SHLOYME BRIANSKI (b. 1899)
He was born in the town of Malyn, Kiev district. His father was a Hebrew teacher, and after
the Revolution he worked as a ritual slaughterer, and a few years prior to his
death he moved to Crimea to become a member of a collective farm. Shloyme spent his youth with his grandfather, the ritual
slaughterer of Narodychi, and was raised in a
traditional Jewish spirit. He later
learned Hebrew and secular subject matter.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he gave private lessons. In 1918 he became a teacher in Jewish schools
in Ovruch and later in Narodychi. Over
the years 1922-1924, he studied at the Jewish Pedagogical Technicum in Kiev. He began his own writing career with several
short plays for the Yiddish theater. In
1921 he composed his first skit, “Nep un step” (NEP and steppe [??]), which was
successfully staged by the Narodychi Drama Circle. In 1922 he helped found the drama troupe
Meshulakhemat at the Jewish Pedagogical Technicum in Kiev, and he wrote for it skits
and slapstick routines about school life and general Soviet topics. His revue Nikolai-shpil (Nikolai play)
was a great success (1922). He was one
of the organizers and editors of the literary journal Trit (Step) at the
Pedagogical Technicum. Working later
(1924-1927) as a teacher in a Jewish laborers’ school in Vinnitsa, he organized
a drama circle in the city, and there he staged, in additional the
aforementioned repertoire, revisions of Sholem-Aleykhem’s Mentshn
(People) and Goldfaden’s “Tsvey kunileml” (The two kunilemls) with music by A.
Guberman. In 1927 he received a teaching
position in Kiev, and there he composed the comedy Yankl britvin (Yankl
Britvin) and a satire in two scenes entitled Kultur-revolutsye (Cultural
revolution), published in the anthology Far der bime (In front of the
stage), edited by D. Dobrushin and Gordon.
To perfect his theatrical training, he entered the drama faculty of the Kiev
Institute named for Lysenko and in 1929 the Kiev institute for professional
education (the literary-linguistic office).
He then tried to combine his theatrical work with his pedagogical work,
and thus created the Kiev Yiddish Theater for Children. He dramatized for children’s theater Sholem-Aleykhem’s
Motl peysi dem khazns (Motl, the cantor Peysi’s [son]), translated from
Russian a play “Di biks” (The gun), and composed Tsvang (Constraint), a
three-act play in eleven episodes (Kharkov-Kiev, 1938), 48 pp. Among his other staged plays, we should note:
Der khinezisher general (The Chinese general), a comedy; Laykhte
kavalerye (Light cavalry), a revue, and (with M. Gershnzon) Krizis fun
kapitalizm (Crisis of capitalism), a satirical revue in three acts; and Meshiekh
in amerike (Messiah in America), a comedy in three acts (a revision of
Moyshe Nadir’s one-act play). Brianski
also wrote on pedagogical topics in the journals Af di vegn tsu der nayer
shul (On the road to the new school) and Ratnbildung (Red
education). Together with M. Mizhritski,
he published: Lernbukh un khrestmatye fun literatur (Textbook and reader
for literature), for fifth-graders (Kiev, 1933), 288 pp. (several editions appeared),
in which he wrote treatises on Fefer, Kharik, Kulbak, Sholem-Aleykhem,
Vintshevski, Rosenfeld, and the folklore division. Together with Z. Skuditski, he translated
from Russian Terekhov’s Geografye (Geography), a textbook for primary
school, grade three, part 1 (Kiev, 1933), 96 pp. (second edition, Moscow, 1934,
93 pp.). Brianski also published stories
and feature pieces in Emes (Truth) in Moscow and Proletarishe fon
(Proletarian banner) in Kiev. With M.
Gershnzon, he compiled the humor pages for Proletarishe fon and Prolit
(Proletarian literature). With Gershnzon
and Skuditski, he wrote a longer story “Zalbedrit” (Group of three), a fragment
of it appeared in Proletarishe fon.
He also devoted time to collecting Jewish folklore. As a research student at the Kiev Institute
for Jewish Proletarian Culture (1922-1935), he devoted his attention to Yiddish
literary research. From this research,
he published: Dovid bergelson in shpigl fun der kritik, 1909-1932 (Dovid
Bergelson in the mirror of criticism, 1909-1932) (Kiev, 1934), 79 pp. A monograph on Itsig Fefer’s works remains in
manuscript. At the end of 1935 he became
mentally ill.
In addition to the aforementioned
works, he also published: 50 yor idisher teater (1876-1926) (Fifty years
of Yiddish theater, 1876-1926) (Vinnitsa, 1926) (single periodical edition);
translations from Georgi Shilin, Kamo (Ter-Petrosyan) (Kharkov-Kievm
1931), 90 pp.; Rodyonov-Pidlisniuk’s Naturvisnshaft (Natural science),
sixth grade (1932), 76 pp.; V. Tetiurev’s Naturvisnshaft (Kharkov-Kiev,
1934), 92 pp.; “Vegn kulbaks sheferishn veg” (On Kulbak’s creative path), Farmest
(Challenge) 4-5 (Kharkov, 1934); “Etyudn vegn itsik fefers shafn inem oyfshtel-peryod”
(Studies of Itsig Fefer’s creations in his formative period), Visnshaft un
revolutsye (Science and revolution) 1 (5) (Kiev, 1935), pp. 41-95. Brianski also translated fifty letters by Edelshtat
from Russian, which K. Marmor published in Visnshaft un revolutsye 1-2
(Kiev, 1934); and he prepared all the texts, as he wrote in his work “Vegn dem
tekst fun edelshats lider un proze” (On the text of Edelshtat’s poems and
prose), for Dovid Edelshtat, Geklibene verk (Selected works), compiled
by K. Marmor (Moscow, 1935), vol. 2, pp. 319-31; he also compiled “Osher shvartsman-biblyografye”
(Bibliogrpahy for Osher Shvartsman), with annotations, which was published in
the volume, Osher shvartsman, lider un briv (Osher Shvartsman, poetry
and letters), edited by Max Erik and Mikhl Levitan (Kiev, 1935), pp. 207-18.
Sources: V. Shats, “Af der shtelung fun Tvang” (At the
performance of Tvang), Yunger leninets 57 (Minsk, 1933); Oktryaberl
2 (Kiev, 1933); the Fefer plenum and Fefer collection, in Visnshaft un revolutsye
1-2 (Kiev, 1934), pp. 142, 148, 150; performance session of the literature and
criticism section, in Odeser arbeter (April 28, 1934); Kh. Nodel, “Oyflebn
dos biblyografye-vezn” (Reviving the essence of bibliography), Eynikeyt
(Moscow) (July 5, 1947); Al. Pomerants, “Edelshtat in der yidish-sovetisher
literatur-kritik” (Edelshtat in Soviet Jewish literary criticism), in Dovid
edelshtat gedenk bukh (Dovid Edelshtat remembrance volume) (Brooklyn, New
York, 1952), pp. 214, 549, 551.
Aleksander
Pomerants and Leyzer Ran
SHLOYME BRIANSKI translated from Russian into Yiddish a novel for children by Sergey Rozanov Grezeles pasirungen (orig.: Приключения Травки = The adventures of (a boy named) Travka ("tiny/little grass").- Kiev : Melukhe-farlag far di natsionale minderhaytn in USSR, 1937.- 76, [4] pp.- ill
ReplyDeleteגרעזעלעס פאסירונגענ
סערגײ ראזאנאװ ; יידיש - ש. בריאנסקי ; צײכענונגענ - א. מאגילעװסקי
Grezeles pasirungen
Sergey Rozanov ; yidish - Sh. Bryansky ; [tsaykhenungen - A. Mogilevsky]
SHLOYME BRIANSKI translated from Russian into Yiddish the continuation of Sergey Rozanov's novel for children Grezeles pasirungen, tsveyter bukh Alyute - dos luft-helfand (orig.: Алюта - воздушный слоненок = Alyuta (a girl, a pioneer) - an airy baby elephant).- Kiev : Melukhe-farlag far di natsionale minderhaytn in USSR, 1937.- 139, [1] pp. - ill.
ReplyDeleteאליוטא - דאס לופט-העלפאנד
גרעזעלעס פאסירונגענ, צװײטער בוכ
סערגײ ראזאנאװ ; יידיש - ש. בריאנסקי ; צײכענונגענ - מ. כראפקאװסקי
Alyute - dos luft-helfand :
Grezeles pasirungen, tsveyter bukh
Sergey Rozanov ; yidish - Sh. Bryansky ; [tsaykhenungen - M. Khrapkovsky]
Alyuta received a nickname "Airy Baby Elephant" becuse she was in a gas mask when she landed from the plane on a parachute and resembled a baby elephant.
*because
Delete