YOYSEF (JOSEPH) BOVSHOVER (September 30, 1873-December
25, 1915)
Born in Lubavitsh, Mohilev fistrict, Byelorussia, into a
family of cantors and scholars on his mother’s side and businessmen on his
father’s side. He studied in religious
schools and with his father, a scholar, who wanted him to become a rabbi, but
he had no desire to remain in his father’s domain, and he then left for Riga
where he worked for several years in a grain shop. He quickly picked up German, and he began to
read the German classics to the point where he could recite Heine by heart. In October 1891, he emigrated to the United
States, brought over by his brothers who had made their way there years
before. In the new world, he became a furrier
in a sweatshop; he quickly learned the trade and did his job well, but he was
not long for work in a sweatshop. He
became involved in the anarchist movement, began writing revolutionary poems,
and read them aloud before the workers in their shops. That made it impossible for him to continue
working as a factory worker, and one of his brothers bought for him a grocery
store, but he evinced no commercial aptitude and quickly wasted everything that
had been invested in the store. His
brothers thus brought him into their business, but this too proved short-lived
for him. So, he became a private teacher
of German, but did this as well without success. His mind was entirely caught up in writing
poetry.
He published his first poems in the social democratic Arbayter-tsaytung
(Workers’ newspaper) in New York under the pen name of M. Turbov. His first poem was “Kapitals a korban”
(Capital’s victim) on July 8, 1892; in his writings, this poem is titled “Afn
shterbe-bet” (On the death-bed). The
image is that of a laborer who, due to hunger and need, was dying before his
time. The daily sufferings of work constituted
the principal theme of the majority of the poems that he composed in these
years. Arbayter-tsaytung also
published his first work of prose, “Kapitals karbones” (Capital’s victims), in
September 1892. The influence of Morris
Rozenfeld, Morris Vintshevski (Winchevsky), and Dovid Edelshtadt run through
his early writings. Little by little
Edelshtadt’s influence superseded others’ in Bovshover’s work, but this lasted
only until 1894 when he set out on a new path.
The years 1894-1895 were a turning point in his life, and not only in
his writing. He lived in great poverty,
and could not adapt to any more stable pursuit.
In the summer of 1895 he received from friends work in a Brooklyn
furrier shop, but on the very first day of work Bovshover disappeared and only
later was he found in New Haven, where he worked several hours each day in a
clothing store, which offered him a place to sleep with an additional couple of
dollars (A. Rodash, in Fraye arbeter shtime [Free voice of labor],
January 3, 1936). At noontime, “he used
to help out in a restaurant and in return receive a meal and twenty-five
cents.” His third “job” was delivering
newspapers every morning. In New Haven,
he learned to write English with fluency.
Back in New York in 1896, he found a job looking after a doctor’s
office. In his free time, he wrote a
great deal both in Yiddish and in English.
He was by this point completely free of Edelshtadt’s influence and wrote
such playful poems as: “Fest-lider” (Poems of affirmation), “Lust-lider” (Poems
of joy), “Libe-lider” (Poems of love), “Dikhtung-lust” (Joy of poetry),
“Friling-lust” (Joy of spring), “Di meydls libe-lid” (The girl’s love poem),
“Der dikhter als gast” (The poet as guest), and the like. Under the impact of English-language poets—in
particular, Walt Whitman—at the same time he found his way to writing long,
revolutionary poems, such as: “Tsum folk” (To the people), “A gezang tsum folk”
(A song to the people), and “Revolutsyon” (Revolution). That era coincided with a short period in
which Bovshover wrote in English using the pseudonym “Basil Dahl.” On March 7, 1896 the anarchist periodical Liberty
published his poem, “To the Toilers” (an English translation of his Yiddish
poem, “Tsum folk”), with Benjamin Tucker, the editor, offering an enthusiastic
evaluation of Bovshover’s poetry and with a call to Anglophone critics to give
the young author their recognition.
Tucker’s extravagant praise just confused the young writer. His English-language poems did not appeared
in Liberty after 1896—all in all, eleven poems (eight of them were later
translated by A. Plotnik into Yiddish, and they appeared in Shtern
[Stars], Minsk, March 1936).
In the 1898-1899 period, a crisis occurred in Bovshover’s
mood. He became terribly
embittered. His new poems—“Dos lebn”
(Life), “Di fridns-polme” (Freedom’s palm tree), and the like—were full of
despair. In 1898-1899 he contributed to
Harkavy’s Der nayer gayst (The new spirit), in which he published his
sketch, Oys dem togbukh fun a froy (From the diary of a woman) and, more
importantly, his translation (in verse) of Shakespeare’s drama, The Merchant of Venice,
as Shaylok oder der koyfman fun venedig
(Shylock, or the merchant from Venice). The
translation caused quite a stir among the more intelligent readers. Bovshover also wrote a short biography of
Shakespeare and a critical preface to the play.
In 1899 he wrote an essay entitled “Vegn poezye” (On poetry), with
poetic examples drawn from Goethe, Heine, Milton, and Petrarch, as well as
critical biographies of Heinrich Heine (with a selection of the poet’s
aphorisms), Ralph Waldo Emerson (with translations of two of his poems and
excerpts from his essays), Walt Whitman (with citations from his writings), and
Edwin Markham. With the last of these,
he translated the author’s poem, “The Man with the Hoe” as Der man mitn ridl
(published by Fraye gezelshaft, 1899). Thanks
to his translation of The Merchant of Venice, he found an entrance into
the Yiddish theater. The actor Jacob
Adler staged Bovshover’s translation, and Bovshover outlined for him plans for
the theatrical staging of Schiller’s Kabale
und Liebe (Cabals and love)—based on
Yankev Gordin’s earlier adaptation entitled Reyzele—and of Hauptmann’s Fuhrmann
Henschel (Wagoneer Henschel)—based on M. Katz’s adaptation entitled Gedalye
der balagole. He also planned to
translate Goethe’s Faust, as he had already, it appears, translated
portions of the work, but the Faust translation is absent from the
published collections of Bovshover’s writings.
In October 1899, after a five-year interruption, Fraye arbeter shtime
published poetry by Bovshover entitled “Naye un alte lider” (New and old
poems)—“they ring strange to me, those workingman’s poems, which I sang and
will sing again.” Severe concerns about
making a living and innate egocentrism brought about in him a mental
illness. He became melancholic. “Friends clearly understood,” explained Maks
N. Meysel (Fraye arbeter shtime, January 3, 1936), “what was happening
to Bovshover, but none of them had the heart to commit him to an institution,
and the one who finally did it remains unknown till this day.” Bovshover lived for almost fifteen years in
the institution (in Poughkeepsie, New York).
He died on December 25, 1915. His
brothers informed no one of his death.
Only in February 1916 did it become publicly known. Bovshover’s talent was not properly
appreciated until years after his death, and his name was remembered in
connection with the three proletarian poets (Winchevsky, Edelshtadt, and
Rozenfeld).
Bovshover’s books include: Poetishe verk
(Poetic works) (London, 1903), 96 pp.; Lider un gedikhte (Songs and
poems) (London, 1907), 64 pp.; Bilder un gedanken (Pictures and ideas)
(London, 1907), 64 pp.; Gezamlte shriftn, poezye un proze (Collected
writings, poetry and prose) (New York, 1911), reprint in 1916, 347 pp.; Geklibene
lider (Collected poems) (Petrograd, 1918), 32 pp.; Geklibene lider
(Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1931), 190 pp.; as Basil Dahl, To the Toilers and
Other Verses, eleven poems written in English by Bovshover and sixteen
translated by Rose Freeman-Ishill (New Jersey, 1928), 57 pp.; Shaylok
(“Shaylok, oder der koyfman fun venedig”) (New York: Yehudah Katsenelbogen),
116 pp.; Shaylok (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1911-1912); Lider (Poems) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1930), 120 pp.; Lider un dertseylungen (Poems and
stories) (Kiev: Ukrainian state
publishers for national minorities, 1939), 86 pp. His nwork also was included in Mut (Courage) (Moscow, 1920); and Zamlung (Collection) (Kharkov, 1925). In addition to the above: three unknown poems
by Bovshover were published by Kalman Marmor in Yidishe kultur (Jewish
culture) (New York) (April 1940).
Sources:
Mikhl Kohn, ed., Geklibene shriftn fun y. bovshover (Collected writings
of Y. Bovshover) (New York, 1911), pp. 3-27; Sh. Yanovski, in Tsukunft
(March 1916); Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1, pp. 193-96, includes a
bibliography; Y. Entin, Yidishe poetn (Yiddish poets), vol. 2 (New York,
1927), pp. 259-66; Forverts (New York) (February 8, 1916); Z.
Zilbertsvayg, Teater-leksikon, vol. 1 (New York, 1931), p. 116, with a
bibliography; Sh. Agurski, ed., Geklibene lider fun y. bovshover
(Moscow, 1931), pp. 3-42; Fraye arbeter shtime (January 3, 1936)
including articles by Dr. Mikhl Kohn, A. Rudash, Maks N. Mayzel, A. Almi, and
Avrom Reyzen; V. Eybrams [William Abrams], in Signal (New York)
(February 1936); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hemshekh (New York) (1939), pp.
222-24; Algemayne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), vol. 4 (New
York, 1944), pp. 61-62, includes a bibliography; Kalman Marmor, Yoysef
Bovshover (New York, 1952), 80 pp.; Itsik Manger, Noente geshtaltn
(Proximate images) (Warsaw, 1938), pp. 173-81; A. Shulman, Geshikhte
fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in
America) (New York, 1943); B. Y. Byalostotski, “Fir zenen zey geven” (There
were four of them), in Dovid edelshtadt gedenk-bukh (Dovid Edelshtadt
memorial volume) (New York, 1953), pp. 477, passim.
