SEMUEL BURSHTEYN (SAMUEL BURSHTYN)

SEMUEL BURSHTEYN (SAMUEL BURSHTYN) (b. 1885)

     Born in Bentshin, Kielce district, Poland, until age twenty-two he lived in Kielce, later in Lodz and Warsaw.  In 1906 he departed for London, and in 1907 he was living in Paris.  He emigrated to the United States around 1909.  In 1911 he returned to Europe, only to return to America in 1913.  He was the author of books which he himself published and distributed: In gortn fun troym (In the garden of dreams) (New York, 1916), 40 pp.; Felzn klyangen (Boulders ring out) (New York, 1917), 49 pp.; Der turem fun bloer benkshaft (The tower of blue nostalgia) (New York, 1919), 31 pp.; Der spektakl fun di piramidn (The spectacle of the pyramids) (New York, 1922), 47 pp.; Alte mentshn vern yung (Old people become young), a theatrical piece in two acts (New York, 1929), 67 pp.; Oyf groyser velt (Into the great world) (New York, 1935), 112 pp.; Oyf di relsn fun idealn (Off the rails of ideas) (New York, 1936), 108 pp.; Der goldener triumf, eseyen, dertseylungen, dikhtungen (The golden triumph: essays, stories, poetry) (New York, 1939), 108 pp.; Durkh blits un volkns (Through lightning and clouds) (New York, 1943), 64 pp., second printing in 1944, 96 pp.; Der maskn-bol fun der fardorbnheyt (The masked ball of depravity) (New York, 1949), 96 pp.; Der himlisher oyfkum (The heavenly origin) (New York, 1959), 45 pp.  He was known by the ironical name of “poet emperor.”

Sources: Semuel Burshteyn, “Eynike oytobyografishe un oyto-biblyografishe punktn” (A few autobiographical and auto-bibliographical points,” in Oyf di relsn fun idealn (Buenos Aires, 1936); Moyshe Shtarkman, “Vegn bikher un mentshn” (Concerning books and people), Tog (New York) (April 20, 1943); P. Viernik, “Undzer filshprakhike literatur” (Our multilingual literature), Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (March 1, 1931).