NOYEKH
VITAL (1892-1961)[1]
He was born in Moscow. In 1894, due to an expulsion order for Jews
to leave Moscow, he moved with his parents to Vilna. He studied in religious primary school and in
a Russian school. At age thirteen he
traveled to see his brother in New York, but due to an eye infection he was
sent back to Europe. In 1905 he emigrated
to Argentina. He worked as a laborer in
construction and as a carpenter. He
began writing at age seventeen, publishing his first stories in the monthly
journal Lebn un frayhayt (Life and
freedom) in Buenos Aires (1908)—of which only three issues appeared under the
editorship of Edelshteyn and Shpringberg—and in the biweekly Broyt un ere (Bread and honor) in Buenos
Aires (1909-1910—of which seven issues were published under the editorship of
Leon Khazanovitsh and Pinye Kats. In
1909 he was editor of the monthly Di
shtime fun avangard (The voice of the avant-garde), organ of a group known
as “Iskrovzes,” in Buenos Aires. In 1913
he wrote a piece for the monthly Shtraln
(Beam [of light]) in Buenos Aires, edited by P. Shpringberg and P. Kats, of which
five issues appeared. Over the years 1916-1925,
he was an internal contributor to Di
idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires, for which he wrote
feature pieces under the pseudonyms “Nat. Robinzon” and “Satanas.” He was represented by eight stories in the
anthology Af di bregn fun plata (On
the banks of the Río de la Plata) (Buenos Aires, 1919), 194 pp. In 1925 he made a voyage to Europe and
published travel impressions. The
following year he settled in Chile. He
was a cofounder of the Association of Polish Jews and the Writers’ Circle in
Chile. Together with M. D. Giser, he
edited Tshiliner yidishe vokhnblat
(Chilean Jewish weekly newspaper) and Zid-amerike
(South America). He was represented by
five stories about Argentinian Jewish life in Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of
Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944). His books include: Shtot un feld, geklibene dertseylungen (City and field, selected
stories) (Buenos Aires, 1946), 236 pp.
In 1951 he published a novel in Di
prese (The press) in Buenos Aires, entitled Der gang tsu zikh (The path to oneself). In 1952 he settled once more in Buenos Aires
and published in Di prese his
memoirs: “Buenos ayres amol” (Buenos Aires in the past). He then returned to Chile and died in
Santiago de Chile.
Sources:
Y. Botoshanski, in Tsukunft (New
York) (August 1931); Botoshanski, Dos
gedrukte idishe vort in argentine (The published Yiddish word in
Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1938), pp. 69-72; Botoshanski, in Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General
encyclopedia), “Yidn H” (New York, 1957), p. 378; M. D. Giser, in Literaturishe bleter (Warsaw) (February
3, 1933); Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort un teater in argentine
(The published Yiddish word and theater in Argentina), vol. 1 (Buenos Aires,
1941); Volf Bresler, Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine
(Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944); M. Shapiro,
in Tsukunft (October 1945); Sh.
Suskovitsh, in Davke (Buenos Aires)
(August 8, 1950); Y. Blumshteyn, in Der
shpigl (Buenos Aires) (October 1951).
Zaynvl Diamant
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