L.L.ZAMENHOF

L. L. Zamenhof

  Lazar Ludwik Zamenhof  born Eliezer Levi Samenhof, December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was an ophthalmologist, philologist, and the inventor of Esperanto, a constructed language designed for international communication. Zamenhof was born on December 15 (December 3 OS), 1859 in the town of Białystok in the Russian Empire (now part of Poland). He considered his native language to be his father's Russian[1] (or perhaps Belarusian, which was not considered distinct from Russian at the time and which appears to have had a strong influence on Esperanto phonology), but he also spoke his mother's Yiddish natively;[2] as he grew older, he spoke more Polish, and that became the native language of his children. His father was a teacher of German, and he also spoke that language fluently, though not as comfortably as Yiddish. Later he learned French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and English, and had an interest in Italian, Spanish and Lithuanian. In addition to the Yiddish-speaking Jewish majority, the population of Białystok was made up of three other ethnic groups: Poles, Germans, and Belarusians. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels between these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in mutual misunderstanding, caused by the lack of one common language that would play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.

As a student at secondary school in Warsaw, Zamenhof made attempts to create some kind of international language with a grammar that was very rich, but also very complex. When he later studied English, he decided that the international language must have a simpler grammar. Apart from his parents' native languages Russian and Yiddish and his adopted language Polish, his lingustics attempts were also aided by his mastering of German, a good passive understanding of Latin, Hebrew and French, and a basic knowledge of Greek, English and Italian. By 1878, his project Lingwe uniwersala was almost finished. However, Zamenhof was too young then to publish his work. Soon after graduation from school he began to study medicine, first in Moscow, and later in Warsaw. In 1885, Zamenhof graduated from a university and began his practice as a doctor in Veisiejai and after 1886 as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. While healing people there he continued to work on his project of an international language.

For two years he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language until he received the financial help from his future wife's father. In 1887, the book titled as "Lingvo internacia. Antaŭparolo kaj plena lernolibro" (International Language. Foreword And Complete Textbook) was published under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto," or "Doctor Hopeful," from which the name of the language derives. For Zamenhof this language, far from being merely a communication tool, was a way of promoting the peaceful coexistence of different people and cultures. In 1879, Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language, which he published in part years later in the Yiddish magazine "Lebn un visnshaft"[4]. The complete original Russian text of this manuscript with parallel Esperanto translation was only published in 1982 (translated by Adolf Holzhaus in L. Zamenhof, provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo, Helsinki, p. 9-36). In this work, not only does he provide a review of Yiddish grammar, but also proposes its transition to the Latin script and other orthographic innovations. In the same period, Zamenhof wrote some other works in Yiddish, including perhaps the first survey of Yiddish poetics (see p. 50 in the above-cited book). In 1882, a wave of pogroms in the Russian empire motivated Zamenhof to take part in the early Zionist movement, the Hibbat Zion.[5] He left the movement in 1887, and in 1901 published a statement in Russian with the title Hillelism, in which he argued that the Zionist project could not solve the problems of the Jewish people. In 1914, he politely declined an invitation to join a new organization of Jewish Esperantists, the TEHA. In his letter to the organizers, he said: "I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples -- as a natural self-defensive reaction -- is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other..."Among the many works Zamenhof translated into Esperanto is the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Zamenhof died in Warsaw on April 14, 1917, and is buried in the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery in that city. Zamenhof's grave at Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland.

Besides his linguistic work, Zamenhof published a religious philosophy he called Homaranismo (loosely translated as humanitarianism), based on the principles and teachings of Hillel the Elder. Zamenhof and his wife Klara raised three children: a son, Adam, and two daughters, Sofia and Lidia. All three were murdered in the Holocaust.

Lidia Zamenhof in particular took a keen interest in Esperanto, and as an adult became a teacher of the language, traveling through Europe and to America to teach classes in it. Through her friendship with Martha Root, Lidia accepted Bahá’u’lláh and became a member of the Bahá’í faith. As one of its social principles, the Bahá’í faith teaches that an auxiliary world language should be selected by the representatives of all the world's nations. Zamenhof's parents gave him the Hebrew name Eliezer, which appeared on his birth certificate in its Yiddish form Leyzer. In his adolescence he used both Leyzer and the Russian equivalent Lazar (the form Lazarus is often used in English texts). In some Russian documents Lazar was followed by the patronymic Markovich. While at university, Zamenhof began using the Russian name Lyudovik (often transcribed Ludovic; Polish Ludwik; in English the form Ludwig is also used) in place of Lazar. When his brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof",Lyudovik reclaimed his birth name Lazar and from 1901 signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof". The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either name, and the order Ludovic Lazarus is a modern convention. Zamenhof may have chosen the name Lyudovik in honor of Francis Lodwick (or Lodowyck), who in 1652 had published an early conlang proposal.His family name was written Samenhof in German orthography; Zamenhof is an Esperantized spelling. In 1910, Zamenhof was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, by four British Members of Parliament (including James O'Grady, Philip Snowden) and Professor Stanley Lane Poole. (The Prize was instead awarded to the International Peace Bureau.) The minor planet (1462) Zamenhof is named in his honor. It was discovered on February 6, 1938 by Yrjö Väisälä. Also, hundreds of city streets, parks, and bridges worldwide have been named after Zamenhof. In Lithuania, the best-known Zamenhof Street is in Kaunas, where he lived and owned a house for some time. There are others in France, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain (mostly in Catalonia), Italy, Israel, and Brazil. There are Zamenhof Hills in Hungary and Brazil, and a Zamenhof Island in the Danube River.Eliezer Zamenhof street in Tel Aviv with the street sign in Hebrew as well as Esperanto (written in Latin characters) it states he is the creator of the international language Esperanto. In some Israeli cities, street signs identify Esperanto's creator and give his birth and death dates, but refer to him solely by his Jewish name Eliezer (a variant of which, El'azar, is the origin of Lazarus). Zamenhof is honored as a deity by the Japanese religion Oomoto, which encourages the use of Esperanto among its followers. Also, a genus of lichen has been named Zamenhofia rosei in his honour.His birthday, December 15, is celebrated annually as Zamenhof Day by users of Esperanto. On December 15, 2009, Esperanto's green-starred flag flew on the Google search web page, in a commemorative Google Doodle to mark Zamenhof's 150th birthday. The house of the Zamenhof family, monument dedicated to Ludwik Zamenhof and Bialystok Esperanto Centre are sites of Jewish Heritage Trail in Bialystok which was opened in June 2008 by volunteers at The University of Bialystok Foundation[14]. Those sites are also marked on Bialystok Trail of esperanto and many cultures which was opened in June 2009 by Landbrand company.In the mystery novel "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," by Michael Chabon, the hotel where Detective Landsman lives is called the Zamenhof.

 

 

BERTILO WENNERGREN

Bertilo Wennergren

 Bertilo Wennergren [VEN-er-gren] (Swedish: Bertil Wennergren), born 4 October 1956, is a Swedish Esperantist currently living in Seoul, South Korea. He spends part of each year in the village of Schossin in northern Germany. Having spoken Esperanto since 1980, he became a member of the Esperanto Academy in 2001 and holds the post of director of the Academy's General Dictionary section. He is author of the books Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko (Complete Manual of Esperanto Grammar) and Landoj kaj lingvoj de la mondo (Lands and Languages of the World). He is also the author of a Swedish-language book to teach Esperanto. Wennergren was a member of the Amplifiki band, and is now a member of Persone. In 2002 he married the Esperantist Birke Dockhorn. On December 19, 2006 the journal La Ondo de Esperanto named him as Esperantist of the Year for 2006 in recognition of his Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko.

GASTON WARINGHIEN

Gaston Waringhien

 aston Waringhein (July 20, 1901 - December 20, 1991) was a French linguist, lexicographer, and Esperantist. He wrote poems as well as essays and books on linguistics. He was chairman of the Akademio de Esperanto.

 Books

Plena Vortaro (1930)

Plena Ilustrita Vortaro (1970)

 Other works

Parnasa gvidlibro (with Kálmán Kalocsay, 1932)

Kontribuo al poemkolekto Dekdu Poetoj, 1934

Plena (analiza) gramatiko (with Kálmán Kalocsay, 1935, 1938, 1981)

Facilaj esperantaj legajhoj (redaction, 1935)

Maximes de La Rochefoucauld (translation, 1935)

Leteroj de L.L.Zamenhof (redaction, 1948)

Poemoj de Omar Kajam (translation, 1953)

Eseoj I: Beletro (1956)

La floroj de l' malbono ("Les fleurs du mal" (The flowers of evil) by Charles Baudelaire, translator and redactor, 1957)

Kantoj kaj romancoj (translation with Kálmán Kalocsay)

La trofeoj (translation 1977)

Tra la parko de la franca poezio: La renesanca periodo / La klasika periodo (translations, 1977/1980)

La ĥimeroj (translations, 1976)

Lingvo kaj vivo (essays, 1969)

Ni kaj ĝi (essays, 1972)

1887 kaj la sekvo (essays, 1980)

Kaj la ceter' - nur literaturo (essays, 1983)

Duonvoĉe (original poems, 1939 and 1963)

VLADIMI VARANKIN

Vladimir Varankin

 Vladimir Valentinovich Varankin (12 November 1902 – 3 October 1938) was a Russian writer of literature in Esperanto, an instructor of western European history, and director of the Moscow Ped. Instituto for foreign languages. He wrote the novel Metropoliteno. Varankin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, in an office worker's family. His father Valentin Jegorovich Varankin (died 1921), managed a savings bank until he was recruited into the Red Army. Varankin's mother, Nina Aleksejevna (died 1953), was a librarian. Besides Vladimir, the family had two other sons: Jurij (born 1906, died 1988) and Vjacheslav (born 1916), who was still alive several years ago. During his last year of study at the city high school (1919), he began learning Esperanto with several friends, boys and girls. Together with his equally young friends, he soon founded a little city circle of young Esperantists, which later transformed into the provincial (gubernia) circle. Both in the city and in the gubernia that union carried out an active program: in less than a year the union managed to organize six courses of Esperanto in the city itself, forty cells and little circles in the whole gubernia, and in addition, in several places, (with the help of local Esperanto instructors) even to teach the international language in the schools. For one or two years he and his friends vastly developed their Esperanto activity. Starting then he began active, energetic, impetuous activity. Besides little circles, courses, and cells, he organized promotional spectaculars and put on sketches, whose text he wrote himself, or translated, or took from pre-revolutionary Esperanto reviews (for example, from La Ondo de Esperanto ~The Esperanto Wave). He himself began to publish a newspaper Ruĝa Esperantisto ~Red Esperantist. In this newspaper (under the pseudonym Vol-Volanto ~Want-Wanter) the twenty-year-old Varankin published his verses and the verses of his friends, articles, translations, announcements, survey results, and also calls to the national and foreign Esperanto community to help the hungry in the young soviet republic. However, at that time he wrote in an Esperanto that was full of errors and very russesque.

In 1920 with several friends he even attempted to organize in Nizhny Novgorod the third PanRussian Esperantist Convention, but that failed because chaos and the difficult economic situation in the country did not yet permit organizing the arrangements. The convention came about one year later in Petrograd, and at the convention they founded Sovetlanda (later, sovetrespublikara) Esperantista Unio; young Vladimir Varankin was elected as a member of its central committee. After school young Vladimir worked for some time in an electric energy organization. But soon he enrolled in a cavalry school and served there as a political collaborator. At the same time he was a librarian and club director. In the autumn of 1922 he moved with the cavalry school to Tver and immediately began to work actively for Esperanto. He progressed rapidly also within SEU. At the I-st SEU Convention (1923, Moscow) Varankin was elected a member of the managing board of the convention and reelected as a member of the central committee. At the end of 1925 the newspaper Mejxdunarodnyj Jazyk (~International Language) began to publish a series of his lessons and methods for the advertising of Esperanto, which continued through all of 1926. Among other things he put the main emphasis not just on advertising but on practical usage. The central committee of the SEU commissioned him to lead the publicity effort. At the end of 1927 he moved to Moscow, after the nineteenth UK (World Convention of Esperanto) in Danzig. Among other things, the German veteran Esperantist Konstantin Behnert, who knew Varankin in Tver, tells that after the Danzig UK Varankin visited Germany without permission and later incautiously mentioned that - with the result that he had to report monthly to register with the police. In 1929 he wrote the textbook Teorio de Esperanto (~Theory of Esperanto) and a year later also the textbook Esperanto por laboristoj (~Esperanto for Workers). Vladimir Varankin was elected from the beginning a member of the board of secretaries, later director of the organizational department, vice president and finally general secretary of the All-Russia committee of SEU. He became a full fledged member of the Language commission at SEU and member of the Language committee at the Akademio de Esperanto (~Academy of Esperanto). In 1932 in Nova Etapo (~New Stage) the appeared several chapters from Metropoliteno under the title Barikadoj (~barricades). Meanwhile he completed his course at the faculty of social sciences at the Moscow State University the Institute of Foreign Affairs and became director of the Technical College of Foreign Languages, where he also taught history. During the night of 7 February 1938 — 8 February 1938 Varankin was arrested. They condemned him as an active member of Union Center, which never existed; he was accused with spying and sabotage, anti-soviet propaganda, plotting to murder Stalin and the like. In April 1989 the Procurator's Office of the Soviet Union officially released the following information: Vladimir Valentinovich Varankin, born in 1902 in Nizhny Novgorod, member of the Communist Party since 1925, expelled from it because of a criminal accusation, director before the arrest of the 2nd Moscow Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, was sentenced by the Military college of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union to be executed by gunfire and to have all his possessions confiscated on the third of October 1938, for participation in a fascist spy organization "Sojuznyj Centr" (~Union Center), existing under the auspices of the Esperantist organization, with the aim of overthrowing Soviet power through espionage, sabotage, terrorist acts against the leadership of the Communist Party and the Soviet government. The verdict was carried out on the same day in Moscow without right of appeal or amnesty. All confiscated possessions, including manuscripts, letters, documents, archives, books were destroyed as "ideologically unuseful" and "without any current or historical value". The official answer says that "the place of burial is not indicated in the file". Twenty years later the Military college of the Supreme Court looked into the matter. The investigation revealed that V. Varankin was convicted totally without basis, and in connection with that the Military college of the Supreme court of the Soviet Union nullified the verdict on 11 May 1957 and threw out the accusation as having an absolute lack of criminal content. V. Varankin was fully exonerated.

 Works

Esperanto por laboristoj

Metropoliteno, 1933, 1977 - novel originally written in Esperanto, 200 p.

Teorio de Esperanto, 1929 - in this book Varankin deals with the international language generally, with its etymology, its lexicon, its syntax, etc.

JAN STAISLAW SKORUPSKI

Jan Stanisław Skorupski

Jan Stanisław Skorupski (born July 18, 1938 in Łoszniów, Podolia) is a Polish writer, poet, essayist and esperantist. Skorupski is an internationally recognized poet. He exercised a multiplicity of other activities, like being a director of an art gallery and a theatre and a joint founder of the international group of artists 'nula horo' and the Esperanto PEN Center. Further he was active as a captain, commercial artist, photoreporter and jewelry manufacturer, as well as in the mining industry.[1] He is an author of several books and published poetry and music CDs. He appeared in numerous radio shows. His texts were published in German, Polish and Esperanto. In 1956 Skorupski received the Young Poet Award in Warsaw. He is a Swiss citizen and lives in Zurich.

 Selected works

Jan Stanislaw Skorupski: Cisza, Ty i ja, Warsaw 1956.

Jan Stanislaw Skorupski: …um unsere Würde zu wahren, Galerie sztuka polska, Berlin 1982.

Jan Stanislaw Skorupski: do, ut, des. Gedichte von Kunst und Liebe. Verlag Polonia, Warsaw 1988.

Jan Stanislaw Skorupski: …um die Polen zu verstehen. Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verl., Berlin 1991.

SONETADO 8784 sonnets. editio L., Zurich (1995-2006)

 In 1998, Jan Stanislaw Skorupski was featured in the German Edition of The Guinness Book of Records as an author of the most sonnets (page 145): Zurich (CH) based polish writer Jan Stanislaw Skorupski is the author of the most sonnets: He wrote 2928 poems in the time of January 1st, 1995 till June 12th, 1997 in two languages, Polish and Esperanto respectively.

TIBOR SEKELJ

Tibor Sekelj

 Tibor Sekelj (in Hungarian: Székely Tibor) (14 February 1912 – 23 September 1988) was an explorer, esperantist, writer and lawyer of Jewish descent. He was born in Spišská Sobota, Poprad, former-day Austria-Hungary, present-day Slovakia, and died in Subotica, former Yugoslavia. Tibor made expeditions across the whole of south America, Asia and Africa. Beside Hungarian and Croatian, he spoke German, Spanish, English, French and Esperanto. He was a member of the Academy of Esperanto and an honorary member of the World Esperanto Association, writing several books (essays and novels) in that language. His Kumeŭaŭa, la filo de la ĝangalo ("Kumeŭaŭa, the son of the jungle"), a children's book about the life of Brazilian Indians, has been translated into many languages. The Tibor's father was a veterinarian and the family moved around a lot. Several months after his birth the family of Tibor moved to Čenej Vojvodina and in 1922 they moved to Kikinda (Кикинда) in Vojvodina, Serbia. After he had finished elementary school there, the family moved to Nikšić (Никшић), Montenegro, where he finished high school (gymnasium). He went to Zagreb where he studied law. Later on he worked as a journalist in Zagreb. In 1939 he travelled to Argentina to report on Yugoslavia emigrants. He stayed there for the next 15 years as a journalist and explorer. In 1944 he climbed mount Aconcagua, the highest summit of the South American continent. This experience inspired him to write his first work Storm on the Aconcagua. He returned to Yugoslavia in 1954 and lived in Belgrade, although he still traveled a lot. He married Erzsébet Sekelj, a girl he met on a journey through Hungary.[citation needed] From 1972 he lived in Subotica, Vojvodina. He was in charge of a museum in Subotica for the rest of his life. He died in Subotica, and is buried there.

 Works

The works of Tibor Sekelj, novels and recordings of his travels, contain interesting ethnographic observations. He also wrote guides and essays on Esperanto, the international language. The majority of his books were originally written in Esperanto, but were translated into many national languages. Tibor Sekelj is undoubtedly the most often translated Esperanto author.

Descriptions of travels

Tempestad sobre el Aconcagua, novel about his expedition in the Argentinian massif of the Aconcagua, originally written in Spanish, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Peuser, 1944, 274 pages.

Oluja na Aconcagui i godinu dana kasnije, Serbo-Croatian translation by Ivo Večeřina, Zagreb 1955, 183 pages.

Burka na Aconcagui, Czech-Slovakian translation by Eduard V. Tvarožek, Martin: Osveta, 1958, 149 pages.

Tempesto super Akonkagvo, translation in Esperanto by Enio Hugo Garrote, Belgrade: Serbio Esperanto-Ligo, 1959, 227 pages.

Por tierras de Indios, about the experiences of the author under the Indians in Brazil, originally written in Spanish, 1946.

Durch Brasiliens Urwälder zu wilden Indianerstämmen, German translation by Rodolfo Simon, Zürich: Orell Füssli, 1950, 210 pages.

Pralesmi Brazílie, tchec translation by Matilda V. Husárová, Martin: Osveta, 1956, 161 pages.

V dezeli Indijancev po brazilskih rekah gozdovih, Slovenian translation by Peter Kovacic, Maribor: Zalozba obzorja Maribor, 1966, 252 pages.

Tra lando de indianoj, translation in Esperanto by Ernesto Sonnenfeld, Malmö: Eldona Societo Esperanto, 1970, 186 pages.

Excursión a los indios del Araguaia (Brasil), about the Indians Karajá and Javaé in Brazil, in Spanish, 1948.

Nepalo malfermas la pordon, originally written in Esperanto, La Laguna: Régulo, 1959, 212 pages.

Nepla otvara vrata, Serbian translation by Antonije Sekelj, Belgrad 1959, 212 pages.

Window on Nepal, English translation by Marjorie Boulton, London: Robert Hale, 1959, 190 pages.

Nepal odpira vrata, Slovenian translation by Boris Grabnar, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1960, 212 pages.

Ĝambo rafiki. La karavano de amikeco tra Afriko, originally written in Esperanto, Pise: Edistudio, 1991, 173 pages, ISBN 88-7036-041-5.

Djambo rafiki. Pot karavane prijateljstva po Afriki, Slovenian translation by Tita Skerlj-Sojar, Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1965, 184 pages.

Ridu per Esperanto, Zagreb 1973, 55 pages.

Premiitaj kaj aliaj noveloj, seven short novels, originally written in Esperanto, Zagreb: Internacia Kultura Servo, 1974, 52 pages.

Kumeŭaŭa, la filo de la ĝangalo, children's book about the life of Indians in Brazil, originally written in Esperanto.

1st edition Antwerp 1979.

2nd edition Rotterdam: UEA, 1994, 94 pages.

Kumeuaua djungels son, Swedish translation by Leif Nordenstorm, Boden 1987, 68 pages.

Kumevava, az őserdő fia, Hungarian translation by István Ertl, Budapest, 1988.

Kumevava, syn ĝunhliv, Ukrainian translation by Nadija Hordijenko Andrianova, Kijivo, Veselka, 1989.

Kumevava, sin prašume, Serbian translation, 2003.

Mondo de travivaĵoj, autobiography and adventures throughout five continents. Pise: Edistudio, 1-a eldono 1981, 2-a eldono 1990, 284 pages, ISBN 8870360121.

Neĝhomo, story about the life during an ascension Vienna: Pro Esperanto 1988, 20 pages.

Kolektanto de ĉielarkoj, novels and poems, originally written in Esperanto, Pise: Edistudio, 1992, 117 pages, ISBN 88-7036-052-0.

Temuĝino, la filo de la stepo, novel for the young, translated from Serbian by Tereza Kapista, Belgrade 1993, 68 pages, ISBN 8690107347.

 Books about Esperanto

La importancia del idioma internacional en la educacion para un mundo mejor, Mexico: Meksika Esperanto-Federacio, 1953, 13 pages.

The international language Esperanto, common language for Africa, common language for the world, translated from Esperanto to English by John Christopher Wells, Rotterdam: UEA, 1962, 11 pages.

Le problème linguistique au sein du mouvement des pays non alignés et la possibilité de le resoudre, Rotterdam: UEA, 1981, 16 pages (= Esperanto-dokumentoj 10).

La lingva problemo de la Movado de Nealiancitaj Landoj - kaj gia ebla solvo, Rotterdam: UEA, 1981, 12 pages (= Esperanto-dokumentoj 13).

 Manuals of Esperanto

La trovita feliĉo, novel for children, Buenos Aires: Progreso, 1945.

with Antonije Sekelj: Kurso de Esperanto, laŭ aŭdvida struktura metodo, 1960, 48 pages.

with Antonije Sekelj: Dopisni tečaj Esperanta, Belgrad: Serba Esperanto-Ligo, 1960, 63 pages.

 Works of ethnography

During his travels in South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania he collected important ethnographic information which he gave to the Ethnographic Museum of Zagreb.

His principal ethnographic work is:

Elpafu la sagon, el la buŝa poezio de la mondo (Pull out the arrow, about oral poetry of the world ), Roterdamo: UEA, 1983, 187 paĝoj, ISBN 92-9017-025-5 (= Serio Oriento-Okcidento 18),

 Dictionary

 Tibor Sekelj collaborated on a dictionary in 20 languages about museology, Dictionarium Museologicum, appearing in 1986.

MANUEL DE SEABRA

Manuel de Seabra

Manuel de Seabra (born 1932 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese writer, journalist, and translator He translates Russian, Portuguese, and Catalan He and his wife compiled the Portuguese-Catalan/Catalan-Portuguese Dictionary He was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2001.

 Works

 En Portuguese

Eu e o diabo (1950)

Cântico necessário (1954)

Terra de ninguém (1959)

O retrato esboçado (1960)

O fogo sagrado (1961)

Os sobreviventes (1965)

85 poemas realistas (1974)

Os rios sem nome (1982)

A literatura indo-portuguesa (1971), amb Vimala Devi

Os exércitos de Paluzie (1982)

Conheces Blaise Cendrars (1984)

Promessa às escuras (1994)

O dia em que Jesus traiu Judas (1996)

A reforma dos cavalos (1998)

Bar-Mitzvah (2001)

Odiai-vos uns aos outros (2003)

 In Catalan

Els exèrcits de Paluzie (1982)

Coneixes Blaise Cendrars? (1984)

Paisatge amb figures (1986)

Fer senyors a la Plaça Roja (1986)

El dia que Jesús va trair Judes (1995)

Odieu-vos els uns als altres (2004)

Diccionari portuguès-català (1985), amb Vimala Devi

Diccionari català-portuguès (1989), amb Vimala Devi

In Esperanto

Antologio de portugalaj rakontoj (redactor) (1959)

La armeoj de Paluzie (1996)

Promeso en obskuro (1997)

La tago kiam Jesuo perfidis Judason (2001)

Ĉu vi konas Blaise Cendrars? (2007)

RAYMOND SCHWARTZ

Raymond Schwartz

Raymond Schwartz (April 8, 1894 – May 14, 1973), was a French banker and Esperanto author who wrote many poems and novels in Esperanto, as well as skits which he directed for Parisian Esperanto cabarets.Born in Metz, a city in Alsace-Lorraine (German: Elsass-Lothringen) that from 1871 to 1918 was part of Germany, his family was French-speaking. He received a good education in Metz and spoke not only French and German often but also Latin and Greek.Very early he became an Esperantist and dreamt of a better future through the diffusion of Esperanto. World War I, when he was conscripted into the German army and had to fight on the Eastern Front, was a disaster for him as a pacifist and for the Esperanto movement in general. After the war he did not remain at Metz, now again a French city, but moved to Paris, where he worked in a large banking firm until his retirement. Between the wars he published in different periodicals, particularly in Literatura Mondo, and wrote two volumes of poetry. His poetic works Verdkata testamento ("The will of the green cat") (1926) and Stranga butiko ("The strange boutique")[1] (1931) are imaginative and humorous fantasies involving word games, characteristics also found in Prozo ridetanta (1928) ("Smiling prose"). His short novel Anni kaj Montmartre ("Annie and Montmartre", 1930) recounts the adventures of a young naîve German woman in Paris; it departs from the conventions of original Esperanto literature, in particular because of its style of writing. From 1933 to 1935 he published the monthly satirical magazine La Pirato ("The Pirate"), which made him a sort of enfant terrible of the Esperanto movement, one for whom there were no secrets and for whom everything was an occasion for humour. His masterwork, published after World War II, is Kiel akvo de l' rivero ("Like the water of the river"), considered as his most significant and most moving book. This is a partly autobiographical novel of a young Frenchman from the Franco-German frontier who comes to Berlin after graduation but must flee at the outbreak of war in 1914. During the occupation of France by Nazi Germany he joins the French Resistance. After the war he once more meets in Paris the woman he loved as a young man in Berlin. This classic novel about a family torn apart by two world wars is both serious and amusing. He collaborated on Sennacieca Revuo, an annual cultural review published by Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (World Non-National Association), writing a column titled "Laŭ mia ridpunkto." The name was a portmanteau word formed from vidpunkto, (Esperanto for "viewpoint") and rid (a word meaning "to laugh"). The column itself was written in a humorous style that included kalemburoj (puns) and antistrofoj (spoonerisms). Serious and competent in his profession, he showed an altogether different face in the Esperanto cabarets, where he created many skits, creating for Esperantists the character of a merry drunkard. Since 1881 there had been in Paris a famous cabaret known as Le Chat Noir ("The Black Cat"). At Montmartre, on the outskirts of Paris, he founded in December 1920 an Esperanto cabaret called La Verda Kato ("The Green Cat"),[2] which he directed from 1920 to 1926, as well as La Bolanta Kaldrono ("The Boiling Cauldron"), which ran from 1936 to 1939. In 1949 he was joint founder of Tri Koboldoj ("Three Imps"), which continued in existence until 1956. His skits and books were amusing, spiritual and sometime risqué. "If people cannot laugh at themselves, they have not grown up" was a favourite saying of his.

 Literary Works

Verdkata testamento (1926 poetry collection, reprinted 1930, 1974, 1992) With afterword by Reinhard Haupenthal, Iltis-Eld., Saarbrücken: 1992, 121 pp. ISBN 3-927613-20-7

Prozo ridetanta (1928 prose works) Esperantista Centra Librejo, Paris, 1928. 126 pp.

Anni kaj Montmartre (1930 novel, illustrated by Raymond Laval, reprinted 1974) Solsona, Paris: 1930; 1974 reprint by Dansk Esperanto-Forlag, Aabyhoj. ISBN 87-85020-75-3

La stranga butiko (1931 poetry collection), illustrated by Raymond Laval, Solsona: Paris, 1930., 124 pp.

La ĝoja podio (1949 poetry collection) Esperantista Centra Librejo , Paris. 271 pp.

Kia honto (1950 original stories) Regensburg, 50 pp.

Kiel akvo de l’ rivero (1963 novel, reprinted 1987, 1991) Edistudio, Pisa. 487 pp. ISBN 88-7036-048-2

"La ĝendarmo deĵoras" and "Bapto de l’ sonorilo en Mulmont" in 33 rakontoj (an Esperanto anthology), Régulo, La Laguna: 1964, 328 pp. (Vol. XVII in Bel-literatura eldon-serio.)

Kun siaspeca spico (1971 humorous essay anthology) Includes all the "Laŭ mia ridpunkto" columns, 215 pp.

Vole... Novele: aŭ kvindek jaroj da noveloj,1920 - 1970 (1971 novellas, reprinted 1987) TK: Copenhagen, 1971, 192 pp. ISBN 87-87089-01-7; reprinted 1987 by Iltis-Eld., Saarbrücken

"Bapto de l’ sonorilo en Mulmont" (from La ĝoja podio), "La pipo de Prosper" and "La ĝendarmo deĵoras" in Trezoro: la Esperanta novelarto 1887-1986, Reto Rossetti and Henri Vatré, eds., Hungara Esperanto-Asocio, Budapest: 1989. ISBN 963-571-105-0

"La ĝendarmo deĵoras" in Vivo kaj morto de Wiederboren Sezonoj:Jekaterinburg, 1998, 80 pp.

 Articles

Ne kiel Meier: Invito al revizio de niaj konceptoj pri la konjugacio en Esperanto, Unuiĝo Franca por Esperanto, Paris, 1930, 47 pp., reprinted 1964.

Foreword by Raymond Schwartz in Cezaro Rossetti's Kredu min, sinjorino, Heroldo de Esperanto, Scheveningen, 1950, 260 pp., reprinted 1974, 1990

"Sen mistiko kontraŭ mistifiko" in La Zamenhofa Esperanto, Hendrik A. de Hoog, ed., Régulo: La Laguna (1961), 329 pp.

"Kompleta inventaro de la pasivaj participoj -ata kaj -ita kunligitaj kun la formo de la verbo esti en la verko La rabistoj." Paris: 1968, 10 pp., reprinted 1995

"Lirica e praticità; Liriko kaj praktiko; Le diverse età dell' uomo; La diversaj aĝoj de l' homo" in El la nova ĝardeno (Dal nuovo giardino), Dante Bertolini, ed., Pedrazzini: Locarno, 1979, 100 pp.

"Esperantisto, ekesto kaj malapero" and "Esperanta eliksiro" in Nova Esperanta krestomatio, William Auld, ed., Universala Esperanto-Asocio: Rotterdam: 1991, 509 pp., ISBN 92-9017-043-3. Series title: Jubilea kolekto Jarcento de Esperanto

 Musical lyrics

Paris toujours Paris (Parizo ĉiam Parizo). French lyrics by L. Bergen le Play, tr. into Esperanto by Raymond Schwartz; music composed by J. M. Hamonic. Omnium, Paris: 1930.

Ĉiu ĉiu. French lyrics by André Hornez, tr. into Esperanto by Raymond Schwartz; music composed by Nicanor Molinare. Ed. Musicales Imperia, Paris, 1948.

Koro estas eta instrument sekreta. Esperanto lyrics by Raymond Schwartz, tr. into Polish and arranged by Zbigniew Sochacki. Music composed by Oktawian Kalmanowicz. Pola Esperanto Asocio, Lublin, 1960.

 Literary appreciation and criticism

Marie-Thérèse Lloancy, Esperanto et jeu de mots dans l’oeuvre de Raymond Schwartz, thesis dissertation for Université René Descartes, Paris, 1985

Marie-Thérèse Lloancy, "Les jeux de mots de Raymond Schwartz dans trois ouvrages en Espéranto publiés par Stafeto - La Zamenhofa Esperanto, Kiel akvo de l’ rivero et Kun siaspeca spico" in Serta gratulatoria in honorem Juan Régulo. Universidad de La Laguna, Salamanca, 3,266 pp., 1986 ISBN 84-600-4290-1

Jean Thierry, "Raymond Schwartz (1894-1973) la vortĵonglisto" in La stato kaj estonteco de la internacia lingvo Esperanto (Proceedings of the first symposium of the Esperanto Academy (Prague, 1994). Petr Chrdle, ed., LinkKava-Pech: Prague, 1995, 190 pp. ISBN 80-85853-08-6

Paul P. Gubbins, "Majstra muzikado: Berlino en romanoj de Varankin kaj Schwartz" in Lingva arto. Vilmos Benczik, ed., Universala Esperanto-Asocio, Rotterdam: 1999, 217 pp. ISBN 92-9017-064-6

Roger Bernard, Raymond Schwartz: lia vivo kaj verkaro. Kultura Centro Esperantista, La Chaux-de-Fonds: 1977.