And now we must create something firm in our hearts

[sovay]

My prose poem "On Two Streets, with Three Languages" has been accepted by Interfictions. It was written for S. An-sky, also known as Semyon Akimovich Ansky, born Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport. He is most famous for his play The Dybbuk or Between Two Worlds, staged for the first time in 1920 the month after its author's death; it was composed in Russian and premiered in Yiddish, both versions An-sky's. The title is taken from a statement he made about himself at a banquet in his honor in 1910: "A writer has a difficult fate, but a Jewish writer has an especially difficult fate. His soul is torn; he lives on two streets, with three languages." The third language is the one that interested me. In his life as in his work, An-sky is a weird, restless, liminal figure, and it's only relatively recently that I've been able to find as much biographical material about him as I would like. I can recommend Gabrielle Safran's Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk's Creator, S. An-sky (2010) and Nathaniel Deutsch's The Jewish Dark Continent: Life and Death in the Russian Pale of Settlement (2011).

Not in any way related except by ghosts: Roman skulls discovered on the banks of one of London's lost rivers. Yay, history.

Comments

[yhlee]

Yay poem!

[sovay]

Yay poem!

Thank you!

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Congratulations. A most excellent, intriguing title.

O my! River-polished skulls. And the little gilt votive phallus is rather sweet.

Nine

[negothick.livejournal.com]

From the 17th century plague cemetery: "they have found tiny nails from the decayed wood of several coffins which spell out initials and dates." This practice continued in 17th and early 18th century New England, as seen at the "vampire cemetery" in Griswold. It could have been the origin of the phrase "getting down to brass tacks."

[sovay]

Congratulations. A most excellent, intriguing title.

Thank you!

O my! River-polished skulls. And the little gilt votive phallus is rather sweet.

I love Roman phallic amulets. I kind of want some. (There are other things from the ancient world I want first.)

[gwynnega]

Congratulations!

[sovay]

Congratulations!

Thank you!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm always happy to get Not One of Us in the mail.

[sovay]

Yay! I'm always happy to get Not One of Us in the mail.

Oh, lucky. Mine has not yet arrived. Enjoy!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

To clarify, neither has mine! But I'm always happy when it does, and your (and lesser_celery's) post means I'll be getting a copy soon.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

The red layer and the rivers beneath continually fascinate me, so I'm very glad to see somebody stumbling over a skull-grove. Hail, Andraste, Vengeance-lady! I feel the brush of your black wings in darkness.;)

Congrats on the placement, meanwhile. That sounds amazing.

[sovay]

The red layer and the rivers beneath continually fascinate me, so I'm very glad to see somebody stumbling over a skull-grove. Hail, Andraste, Vengeance-lady! I feel the brush of your black wings in darkness.

Poem story anything seriously please now.

Congrats on the placement, meanwhile. That sounds amazing.

Thank you! I've wanted to write a poem called "An-sky's Dybbuk" since college, and this isn't it, but I think it was the right poem anyway.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad to see somebody stumbling over a skull-grove.

This needs to be said by a very affable, if someone unnerving, wyrd sister in some story somewhere.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

A sale! A sale! Huzzah! Up with prose poetry! Especially by you!

*hugs*

[sovay]

A sale! A sale! Huzzah! Up with prose poetry! Especially by you!

Thank you!

*hugs*

I am glad to see you here, even briefly. I miss your voice online. (I read Tumblr, but it's hard to converse with it.)