicely.
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