TRANSLATING MINORITY: Yiddish Deviance in Translation

Historically speaking, both the Jewish body, and the Jewish tongue, Yiddish, were long perceived as improper, impure, and even deviant. How was deviant sexuality formulated in a language itself deemed deviant? One central avenue was translating works dominant European sexology into Yiddish, as well as incorporating their sexological discourse into original Yiddish works. While there is no original Yiddish work dedicated entirely or explicitly to sexual deviance, the language and themes of deviance (such as homosexuality, sadomasochism, or bestiality), are woven throughout, and often translated into the text from the most prominent sources. This essay will focus on two rather rare chapters that do explicitly address “unusual” sex, both by Dr. Leonard Landis, published in New York in the early twentieth century. In both chapters, Landis engages in different ways with the work of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, blurring the lines between original and translation. Uncovering Landis’ translational practice, the essay will explore the centrality of translation both to the discourse of sexology and to the legacy of Yiddish.