LL-L "Satire" 2007.04.13 (05) [E]
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Fri Apr 13 22:40:52 UTC 2007
L O W L A N D S - L - 13 April 2007 - Volume 05
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From: Marcel Bas < marcelbas at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Demographics" 2007.04.12 (05) [E]
Hi Reinhard,
You wrote:
>Marcel, as you may have noticed, any age can do with a Till Ulenspeghel.
How can you tell you're dealing with one? Uul (owl) >stands for "clever,"
and the "speghel" (mirror) is held up for everyone to see him- or herself.
In secondary school my teacher told me that Till Eulenspiegel's 'surname'
derives from German (so she meant High German) 'eurer Spiegel'. But since
this character is so deeply 'verwurzelt' in the Lowlands and the 'L' has a
better origin here, I believe your explanation is more valid.
I really like it that you compare Borat with Tijl Uilenspiegel. The way he
makes fun of -- for example -- uninformed anti-islamic rodeo visitors (I
think that scene is the 'baddest' scene of the whole film) is simply great.
At the same time I feel embarrassed watching it, whereas *these* people are
supposed to feel like that, because they are unaware, and...
Anyway, this Sascha Baron Cohen just knows how to arouse so many mixed
feelings, and that is surely a fantastic job.
>Uncomfortable? Yep! That's the idea. And that doesn't only go for
Americans.
You're right. It also goes for Yankees, Southerners, Mid-Westerners and
West-Coast people! :P
Enjoy your weekend!
Marcel.
----------
From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com >
Subject: Satire
Yakshemash again, Marcel!
> In secondary school my teacher told me that Till Eulenspiegel's 'surname'
derives from German (so she meant High German) 'eurer Spiegel'.
Oh, sure! That's what you'd call "well-informed."
Actually, some people believe that the name is at least in part based on uul
d'n speygel ("wipe the behind," "mirror" being used for "arse" in some Low
Saxon and German dialects, much like "moon" is associated with it in English
-- so a bit like "shine the moon," if you will).
> I really like it that you compare Borat with Tijl Uilenspiegel.
OK, so he may seem to go a tad too far at times, and I would have preferred
it had he used a fictitious former Soviet republic (because I don't like
direct put-downs). But remember that some people need to get clubbed over
the head to get the meaning.
It is quite clear to me that Sacha Baron Cohen ...
1. has carefully thought out this character and has rehearsed his
persona so well that he carries off the lingo, mannerisms, mindset and
everything else very consistently and with great acting skill (often finding
it hard to come out of that character), and ...
2. not coincidentally follows in what from a Lowlands angle we might
want to call the "Ulenspeghel" tradition.
(By the way, before the movie, Borat was featured in the British TV shows by
Ali G., another one of Sacha's personae, and I find some of those skids even
better, though some of them would be too hardcore for US censors.)
I believe there is a definite Eurasian string of satirical traditions
between the Low Countries and China that may very well be linked and may in
fact include the medieval court jester tradition: pranksters that get away
with cutting social comments by cleverly satirizing while playing "dumb." I
can think of three prominent versions right now (apart from its traces in
Rhenish carnival traditions):
1. Till Ulenspeghel
(a.k.a. Dyl Ulenspegel, Thijl Uylenspeghel, etc.) tends to be
attributed to Middle Saxon tradition but has spread to other parts of the
Continental Lowlands and then came to be translated into German (Till
Eulenspiegel). The predominant hypothesis is that Ulenspeghel was born in
Brunswick in 1300 and died in Mölln in 1350, traveled through several
regions, not only throughout the Lowlands but also through Bohemia.
However, there is no proof that this person ever existed.
Example
(http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/fart.html#furrier<http://www.pitt.edu/%7Edash/fart.html#furrier>
):
It was mid winter when Till Eulenspiegel arrived at Ascherleben.
Times were hard, but finally he found a furrier who was willing to take on
an apprentice, and he was put to work sewing pelts. Not being accustomed to
the smell of the curing hides, he said, "Pew! Pew! You are as white as
chalk, but stink like dung!"
The furrier said, "If you don't like the smell, then why are you
a furrier's apprentice? It's a natural smell. It's only wool."
Eulenspiegel said nothing, but thought, "One bad thing can drive
another bad thing away." Then he let such a sour fart that the furrier and
his wife had to stop working.
The furrier said, "If you have to fart like that, then go out
into the courtyard. There you can fart as much as you like."
Eulenspiegel answered, "A fart is more natural and healthier than
the stench of your sheep pelts."
The furrier said, "Healthy or not, if you want to fart, then go
outside."
Eulenspiegel said, "Master, it would do no good, because farts
don't like the cold. They are used to being in a warm place. That's why if
you let a fart it always rushes for your nose. It goes from one warm place
to another."
The furrier said nothing, for he could see that Eulenspiegel knew
nothing of the furrier trade and was a rogue at that. And he sent him on his
way.
2. Hershele Ostropolyer
(a.k.a. Hershel of Ostropol), the Eastern Ashekenazi (Yiddish
language) equivalent of Ulenspeghel. He was particularly ruthless in his
treatment of the rich and influential, Jews and Christians alike. He is said
to be based on a real 19th-century Ukrainian character, but he may very well
be invented also. I don't doubt one bit that the Hershele Ostropolyer
tradition, which was particularly popular in the late 19th century, strongly
influenced the development of Ashkenazi satire, for instance the American
tradition that peaked in Jewish Vaudeville skids and left traces in
television shows such as The Seinfeld Show, also Euro-Israeli brands
such as that of Hungarian-born Ephraim Kishon.
Example (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/fart.html#furrier<http://www.pitt.edu/%7Edash/fart.html#furrier>
):
During the feast of Passover, Hershele once sat across from a self
absorbed rich man who made derogatory remarks about Hershele's eating
habits.
"What separates you from a pig, is what I'd like to know," the man
said derisively.
"The table," Hershele replied.
[My note: In the Yiddish version, "What separates ..." is is based on
a Hebrew phrase the youngest child must ask during the Seder ceremony: Mah
nishtanah halaylah hazeh mekhol haleylot? (מה נשתנה הלילה הזה מכל
הלילות?) 'What (separates =) distinguishes this night from all the
(other) nights?"]
3. Nasreddin
(Persian ملا نصرالدین, Arabic نصرالدين, Kurdish Melayê Meşûr,
Turkish Nasreddin
Hoca, Azeri Molla Nasredin, Turkmen Nasrettin Hoca, Uyghur, Uzbek (Molla)
Nasirdin (Hoja), etc.) is believed to be in part based upon a Sufi
that roamed about what is now Turkey, but we can't be sure if he was
Turkish, Central Asian or Persian. With his puzzling responses he angers
especially the supposedly wise and pious, and he seems to enjoy targeting
religious institutionalists that, from many a Sufi's point of view, have
gotten bogged down in status and tradition to the detriment of originality
springing from down-to-earth love. This tradition has spread throughout the
Islamic world and beyond. (The Uyghur tradition was adapted in
Chinaproper under the popularized name 毛拉
Maola.)
Example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin):
Nasreddin sat on a river bank when someone shouted to him from the
opposite side:
"Hey! how do I get across?"
"You are across!" Nasreddin shouted back.
So, yes, I think Borat is at least indirectly relevant to our focus.
Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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