Yiddish Policeman’s Union

[x_los]

For those who’ve not heard the premise, the book in question is set in an alternate reality in which, during World War II, Jewish refugees were offered a temporary home in the still-unincorporated Alaskan territory. Seward’s Folly would have served to amend the degree of the devastation of the Ashkenazi population. Also we can assume the federal stage is spared the political rise of Sarah Palin, but that’s beside the point. The seemingly far-fetched Jewlaska was, in its time, quite possible. There’s a salience and interest to the last sixty years rewritten, when we tend to teach history as a series of inevitable causalities rather than what it is: a coalescing of the possibilities of the present.

Like a steak of well-marbled beef, fatty veins of other historical divergences are suggested but not fully described. Delectable traceries slide off the edge of your slice into the imagined coherent, organic whole the piece in front of you suggests. A third Russian Republic, an independent Manchuria, and a bomb-blasted Berlin.

Chabon’s attempt to render the pattering flow of Yiddish in an English text is an act of necromancy. The brusque, restrained, sardonic cruelty of the language is rendered with an unsympathetic nostalgia for what was lost to Ben Yehuda and the long inter-Nicene struggle over forging a common tongue for young Israel. The Yiddish dialogue is lilting and recognizably different from both Chabon’s typical voice and that of the American characters speaking ‘American’—unfailingly the primarily Yiddish speaking characters describe English as the linguistic property of the United States. The recalled dybbuk of mama lochen, unromantic and far from motherly, is half the pleasure of the book.

Like many writers, Chabon’s body of work seems to circle a handful of thematic preoccupations. If your Chabon book does not contain at least two of the following: jews, homosexuals, gangsters; then you have picked up a Jane Austen novel by mistake. Read that, yes, but then come back to Chabon’s faygele gangster Lubavich.

There’s an interesting moment where a character, reckoning with her realization of her son’s homosexuality, tenderly traces the etymology of ‘faygele,’ which is both the Yiddish equivalent of ‘fag’ and an old-fashioned diminutive meaning Little Bird. For those interested in the evolution of the word, from slur to queer reclamation, this article is interesting: http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2006/2006-12/200612-JewishWord.html .

I enjoyed the middle-game of the book, when all was world-building and possibility, more than I did the end game. I don’t so much do police procedurals or spy dramas unless they’re character driven, and thankfully this was. The involvement of the American Special Forces was no more outlandish than the actual intersections between evangelical politics and support for the state of Israel. I haven’t any real problems with the book per se, but once upon a time I was promised by a friend that Chabon was earth-shattering, life-changing, and I have yet to feel as though my world’s been rocked by him. I enjoy him every time, and I found several instances very good indeed. The overall quality of his writing in both conceit and execution is irreproachable. But it’s not a new favorite of mine, and while I’d definitely read more of him I’m not racing to check out Wonder Boys or Kavalier and Clay.

Comments

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

If your Chabon book does not contain at least two of the following: jews, homosexuals, gangsters; then you have picked up a Jane Austen novel by mistake.

...Okay, so now I'm trying to imagine Austen writing about all three of those, and it's making me kind of dizzy.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Goys and Goyishness: a lost work.

"And another thing," Esther's voice rose over the lamentations of her mother, Mrs. Binglestein, who from the kitchen was loudly ruing that she should have such a daughter, who would give up a position as the rebbetzin of that mensch Rebbe Collinschneider, "I think that Mr. Darcy moving in with Mr. Bingley's highly suspicious. I mean, that he should spend all his time there? Perhaps he's a bit of a faygele." Esther twitched the half-finished scarf on her knitting-needles in a bird-like gesticulation, to demonstrate her opinion on the likeliness of a man who would so snub a dance with her being heterosexual.

"Oy, Esther," her friend Batsheba Gold-Lukas sighed commisseratingly. She pulled an envelope with a broken seal from her bosom. "We're engaged in ton for the length of the next fortnight, anyway. The Rothschilds want us to put some muscle on Isaac D'Israeli. Apparently he plans to include some anecdotes in his next Curiosities of Literature that the family would rather remain unpublicised."

Esther cocked a knitting needle like Madame Defarge on a day out. She would duel a fucker as soon as compliment him on the harmonious arrangements of his very pleasant daughter's bat mitzvah.

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

*DIES*

ILU.

...Especially because the "anecdotes" bit reminds me of the plot of "Jeeves Takes Charge" so it's EVEN MORE of a brainmelt.

How are you so awesome? Seriously! I want to know!

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Jane Austen makes everything better. That's why zombie P&P is going to be great: think of something Austen /wouldn't/ improve.

And I still think the five era Who/Jooster crossover of dreams needs written, dammit, I just haven't had the time. How's thigh-high silver boots coming along?

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

...Okay, I can't think of anything, but you've just given me crossover bunnies ranging from Doctor Who to The Muppets to A Fish Called Wanda. Dammit. *swats bunnies*

I want that Who/Jooster crossover SO BAD, you have no idea.

How's thigh-high silver boots coming along?

I love that that's the way you remember it. XD

Um, it's doing my usual WIP thing of wanting to be massively, massively long and complicated, so that's frustrating, but it's still very fun. I was writing a school era flashback scene today in which young!Verity and young!Pi get a care package from Earth for Verity, put together as a sort of publicity stunt where people were asked to donate copies of their favorite books and movies & etc. Thus, Pi's first exposure to Earth culture includes the complete run of Doctor Who, as well as a copy of The Sheik, among other things.

The consequences, obviously, are dire.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

See? See?! Everything. Better. Jane Austen would be such a could companion. Probably for three, five, six or his name-droppingness eight.

I want it too, but writing Jooster intimidates me? Baring some recent weirdness that I see you've noted too, the quality bar for than fandom's generally rather high, and the style's, at least at first glance, very challenging: I can't imagine it being easy.

That's totally the working title, right? re: boots? Of course it is.

Having done some wiki0ing re: the Sheik, aha. Ahahaha. Ha. Is the film any fun, do you know, or more pre-feminist historical curiosity than rollicking good time?

And I am seriously jazzed to read this whenever. :)

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

hangingfire keeps talking about writing "Ten Companions the Doctor Should Have Had" (including Jeeves & Wooster, with Four). I don't think she's got anyone for Eight, so far: I shall bring this to her attention, forthwith.

Ah! But, see, I have betaed a lot of Jooster in my day! I am, like, the Jooster beta maven! If you write it, I will be SO THERE, if needed. And while I'm not saying it's easy, necessarily, I am more than confident you can do it. I mean, ffs, you just did Jewish!gangster!queer!Jane Austen. It's not that hard, stylistically.

Yes. Naturally that's the title. *snerk*

Um, the movie is...interesting? I mean, Valentino inspired vast seas of women to sigh and/or attempt suicide when he died: it wasn't for nothing. And there is lolarity to be found. I actually own a copy of the novel, too: it is kind of fascinating, because it reads like

1. First 30 pages or so: spunky young woman sets out into mysterious desert land to have adventures!
2. Rapeity rape rape. Either triggery or hot, depending on where you're standing. With bonus racism!
3. Textbook Stockholm Syndrome. Really. It's more like the author's examining pathology than anything romantic.
4. Lame-ass Harlequin romance plot finally shows up, and we find out that Stockholm Syndrome is a GOOD thing. Also, extra bonus racism!

I was pretty much O_O the entire way through both the movie and the book, so.

And thank you. I'll let you know how stuff progresses.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Oh she totally should write that, it'd be lovely!

And I'll send it to none other, should I get 'round. :)

Ooooh man. the social justice seminar I'm co-running totally needed more films for discussion, and thank you so much for providing what is clearly Relevant To My Interests. The feminist issues! The Islam and Arabic Issues! THE LULZ! Bet there's good articles re: the film too.

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

Also, do you mind if I link to this?

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Go nuts. :)

[prettyarbitrary.livejournal.com]

*hands you an internet* Clearly you will put it to better use than the rest of us.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Ha, thx, glad you liked. :)

[aralias.livejournal.com]

nice austen parody - but i enjoyed the set up more. the silliness of 'read that,yes'. good stuff.

also wonder boys the book is like wonder boys the film only with 50% less awesome and 100% more snake.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Wait, what snake?

[aralias.livejournal.com]

i don't know - a snake. grady's wife's... rleative owns a snake. it's there. there'sa snake.

Why does this get the My Pretty Patronus icon?

[x-los.livejournal.com]

I feel reassured of the herpatological content of the work in question. And I still need to see that film.

Snakes are a bit like Dementors?

[aralias.livejournal.com]

i don't know. why did you get legolas earlier? i thought i'd celebrate you actually writing a post with some of my more obscure icons.

Snakes /are/ a bit like dementors, it's true.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

I would hate to deprive you of a chance to air out the less fortunate.

[mister-duster.livejournal.com]

If you get the chance, take a look at Werewolves in their Youth. I don't call it earth shattering, but it's a good read and many of the stories are structural masterpieces.

Miss talking to you, my friend.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Oh, but you know how I feel about short stories. :/

Sam, Sam, my tender button, how be-est thou?