Robert Elsie
An Anthology of Sorbian Poetry
Translated from Albanian by Robert Elsie
UNESCO Collection of Representative Works
European Series
ISBN 0-948259-72-8
Forest Books, London & Boston 1990
84 pp.
INTRODUCTION
The very existence of the Sorbs, a
Slavic minority in Germany, may be a surprise to many. After
coping bravely with the difference between Slovakia, Slovenia
and Slavonia, the English-speaking reader might be forgiven initially
for thinking, or hoping, that Sorbian is simply a misspelling
for Serbian.
The Sorbs, also known as Lusatian Sorbs
or Wends, are descendants of Western Slavic tribes which took
possession of the territory known as Lusatia by the end of the
5th century A.D., now in the southeastern part of the German
Democratic Republic. Although soon separated from other Slavic
speakers, the Poles and Czechs, by successive waves of Germanic
conquerors during the Middle Ages, the Sorbs managed to resist
assimilation and retain their cultural identity. They have clung
tenaciously to their language and culture over the centuries
in spite of long periods of oppression, not least during the
Third Reich. Since 1948, the Sorbs have enjoyed official status
as a national minority in the GDR and can use their language
freely in all walks of life where numbers warrant.
No reliable statistics are available
as to the number of Sorbian speakers today and their distribution.
The traditional figure is 100,000. It is estimated, however,
that only about 30,000 people are able to use the language, virtually
all of whom speak German too. Indeed, one of the results of long
years of bilingualism among the Sorbs has been that Sorbian no
longer serves as an essential language of communication in the
region. As in Ireland, Wales and Brittany, where a language is
no longer needed as a means of practical communication, it begins
to die out, irrespective of the strong cultural and emotional
attachment speakers may have and despite official backing.
Sorbian is spoken in a number of regional
variants, having crystallized into two related literary languages:
Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian, which are, given a bit of effort
and good will, quite mutually intelligible. Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbscina)
is spoken by large sections of the rural population of Upper
Lusatia northeast of Dresden between the towns of Bautzen (Budysin),
Hoyerswerda (Wojerecy) and Kamenz (Kamjenc). Although
towns such as Bautzen are officially bilingual, very little Sorbian
is to be heard there nowadays. The language is best preserved
in the countryside, in particular in the so-called Catholic villages
west of Bautzen which, perhaps due to their traditional isolation
within a predominantly Protestant region, have held more faithfully
to their traditions.
Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski) is
spoken in the marshy Spree Forest of Lower Lusatia around the
town of Cottbus (Chosebuz), about one hundred kilometres
southeast of Berlin. It is used by far fewer people than Upper
Sorbian and seems to be well on the road to extinction.
Together with Czech, Slovak, Polish,
Kashubian and the now extinct Polabian language, Sorbian constitutes
part of the Western group of Slavic languages. Upper and Lower
Sorbian form an indisputable linguistic entity, although whether
this entity comprises one language or two is a matter of contention.
Some authors refer to one Sorbian language with two standardized
variants while others prefer to speak of two Sorbian languages.
Upper Sorbian, with stress on the initial syllable and with h
for Common Slavic g, appears to be closer to Czech, as
one might expect from its geographical position, whereas Lower
Sorbian has several features in common with Polish. Cut off as
it is from the other Slavic languages by areas of German settlement
to the east and south of Lusatia, Sorbian has not gone without
a strong German influence, not only in vocabulary but also in
phonology and syntax. On the other hand, it has retained a number
of archaic features which have long since disappeared in most
other Slavic languages, e.g. the presence, in addition to singular
and plural, of a dual number for nouns, pronouns, adjectives
and verbs, a feature found otherwise only in Slovenian, and preservation
of the aorist and imperfect tenses of the verb.
The earliest substantial records of the
Sorbian language date from the 16th century. Among them are the
so-called Bautzen burgher's oath of 1532 and a translation of
the New Testament into Lower Sorbian by Mikawus Jakubica in 1548.
The first Sorbian book to be printed was a Lower Sorbian translation
of a catechism and book of hymns by Albin Moller in 1574. Most
early Sorbian literature consists indeed of religious works inspired
by the Reformation which created a need for church texts in the
vernacular.
A landmark in the history of Sorbian literature was the founding
in 1706 of the Catholic Serbski seminar or Sorbian Seminary
in Prague, and in 1716 of the Protestant Serbske Predarske
Towarstwo or Sorbian Preachers' Society in Leipzig. The latter
in particular, in addition to training Sorbian students for the
ministry, played a major role in the teaching of Sorbian and
the advancement of Sorbian letters.
The Romantic movement of the nineteenth
century brought to the Sorbs, as to many other smaller peoples
of Europe, a national awakening and an awareness of their own
particular culture. The Sorbs discovered themselves as a small
Slavic island in a Germanic sea. Popular verse and traditions
were studied and recorded, fostering literary verse and, to a
lesser extent, prose. Poets such as Handrij Zejler, Jan Radyserb-Wjela
and Jakub Bart-Cisinski and scholars such as Jan Arnost Smoler,
Jan Petr Jordan and Michal Hornik laid the foundations of intellectual
life for a largely uneducated, conservative peasantry and stimulated
the advancement of a national culture which in the 20th century
was then able to survive the decimation of the First World War
and the stifling oppression of the 'Aryan' dictatorship during
the Third Reich.
Sorbian literature flourished in its
modest way and has made a substantial contribution to the mosaic
of European culture, a tiny and unique voice in a great choir.
It has maintained its momentum to the present day and will no
doubt accompany the Sorbian language to its inevitable end.
The present anthology , the first of
its kind in English, is designed as an introductory survey of
Sorbian verse from its beginnings in the 16th century to the
present day. The translations are interlinear as far as possible.
The Hebrew poet Chaim Nachmann Bialik (1873-1934), an anthologist
and translator himself, once observed that reading poetry in
translation is like kissing the bride through a veil. Two examples
of the original Sorbian texts have been included in this volume
for those who want and can handle the real thing, not only for
the negligible number of Sorabists and Sorbian emigrants, but
also for students and speakers of other Slavic languages who
should be able to approach the original directly. A bibliography
has also been included at the end of the work as a guide for
those wishing to pursue the study of Sorbian language and literature
further. Gerald Stone's book, The Smallest Slavonic Nation,
constitutes an excellent introduction to the Sorbs in English.
Otherwise, a knowledge of German at least is essential. I should
like in conclusion to thank all those who assisted me in various
and sundry ways with this project and to hope that the present
volume will contribute to an awakening of interest in this field.
Robert
Elsie
Olzheim/Eifel, West Germany, 1988
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- ANONYMOUS
The Bautzen burgher's oath
(Der Burger Eydt Wendisch)
- JURIJ LUDOVICI
Panegyric for Michal Frencel
(Panegyric za Michal Frencel)
- T.K.
The peasant lad from the Sorbian countryside
(Burski golc z tego serbskeg landu)
- JURIJ MJEN
Power and praise of the Sorbian language in a noble hymn
(Serbskeje rece zamorenje a chwalba we recerskim kerlisu)
- JURIJ RAK
Longing for immortality
(Zedzenje za njesmjertnoscu)
- KITO FRYCO STEMPEL
The fables of Phaedrus exalt their virtues
(Fedrusowe fable se psigranjaju)
- HANDRIJ ZEJLER
Beautiful Lusatia
(Rjana Luzica)
The faithless lover
(Njeswerny luby)
- JAN RADYSERB_WJELA
A neck for a neck
(Siju za siju)
- MATO KOSYK
The imprisoned songbird
(Popajzony spewarik)
- JAKUB BART-CISINSKI
My Sorbian confession (excerpt)
(Moje serbske wuznace)
Keep up with the times!
(Lecce z casom!)
Charlemagne preaches to the Sorbs
(Karla Serbam preduje)
Appeal
(Prostwa)
- OTA WICAZ
Gyrinus natator (Whirligig beetle)
(Gyrinus natator)
Help me
(Po pomocy)
- JANK SKALA
In vain
(Podarmo)
Night passes... day fades...
(Noc hasa... dzen hinje...)
- JAN LAJNERT
Anguish
(Tysnosc)
Coincidence
(Pripad)
- MINA WITKOJC
Song of the Sorbian people (excerpt)
(Pesen serbskeje narodnosci)
The butterfly
(Mjatel)
- JURIJ BREZAN
Promise made in 1948
(Lubjenje z leta 1948)
How I found my fatherland
(Kak wotcinu namakach)
My little plan
(Moj maly plan)
- JURIJ CHEZKA
Green Z
(Zelene Zet)
Sorbian song
(Serbowske hrono)
Memento
(Memento)
Fantasy
(Fantazija)
- JURIJ MLYNK
My aim
(Moj zamer)
- KITO LORENC
What the tiled stove is
(Stoz su te kachle)
Thoughts under a wooden roof
(Mysle pod drjewajanej treche)
Painting Easter eggs
(Woskowac jutrowne jejka)
Homage to Handrij Zejler
(Holdowanje za Handrija Zejlerja)
Epitaph for Johannes Bobrowski
(Epitaf za Johannesa Bobrowskeho)
- Bibliography
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