%0 Journal Article
%T “Fartaytsht un farbesert”: Wolf Biermann and Yitskhok Katsenelson’s Dos lid funem oysgehargetn yidishn folk
%A Sitarz, Magdalena
%A Pawelec, Andrzej
%J Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
%V 2015
%R 10.4467/20843933ST.15.004.4095
%N Volume 10, Issue 1
%P 37-44
%K Yiddish poetry, translation, Katsenelson, Biermann, Dos lid funem oysgehargetn yidishn folk.
%@ 1897-3035
%D 2015
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-litteraria-uic/article/fartaytsht-un-farbesert-wolf-biermann-and-yitskhok-katsenelsons-dos-lid-funem-oysgehargetn-yidishn-folk
%X 
	In this essay we offer a preliminary discussion of Biermann’s phenomenally successful rendering of Katsenelson’s elegy. First, we place Biermann’s attempt in a wider historical and biographical context to throw some light on his motivation to grapple with the text written in a language he did not know (Yiddish) and thus was forced to rely on a literal version provided by a native speaker. Second, we provide some examples from the work in question of Biermann’s more general attitude to translation, as epitomized by the Yiddish phrase he likes to quote: ‘fartaytsht un farbesert’ (translated and improved). We conclude that Biermann’s adaptation should be assessed first of all as an act of cross-cultural communication rather than according to the criteria of strictly textual equivalence.