LEON KOBRIN (March 15, 1872-March 31, 1946)
The author of stories, novels,
and dramas, he was born in Vitebsk. His
father was a shop owner. Until age
twelve he attended religious elementary school and studied Russian privately. In his youth he began reading Russian
literature. In 1892 he emigrated to the
United States. He worked in sweatshops
in New York, Philadelphia, and Hoboken, and he later sold newspapers in New
York. After publishing several stories,
he became a regular contributor to Arbayter
tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper) and Abend-blatt
(Evening newspaper), and he devoted himself entirely to literary
activities. Kobrin’s first literary work
was a translated story by Gleb Uspensky, which appeared in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor). In Filadelfyer
shtodt-tsaytung (Philadelphia city newspaper) in 1894, he published essays
of literary criticism, among others one of the first critical pieces on Morris
Rozenfeld. That same year he published
there his first story, “A merder oys libe” (A murderer for love). He composed stories, novellas, novels, and
plays about Jewish life in Europe, but mostly about Jewish-American life. He wrote that “I more easily succeeded in
work with stories drawn from life familiar to me than with stories of local
life. Writing of Jewish life in Russia,
I have always had before me a definite, well worked out type with a definite
world view…. Writing about Jewish life
here, I always have had before me lost souls, unsettled characters, a life of
chaos.” With time both the new
immigrants and Kobrin himself took root in their new country—and with the same
skill and artistry, he wrote about Jewish life in the United States and became
one of the most American writers in Yiddish literature. He was not only a creator but also a pioneer
and foundational figure in Yiddish literature in the New World, and with his
dramas he was also a builder of American Yiddish theater. He was one of “the most original writers of
the realist school in the style of Chekhov.”
He persevered throughout in this realism, being under the influence of
the Russian realists and partially as well under such writers as de
Maupassant. Kobrin created a gallery of
figures from the most primitive to the most developed. He painted images of rough, chaotic life in
the first years of mass immigration and of later times. He wrote about love, family conflicts, class
struggles, and the like, but he emphasized as well the most intimate life of
these figures, their deeper feelings and contradictions. There is in Kobrin’s stories and novellas
much drama, and it is no wonder that he would also turn to writing plays. “Kobrin has a powerful ability to describe,”
noted B. Gorin, “an eye and an ear for the bright colors and hues of the basic
sentiments and passions, a primitive, healthy appetite for body and flesh, a
love for crude scenes and lots of temperament—and all of these features befit a
writer for the Yiddish stage.” Kobrin’s
dramas were frequently staged in Yiddish theaters. His first play Mina [or Minne] (Minnah),
with a portion added by Yankev Gordin, was produced in New York in 1899, and a
full array of dramas ensued until 1931.
He also wrote (in Tog [Day])
journalistic treatments of fiction, such as “Groyse perzenlekhkeytn un zeyere
romanen” (Great personalities and their novels)—Shelley, Byron, Longfellow, and
the like. At the end of his life, he
switched from Tog to Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom). There he published the novel Dos lebn fun a froy (The life of a
woman), as well as Mayne fuftsik yor in
amerike (My fifty years in America). At that point he was working with IKUF (Jewish
Cultural Association) and writing for Idishe
kultur (Jewish culture).
Kobrin’s first collection in
book form was entitled Yankl boyle, fun
dem idishen fisher-leben in rusland, un andere dertseylungen (Yankl Boyle,
from the life of a Jewish fisherman in Russia, and other stories) (New York,
1898), 111 pp. “This book,” wrote Zalmen
Reyzen, “caught people’s interest for the freshness of its theme, its healthy
realism, and it also made Kobrin’s name known in Russia and Poland.” Other books include: Ertseylungen (Stories) (New York, 1903), 200 pp., second edition
(New York, 1909), 225 pp. (with the addition of three stories); Ertseylungen (Vilna, 1907), 36 pp.; Gezamelte shriften (Collected writings)
(New York, 1910), 924 pp.; Ore di bord,
roman oys dem leben fun idishe imigrantn vos hoben oygeboyt a naye shtot in
amerika (Ore the beard, a novel drawn from the life of Jewish immigrants
who built a new city in America) (New York, 1918), 279 pp., new edition
(Warsaw, 1929) and under the title In
goldenem shtrom (In a golden current) (Warsaw, 1936), 2 volumes; Fun a litvishen shtetl bizn tenement hoyz,
dertseylungen (From a Lithuanian town to a tenement house, stories) (New
York, 1918), 350 pp.; Di ervakhung, roman
(The awakening, a novel) (New York, 1920), 366 pp.; Af vilde vegn, roman oys dem leben in der groyser shtot (On wild
roads, a novel drawn from life in the big city) (New York, 1925), 350 pp.; Di naye odem un khave, a roman fun der
hayntiker tsayt (The new Adam and Eve, a novel of our times) (Warsaw,
1929), 384 pp.; In roytn shtrom (In
the red current) (Warsaw, 1931), 370 pp.; On
a heym, roman fun der tsayt fun birger-krig in sovet-rusland (Homeless, a
novel from the era of the civil war in Soviet Russia) (Kovno, 1936), 308 pp.; Fir moderne froyen, noveln (Four modern
women, novellas) (New York, 1939), 290 pp.; Farlorener
nign, roman un zeks dertseylungen (Lost melody, a novel and six stories)
(New York, 1948), 320 pp. His memoirs
include: Erinerungen fun a yidishn
dramaturg, a fertl yorhundert yidish teater in amerike (Experiences of a
Yiddish playwright, a quarter century of Yiddish theater in America) (New York,
1925), 2 volumes, second edition (Vilna, 1926), 344 pp.; Mayne fuftsik yor in amerike (Buenos Aires, 1955), 406 pp., and its
sequel (New York, 1966), 288 pp. He
published an essay on Chaim Zhitlovsky in this book, and he also brought out a
pamphlet entitled Fun daytshmerish tsu
yidish in amerike (From overly Germanized Yiddish to Yiddish [proper] in
America) (New York, 1911), 30 pp. His
dramas include: Der groyser id (The
great Jew) (New York, 1911), 111 pp.; Yankl
boyle (in addition to above-mentioned edition) (New York, 1913), 82 pp.,
(New York, 1916-1917), and under the title Der
dorfs-yung (The village youth) (New York, 1920), 72 pp.; Riversayd-drayv (Riverside Drive) (New
York, 1942), 77 pp.; Dramatishe shriftn
(Dramatic writings), with an essay on the author by Yoyel Entin (New York,
1952), 418 pp. This last work includes: Yankl boyle, Der goldener shtrom, Di
nekst-dorike (The lady next door), Dem
doctors vayber (The doctor’s wives), Der
eybiker fayer (The eternal fire), and Kobrin’s story “Eyner fun zey” (One
of them). His work is represented in:
Hyman Bass, ed., Di yidishe drame fun
20stn yorhundert (Yiddish drama of the twentieth century) (New York, 1977);
and I. Goldberg, Undzer dramaturgye,
leyenbukh in der yidisher drame (Our playwriting, textbook in Yiddish
drama) (New York: IKUF, 1961). A number
of his plays were never published in book form, but appeared in journals: Mine, in Di naye tsayt (The new times) (New York, October-November 1898); Der tsayt-gayst (The spirit of the
times), in Der tsayt-gayst (New York,
January 12, 1906 and January 19, 1906); Der
fayer marsh (The fire march), in Der
tsayt-gayst (New York, March 2, 1906); Der
profesor (The professor), in Der
tsayt-gayst (April 6, 1906); Der
natur-mensh (The nature man), in Idisher
kemfer (Jewish fighter) (New York, starting issue no. 29, 1906); Der sod fun leben (The secret of life),
in Tsukunft (Future) (New York,
February 1917); Geretet (Saved), in Minikes sukes-blat (Minikes’s Sukkot
sheet) (New York, 1917); Iber yamen
groyse (Over great seas), in Yidishe
kultur (New York, issues 7-12, 1942 and 1-2, 1943). His translations (with his wife Paulina)
would include: Mikhail Artsybashev, Sanin
(Sanin) (New York, 1909), 217 pp.; Ivan Turgenev, Frihling-shtromen (Torrents of spring [original: Veshniye vody]) (New York, 1909),
185 pp.; Anton Chekhov, Geklibene shriftn
(Selected writings), 4 volumes (New York, 1910); Turgenev, Geklibene shriftn, 4 volumes (New York, 1911); Guy de Maupassant, Gezamelte verk (Collected works), 15
volumes (New York, 1913-1919), reprint edition (Warsaw: Kultur-lige,
1926-1928). He also translated Felix Hollaender’s novel Der tentser (The
dancer [original: Tänzer]). His Di goyishe shnur (The Gentile
daughter-in-law) and Dos leben fun a yung
froy (The life of a young woman) appeared in Tog (New York, 1923, 1924); and Di
libes fun a keyzerin (The loves of an empress) also appeared in Tog (New York, 1925). Some of Kobrin’s writings have been
translated into English, primarily in periodicals. These include: A Lithuanian Village; The
Black Sheep; The Secret of Life;
and A Letter from America; among
others. He died in New York.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook
of the Yiddish theater), vol. 4 (New York, 1963); B. Gorin, Geshikhte
fun yidishn teater
(History of Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1923), pp. 127-41; Dovid
Pinski, Di idishe drame (The Yiddish
drama) (New York, 1909); N. Bukhvald, Teater (Theater) (New York, 1943), see index; Shmuel Niger, Dertseylers un romanistn (Storytellers
and novelists) (New York: Tsiko, 1946), pp. 217-71; N. Mayzil, in Kobrin’s Mayne fuftsik yor (New York, 1946), pp.
9-27; B. Rivkin, Grunt-tendentsn
fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (Basic
tendencies in Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1948), pp.
91-99; Yoyel Entin, in Kobrin’s Dramatishe
shriftn (New York, 1952), pp. XI-XXXVII; Y. Mestl, 70 yor
teater-repertuar (Seventy years of theater repertoire) (New York, 1954); A.
Mukdoni, in Tsukunft (New York)
(July-August 1955); Ber Borokhov, Shprakh-forshung
in literatur-geshikhte (Language study in literary history) (Tel Aviv,
1966), pp. 283-94; Nathan Kobrin, in Mayne
fuftsik yor, pp. 281-88; Elye (Elias) Shulman, in Di yidishe drame fun 20stn yorhundert (Yiddish drama of the
twentieth century), ed. Hyman Bass (New York, 1977), pp. 378-88; Leo Wiener, The History of Yiddish Literature (New
York, 1972); I. Goldberg, The Drama of
Transition (Cincinnati, 1972), pp. 336, 368-73. 420; N. Sandrow, Vagabond Stars (New York, 1977), see
index; H. Zohn, The Yiddish Theatre
(Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1977), see index.
Elye (Elias) Shulman
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