MOYSHE DLUZHNOVSKI (MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY, DŁUŻNOWSKI)

MOYSHE DLUZHNOVSKI (MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY, DŁUŻNOWSKI) (February 22, 1903-July 30, 1977)

            He was born in Tomaszów (Tomaszów Mazowiecki), Poland, into a Hassidic family of small-scale merchants.  He received a Hassidic religious education in elementary school and synagogue study hall, and later on his own he studied secular subjects.  He graduated from a technical drawing course from a textile school and for a time worked in a factory in Tomaszów and in Lodz.  In 1930 he emigrated to France and settled in Paris.  There, until August 1939, he was employed as a commercial traveler for a business form.  This made it possible for him to become acquainted with Jewish life in France and with the earlier, historical centers of the Jewish community in France.  During WWII, when the Germans were approaching Paris, he made his way to North Africa through Spain and Portugal.  Through the end of 1941 he lived in various towns in Morocco.  He later arrived in the United States, and in New York he was hired to work in various trades.  Most recently, he was a contributor to the press division of United Jewish Appeal.  He began writing as a youth and debuted in print in 1925 with a story in Lodzher folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper).  From that time forward, he published novellas, stories, articles, travel narratives, novels, dramas, essays, children’s tales, and reportage pieces in: Nayes folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz (1925-1929); Tomashover vokhnblat (Tomaszów weekly newspaper) (1926-1933); Yidishe post (Jewish mail) in London; Naye prese (New press), Parizer vokhnblat (Parisian weekly newspaper), Unzer vort (Our word), Kiem (Existence), Far unzere kinder (For our children), and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper), Moment (Moment), Ekspres (Express), and Foroys (Onward) in Warsaw; Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Tog (Day), Forverts (Foreward), Tsukunft (Future), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Kultur un dertsiung (Culture and education), Unzer tsayt (Our time), Shriftn (Writings), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Getseltn (Tents), Vayter (Further), Byalistoker lebn (Bialystok life), Byalistoker shtime (Voice of Bialystok), Kinder tsaytung (Children’s newspaper), and Kinder zhurnal (Children’s journal) in New York; Der shpigl (The mirror) and Argentiner beymelekh (Little Argentine trees) in Buenos Aires; Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Munich; Der veg (The way) in Mexico City; Der moment (The moment) in Brazil; Di post (The mail) in Australia; Dorem afrike (South Africa) in Johannesburg; Hadoar (The mail) in New York; Hatsofe (The spectator) in Tel Aviv; Nerot shabat (Sabbath candles) in Jerusalem; among others.  From 1950 he was a contributor to the Forverts in New York, in which he published novels, stories, and articles.  Among other works, he published serially the following: Dem tepers tokhter (The potter’s daughter) (1951-1952); A hoyz af vest end evenyu (A house on West End Avenue) (1953-1954); Der fargesener mentsh (The forgetful man) (1955); Mark helers vide (Mark Heller’s confession of sins) (1956) which was subsequently republished serially in Di yidishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires and in Unzer vort in Paris.  Among his books: Dos rod fun mazl (The wheel of fortune), stories (New York, 1949), 420 pp.; A brunem baym veg, dertseylungen (A well by the road, stories) (Buenos Aires, 1953), 256 pp.; Banot hakadar (Hebrew translation of Dem tepers tokhter), “a novel of Jewish life in France, North Africa, Poland, and America” (Jerusalem, 1954), 310 pp.; Harbst in vayngortn (Autumn in the vineyard), containing nine stories of Jewish life in former Jewish communities in France—as well as such dramas as Di aynzame shif (The lonesome ship), performed in Yiddish theaters in New York and Buenos Aires, and Der psomim-soykher fun safi (The spice merchant from Safi), an exotic play taken from Jewish-Arab life in Morocco—(Buenos Aires, 1956), 330 pp.; Vi a boym in feld, roman (Like a tree in the field, a novel) (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1958), 492 pp.; Vintmiln, noveles (Windmills, stories) (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1963), 560 pp.; Tirn un fenster, dertseylungen (Doors and windows, stories) (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1966), 288 pp.  From 1982 he began to published in Letste nayes (Latest news) a novel entitled Shtilkeyt un shturn (Quiet and storm).  A few of his plays were performed on the Forverts Radio Hour in New York: Der falsher mishpet (The wrong judgment) (December 1952-January 1954); and A hoyz af vest end evenyu (October 1956-end of 1957).  He also published a great number of stories and articles in English-language periodicals in the United States.  He published under such pseudonyms: M. Dunow and Michel Delizne, among others.  He was living in New York.  In his novellas, reportage pieces, stories, novels, and plays, he brought out the conflicts experienced and intimate moods of various generations of Jews and others in an assortment of lands.  He introduced into modern Yiddish literature types of Jewish communities in North Africa and Morocco.  His novellas about past Jewish life in France were also a new theme which was seldom treated in the finer specimens of Yiddish literature.  In 1958 his volume of children’s stories was published in Buenos Aires: Der raytvogn (The chariot), 160 pp.  He received the Yankev Glatshteyn Prize in 1976.  He died in New York.

Sources: Y. Bashevis, in Forverts (New York) (October 30, 1949); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (December 16, 1949); Y. Elberg, in Dos yidishe folk (New York) (December 1949); Z. Diamant, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (November 1949); Der Lebediker, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (October 23, 1949); Der Lebediker, in Tog (New York) (February 18, 1950); “Byografishe yedies fun yidishe shrayber” (Biographical information from Yiddish writers), Kultur-yedies (Paris) (June 1950); Y. Botoshanski, in Di naye tsayt (Buenos Aires) (July 7, 1950); Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (August 28-30, 1956); Botoshanski, in Fraye arbeter shtime (New York) (November 30, 1956; April 20, 1957); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (February 1950); Mukdoni, in Tsukunft (New York) (March 1957); A. Almi, in Fraye arbeter shtime (April 14, 1950); Y. Freylikh, in Der veg (Toronto-New York) (March 1950); N. Shemen, in Der yidisher zhurnal (Toronto) (January 1950; February 5, 1957); Shemen, in Dos yidishe vort (Winnipeg) (July 3, 1953); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog (May 1951); E. Shulman, in Unzer shtime (Paris) (September 21-22, 1953); Y. Yonasovitsh, in Di naye tsayt (Buenos Aires) (October 1953); Yonasovitsh, in Di prese (April 20, 1957); D. Naymark, in Forverts (May 25, 1953; December 16, 1956); Sh. D. Zinger, in Kultur un dertsiung (November 1953; December 1956); G. Vaysman, in Lebns-fragn (Tel Aviv) (February 1954); Shmuel Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 9, 1954); M. Ravitsh, in Tsukunft (September 1954); Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (February 4, 1957); M. Shenderay, in Yidishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (July 19, 1955); Y. Bronshteyn, Unter eyn dakh (Under one roof) (Los Angeles, 1956); Y. Tsudiker, in Argentiner lebn (Buenos Aires) (September 20, 1956); Dr. N. Sverdlin, in Tog (December 13, 1956); B. Shefner, in Forverts (December 15, 1956); P. Shteynvaks, in Keneder odler (December 18, 1956); Y. Entin, in Idisher kemfer (December 21, 1956); Kh. L. Fuks, in Unzer shtime (Paris) (December 29-30, 1956); Fuks, in Der veg (Mexico City) (January 5, 1957); Y. Kesl, in Der veker (New York) (January 1, 1957); Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (February 8, 1957); M. Perenson, in Unzer tsayt (February 1957); Sh. Rozhanski, in Yidishe tsaytung (February 24, 1957); D. Volpe, in Dorem-afrike (Johannesburg) (November 1956); A. Lev, in Lebns-fragn (October 1957); Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), pp. 255, 258; B. Daymondshteyn, Eseyen (Essays) (Tohonga, 1958), pp. 30-33.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 199.]