Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel
 The 2008 translation book cover | |
| Author | Sholem Aleichem |
|---|---|
| Published | 1888 |
| Media type | |
Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel (Yiddish: סטעמפּעניו אַ ייִדישער ראָמאַן Stempenyu, A Yidisher Roman) is an 1888 Yiddish language novel by Sholem Aleichem based loosely on the life of klezmer violinist Stempenyu. It his first novel and remained one of his most popular; it was reprinted multiple times and adapted into various stage and film versions, including a play with music composed by Joseph Achron and one adapted by Sholem Aleichem himself for Boris Thomashefsky's theatre.[1][2][3]
The novel says that name of the title character comes from nickname of his father, Stempener, after the village of Stempeni "not far from Mazepevke", from which his father Berl hailed.[4]
The novel is dedicated to Mendele Mocher Sforim to whom the author wrote a letter with the dedication, addressing to Mendele "dear grandfather".
The novel was adapted in 1905 as the play Jewish Daughters (Yidishe Tekhter). Although the play had been performed in England before, its first-ever English-language production (as opposed to Yiddish) didn't take place until March 2025, which was a student production in the ADC theatre in the University of Cambridge.[5][6][7][8]
It is one of the three Sholem Aleichem's novels about artists, the other two being Yosele Solovey and Wandering Stars.[9]
Plot
Stempenyu is an exceptionally talented itinerant klezmer violinist who seduces a woman in every town he visits. In one town, while playing at a wedding, he is attracted to one of the guests, Rachel, a talented singer. She, discontented with her marriage to the boring Moyshe-Mendl, finds herself drawn in by Stempenyu's music, who likewise finds his love for her an escape from his jealous and miserly wife Freydl. Stempenyu sends Rachel an almost illiterate love letter; she agrees to meet him, ostensibly to chide him for writing it but also because she is fascinated by him. However, a vision of her friend Chaya-Etel, who had been married against her will and then died, appears and she flees. She and her husband move to a different town, where they have a child and he becomes a successful businessman; Stempenyu and Freydl remain unhappily married and childless, though she also becomes a successful shopkeeper.
References
- ^ Adler, Cyrus; Singer, Isidore (1901). The Jewish encyclopedia: a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day. Funk and Wagnalls. p. 302. hdl:2027/mdp.39015064245429.
- ^ Walden, Joshua S. (2014). "The 'Yidishe Paganini': Sholem Aleichem's "Stempenyu", the Music of Yiddish Theatre and the Character of the "Shtetl" Fiddler". Journal of the Royal Musical Association. 139 (1): 89–136. doi:10.1080/02690403.2014.886428. ISSN 0269-0403. JSTOR 43303359. S2CID 162236197.
- ^ Gittleman, Sol (2018). "II. The Poet of the People". Sholom Aleichem: A Non-Critical Introduction. Boston: De Gruyter. p. 46. doi:10.1515/9783110888850-003. ISBN 9783110888850.
- ^ “My First Jewish Novel, Stempenyu” — Sholem Aleichem, translated by Daniel Kennedy, published on June 16, 2016.
- ^ "Stempenyu!". Camdram. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ https://thetab.com/2025/03/15/review-stempenyu}}
- ^ "STEMPENYU BY SHALOM ALEICHEM - AT THE ADC". THE CAMBRIDGE CRITIQUE. 2025-03-13. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
- ^ "Behind the scenes of Stempenyu!: A Tale of Joyous Theatre Making". The Cambridge Student. Retrieved 2025-04-08.
- ^ Anita Norich, Portraits of the Artist in Three Novels by Sholem Aleichem, Prooftexts, Vol. 4, No. 3 (SEPTEMBER 1984), pp. 237-251 , JSTOR 20689097
- Freedman, Jonathan (2008). Klezmer America: Jewishness, ethnicity, modernity. Columbia University Press. pp. 76–79. ISBN 9780231142786.
- Frieden, Ken (1995). "Stempenyu". Classic Yiddish fiction: Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz. SUNY Press. pp. 144–148. ISBN 9780791426012.
External links
- Original edition of Stempenyu (in Yiddish) on HathiTrust