PERETS
(PERETZ) MARKISH (December 7, 1895-August 12, 1952)
He was born in Polonne, Volhynia,
into a family of tradesmen. He was the
fifth of seven children: five girls and two boys. He was given a very rare first name among
Ukrainian Jewry, Perets, the same name as his grandfather who drew his pedigree
back to Spain and where the name Perets was widespread. Until age ten he studied in religious
elementary school and also with his father who was a scholar. From ages nine to eleven, he lived with his
parents in the town of Romaniv. In his
youth his singing voice was such that he assisted the local cantor on the High
Holidays, and the news of his extraoprdinary voice reached the Berdichev cantor
who traveled to Romaniv to talk with Markish’s father. He then left home to spend three years
studying under this cantor in Berdichev.
At age fifteen he began writing poetry in Russian. He went on to spend several years as an
external student in Odessa. As he recounted
in his autobiography: “Odessa was at the time the only large city in which Jews
had the right to reside. The most
prominent contributors to Jewish literature—Haim-Nahman Bialik, Mendele Moykher-Sforim,
and Sholem-Aleykhem—lived then in Odessa.
I met Bialik there for the first time in his home. I worked in Odessa as a courier, porter, correspondent,
bill collector, and teacher; I wrote poetry and worked as a dental technician
in the hope of receiving a residence permit which Jews in that trade had.” In 1916 he was drafted into the Tsarist army
and sent to the German front, where he was wounded late that year; when he was
discharged, he settled in Ekaterinoslav.
He debuted in print in 1917 with his poem, “Der kemfer” (The fighter),
in a newspaper also called Der kemfer,
organ of the Fareynikte (United socialist party) in Ekaterinoslav, and later in
the anthology Eygns (One’s own) in
Kiev (1918). His very first poems
demonstrated that a new strength had come to Yiddish poetry. Over the next few years, he published a great
number of poetic works and made a significant place for himself in the upper
rungs of the Yiddish literary realm. From
1918 he was closely associated with the group of Yiddish writers in Kiev, in
which he was allied with two highly popular poets of “Kiev group”: Dovid
Hofshteyn and Leyb Kvitko. His first
collection of poems appeared as a book in 1919 Shveln (Thresholds) (Kiev:
Yidisher folks-farlag), 163 pp., which established him as one of the most
important young Yiddish poets in Ukraine.
Critics received his first book, as well as all of his subsequent books,
both positively and negatively. Y.
Dobrushin wrote of his first book: “Young and impetuous has Markish come in a
reckless and free manner to tell us his youthful truth, while disclosing
thereby all of the merits and defects of his raw, still undeveloped
talent…. He came to our literature
without any heritage, unconnected—absolutely unconnected, to any segment of the
Jewish or Gentile past or present….
Markish begins his story, the story of his ‘I,’ from his own self. He is himself the center of his talent, the
center of his poetic impulse.” In 1921
Markish traveled to Poland where he appeared and spoke on the new poetry,
recited his own poems, took an active part in the new Yiddish literature of
Poland, published two works, and was the cofounder (1924) with Nakhmen Mayzil
and other pen pals of many years of Literarishe
bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw, of which he was co-editor and in which
he published numerous articles on literary and theater topics. He published in 1922 in Warsaw his pogrom
poem Di kupe (The pile), with the
dedication: “To those of you slaughtered in the ‘pile,’ in Horodishche
[Gorodishche], the city by the Dnieper [River]—kaddish!” In the almanac Khalyastre (Gang), published by Markish and Y. Y. Zinger (Warsaw,
1922), he intensified the polemic around “old and new” in Yiddish
literature. He also contributed poetry,
essays, and articles (also using the pen name D’em) in various Yiddish
newspapers and anthologies in Russia, Poland, and the United States, such as: Ringen (Links), Bikher-velt (Book world), Folks-tsaytung
(People’s newspaper), Vilner tog
(Vilna day), Shtrom (Current) in
Moscow, and Tsukunft (Future) in New
York, among others. He later visited
London, Belgium, Paris, Madrid, and Jerusalem.
Together with Oyzer Varshavski, he edited in Paris the anthology Khalyastre, vol. 2 (Paris, 1924), 84
pp. He was the only Jewish poet in
Soviet Russia who dared to write a sizable poem about the land of Israel, which
was included in his poetry collection Farklepte
tsiferblatn (Sealed dials). Homesick
for Russia and dazzled by the apparent possibility of state support for the
development of Yiddish culture, he returned home in 1926, and there he became
one of the most productive and important creators of Yiddish poetry and
plays. He initially settled in Kharkov
and later in Moscow, but he soon discovered that there was no freedom of
creative work under Soviet conditions. He
was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1939. His
membership for candidacy was accepted for the Communist Party. He wrote a great deal throughout the 1930s
and during WWII, and he was active in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. He edited such anthologies as Tsum zig (To victory) (Moscow, 1944) and
Farn heymland in shlakht! (For the homeland in battle!)
(Moscow, 1941).
In addition to the aforementioned two books, the
following works by Markish appeared in book form: In mitn veg (In the middle of the road), poetry (Ekaterinoslav:
Mayak, 1919), 61 pp. (Ekaterinoslav, 1920); Shtiferish
(Mischievous), children’s poetry about the four seasons (Vilna: Tsisho, 1919),
46 pp.; Shveln (Kiev, 1919), poetry, 163
pp.; Nokhn telerl fun himl, a maysele
(Seeking the impossible, a story) (Ekaterinoslav: Natur un mentsh, 1919), 48
pp.; Stam (For no good reason),
poetry (Kiev, 1920), 192 pp.; Pust un pas
(Idle) (Kiev, 1920), 163 pp.; Volin,
poeme (Volhynia, a poem) (Vilna: Tsisho, 1921), 56 pp.; Farbaygeyendik, eseyen (In passing,
essays) (Vilna: Tsisho, 1921), 56 pp.; Radiyo
(Radio) (Warsaw: “Ambasador” [an invented publisher], 1922), 44 pp.; Nakht-royb (Nocturnal prey), poetry
(Moscow: Lirik, 1922), 29 pp.; Der
galaganer hon (The boastful rooster), children’s poetry, with drawings by
Y. Tshaykov (Berlin: Klal, 1922), 30 pp.; Ovnt-shoen
(Evening hours) (Kiev, 1922); Zang-gezang
(Corn song), poetry for children (Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923), 40 pp.; Ezriel un shloyme ber (Ezriel and
Shloyme Ber), poetry (Kiev: Kultur-life, 1927), 58 pp.; Dor oys dor ayn (Generation out,
generation in) (Kharkov: Ukraine State Publ., 1929), vol. 1, 390 pp.; Dor oys dor ayn, vol. 2 (Moscow: Emes,
1941), 526 pp., a novel about the revolution, 1917-1919; Brider (Brothers), a poem (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: Tsentr Publ.,
1929), 274 pp., (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929), 270 pp., and subsequent editions; Farklepte tsiferblatn (Kharkov: Ukraine
State Publ., 1929), 330 pp.; Vokhnteg
(Days of the week), poetry (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: Tsentr Publ., 1931), 244 pp.;
Nit gedayget (Don’t worry), a poem
(Kiev: Ukraine State Publ., 1931), 277 pp., which was later made into a play; Pyesn (Plays), in vol. 6 of his Gezamlte verk (Collected works) (Moscow:
Emes, 1933), 283 pp.; Lider (Poetry),
vol. 2 of his Gezamlte verk (Minsk:
State Publ., 1937), 268 pp.; Eyns af eyns
(One plus one), a novel (Kiev-Kharkov: Ukrainian state
publishers for national minorities, 1934), 282 pp.; Anshl zalyaznik (Anshl Zalyaznik), a poem published under the title
Dem balegufs toyt (Death of
bourgeois) (Moscow: Emes, 1935), 228 pp.; Shtelt
aykh for un molt aykh oys (Just think and just imagine!), poetry (Moscow:
Emes, 1936), 32 pp.; Ufgang afn dnyeper
(Sunrise over the Dnieper) (Moscow: Emes, 1937), 320 pp.; Foterlekhe erd (Paternal land), poetry (Kiev: Ukrainian state publishers for national
minorities, 1938), 390 pp.; Lider
vegn shpanye (Poems about Spain) (Moscow: Emes, 1938), 37 pp.; Undzer konstitutsye (Our constitution),
on the elections in the supreme council of the Soviet Republics (Moscow: Emes,
1938), 14 pp.; Di melkern marfa (The
milkmaid Marfa), a poem (Moscow: Emes, 1938), 32 pp.; Dertseylungen (Stories) (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 114 pp.; Mikhoels ([Shloyme] Mikhoels) (Moscow:
Emes, 1939), 54 pp.; Di naye mishpokhe
(The new family), poetry (Moscow: Emes, 1939), 29 pp.; Roytarmeyishe balades (Red Army ballads) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 47
pp.; Poeme vegn stalinen (A poem
about Stalin) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 86 pp.; A
toyt di kanibaln (Death to the cannibals), poetry (Moscow: Emes, 1941), 64
pp.; Far folk un heymland (For the
people and the homeland), poetry (Moscow: Emes, 1943), 127 pp.—“The people
means in this instance the Jewish people,” wrote Meylekh Ravitsh, “and the
homeland, naturally, is the Soviet Union.
The Jewish people will include for vengeance the Jewish warrior in the
golden chain, and the land that gave them the axe will dress in a golden star
for their patriotic, heroic father.” “He
can only be solemn, passionate, heroic,” noted Shmuel Niger, “… and this is the
new theme and the new tone that has entered into Yiddish prosody—the theme and
the tone of solemnity, of pathos and heroism.”—Tsum zig (To victory) (Moscow: Emes, 1944), 336 pp.; Milkhome (War), a poem (Moscow: Emes,
1948), 661 pp. (New York: IKUF, 1956), vol. 1, 314 pp., vol. 2, 317 pp.—two
volumes, four parts: In onheyb (In
the beginning), 43 chapters; Moskve
(Moscow), 42 chapters; Stalingrad
(Stalingrad), 36 chapters; Af mayrev
(In the West), 41 chapters; altogether 162 chapters, each one of which contains
between six and twenty-three poems, each sixteen lines long; altogether this last
work consisted of 1,276 sixteen-line poems, over 20,000 lines—Yerushe (Inheritance), poetry (Buenos
Aires: IKUF, 1959), 236 pp. (with a preface by Sh. Vaserman and an afterword
entitled “Perets Markish” by Boris Lavrenyev, translated from Russian)[1]; Dor oys dor ayn (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1964), vol. 1, 389 pp., vol.
2, 526 pp.; Trot fun doyres, roman
(The march of generations, a novel) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1966), 689 pp.—about
the Warsaw Ghetto uprising; Tsu a
yidisher tentserin (For a Jewish dancer), a poem (Ramat-Gan: Masada, 1976),
94 pp.; Der fertsikyeriker man (The
forty-year-old man) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1978), 138 pp. The great majority of his poems which
appeared in Russian translation as Izbrannoie,
stikhotboreniia i poemy (Selected works, poetry), published by Sovetski pisatel
in 1956 (415 pp.). A second volume of
poems and plays was brought out by the state publishing house in 1957. At various times, other works by Markish also
appeared, including the dramas: Erd
(Earth), Finfter horizont (The fifth
level), Belovezher velder (Belavezha
woods), Oyg far oyg (An eye for an
eye), Der kinig fun lampeduze (The
king of Lampedusa), Ver vemen (Who to
whom? [Kto kovo?]), Moltsayt (Banquet), and Kol nidre (All vows), among others. A number of his plays were staged in the
Ukrainian Yiddish State Theater in Kharkov, in the Moscow Yiddish State
Theater, in Russian in the former Korsh Theater, and in the Vakhtangov State
Theater. He also wrote scenes for the
talkie-film Nosn beker fort aheym
(known in English as “Nathan Becker Goes Home”), which was shown in the Soviet
Union and the United States. On January
27, 1949, at the time of the liquidation of Yiddish writers in Soviet Russia,
Markish was among those arrested, and he was horrifically tortured in prison. At his show trial, he was compelled to
deliver a dignified, hour-long speech, until he collapsed. He was later shot on August 12, 1952.
His Pyesn (Plays)
and Lider (Poetry) are now spread
through the six volumes of his Gezamlte
verk (Collected works). His work also
appeared in: Farn heymland in shlakht!; Lider vegn der royter armey (Poems about the Red Army) (Kiev,
1938); Birebidzhan (Birobidzhan) (Moscow, 1932); Lider vegn stalinen (Poems about Stalin)
(Kiev, 1937); In fayerdikn doyer, zamlung
fun revolutsyonere lirik, in di nayer yidisher dikhtung (In fiery duration,
a collection of revolutionary lyrics in the new Yiddish poetry) (Kiev, 1921); Ruf, lider zamlung (Call, poetry
collection) (Minsk, 1935); Der arbeter in
der yidisher literatur, fargesene lider (The worker in Yiddish literature,
forgotten poems) (Moscow, 1939); Osher
shvartsman (Osher Shvartsman) (Kiev, 1939); Komyug, literarish-kinstlerisher zamlbukh ([Jewish] Communist Youth, literary-artistic
anthology) (Moscow, 1938); Bafrayte
brider, literarishe zamlung (Liberated brethren, literary anthology)
(Minsk, 1939); Shlakhtn
(Battles) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932); Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Reciter of Soviet Yiddish
literature) (Moscow, 1934); Tsum zig; and Yugnt (Youth) (Kharkov, 1922).
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2;
Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish
theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); Y. Dobrushin, Gedankengang (Reasoning) (Kiev:
Kultur-lige, 1922); Dobrushin, Sovetishe
dikhtung (Soviet poetry) (Moscow, 1935); Dobrushin, in Oyfboy (Riga) 2 (November 1940); Dobrushin, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (June 28, 1942); N. Oyslender, Veg-ayn-veg-oys, literarishe epizodn (Way in, way out, literary episodes) (Kiev: Kultur-lige,
1924), pp. 110-21, 173-202; M. Litvakov, In
umru (In anxiety) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1926), pp. 61-73, 132-42, 189-219;
Oyslender, Af tsvey
frontn, zamlung artiklen (On two fronts, collection of articles)
(Moscow, 1931); N. Mayzil, Noente un
vayte (Near and far), vol. 2 (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1926), pp. 240-51;
Mayzil, Doyres un tkufes in der yidisher
literatur (Generations and epochs in
Yiddish literature) (New York, 1942); Mayzil, Perets markish, der dikhter un prozaiker (Perets Markish, the poet
and prose writer) (n.p.: Kanader IKUF, 1942); Mayzil, Tsurikblikn un perspektivn
(Retrospectives and perspectives) (Tel Aviv, 1962), see index; A. Katsizne, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (January 7,
1927); Shmuel Niger, Yidishe shrayber in
sovet-rusland (Yiddish writers in Soviet Russia) (New York, 1958), pp.
229-61, 469-70; H. Leivick, in Di vokh
(New York) 5 (1929); D. B. Malkin, in Bikher-velt
(Warsaw) (July 1929); Al. Pinkl, in Di
royte velt (Kharkov) (September 1929); Y. Bronshteyn, Atake,
literarishe-kritishe artiklen (Attack, literary critical articles) (Minsk,
1930); Kh. Dunets, In shlakhtn (In
battle) (Moscow, 1931); D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), in Tog (New York) (January 17, 1931); Al Zilbershtat, in Forverts (New York) (May 26, 1931);
Yankev Leshtsinski, in Forverts
(March 9, 1931); B. Y. Byalostotski, Lider
un eseyen (Poems and essays) (New York, 1932), pp. 79-130; Kh. Bronshteyn
(A. Glants), in Tog (June 2, 1933);
Itsik Fefer, in Farmest (Kharkov)
(October 1934); M. Vinder, in Sovetish
(Moscow) 3 (1935); M. Vortman, Perets
markish (Peretz Markish) (Moscow: Emes, 1937), 189 pp.; D. Bergelson, in Forpost (Birobidzhan) 2 (1937); M. Y.
Khaimovitsh, in Nyu yorker vokhnblat
(New York) 61 (1937); N. Y. Gotlib, in Yoyvl-bukh fun keneder odler (Jubilee volume for Keneder odler) (Montreal, 1938); A.
Pomerants, Inzhenern fun neshomes (Engineers of souls) (New
York, 1943); Pomerants, Di
sovetishe haruge malkhes (The [Jewish writers] murdered by the Soviet
government) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 162-70, 282-88, 484; Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (January 24,
1944); Ravitsh, in Kiem (Paris)
(1949); Ravitsh, in Zamlbikher (New
York) 8 (1952), pp. 139-57; Ravitsh, in Der
idisher kemfer (New York) (Rosh Hashana, 1958); Ravitsh, Dos mayse-bukh fun mayn lebn (The
storybook of my life) (Tel Aviv, 1975); A. Kushnirov, in Naye prese (Paris) (July 27, 1945); Yankev Glants, in Literarishe zamlungen (Chicago) (1946);
Z. Segalovitsh, Tlomatske 13, fun farbrentn nekhtn (13 Tłomackie
St., of scorched yesterdays) (Buenos Aires, 1946); Sh. Katsherginski, in Dos naye lebn 26 (1946); Katsherginski, Tsvishn
hamer un serp (Between hammer and sickle) (Paris, 1949); Yankev Glatshteyn,
In tokh genumen (In essence) (New
York, 1947), pp. 31-39; Yankev Botoshanski, in Di naye tsayt (Buenos Aires) July 20, 1951; August 11, 1954); Elye
Shulman, in Fraye arbeter shtime (New
York) (July 18, 1952); Bal-Makhshoves, Geklibene
verk (Selected works) (New York: L. M. Shteyn-biblyotek, 1953), pp. 302-6;
Shiye Gilboe, in Di tsienistishe shtime
(Paris) (April 9, 1954); Gilboe, in Di
goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 29 (1957); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (November 10, 1955); B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As
Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), see index; Leon Krishtol, in Forverts (March 10, 1956); David Knaani
and Arye Shamri, compilers, Lo amut ki eḥye (I shall not die
but live on) (Merḥavya, 1957); Y. Rapoport, in Di goldene keyt 28 (1957); Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Di goldene keyt 29 (1957); Bikl, Shrayber fun mayn dor (Writers of my
generation) (New York, 1958), pp. 287-304; Y. Yonasovitsh, Mit yidishe shrayber in rusland (With Yiddish writers in Russia)
(Buenos Aires, 1959), pp. 287-322; Sh. L. Shnayderman, in Forverts (November 20, 1959); Literaturnaia
entsiklopediya (Literary encyclopedia), vol. 6 (Moscow), pp.
808-11; Yoysef Gar and F. Fridman, Biblyografye
fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books
concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index; A.
Sutskever, in Di goldene keyt (1962),
pp. 27-46; L. Leneman, in Di goldene keyt
43 (1962), pp. 129-39, 44 (1962), pp. 124-27; Shimen Veber, in Forverts (September 19, 1962); A. Zak, In onhoyb fun a friling (At the
beginning of a spring) (Buenos Aires, 1962), see index; M. Avishai, in Al hamishmar (Tel Aviv) (April 5, 1963),
concerning the translation Dor holekh
vedor ba of Dor oys dor ayn
(Generation out, generation in) published in two volumes in Tel Aviv (1962); Y.
Y. Lifshits and M. Altshuler, comps., Briv
fun yidishe sovetishe shraybers (Letters of Soviet Jewish writers) (Jerusalem,
1979/1980), see index, pp. 243-348.
Mortkhe Yofe
[Additional
information form: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), cols. 369-70; Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun
yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish
writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York:
Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 230-34.]
[1] Translator’s note. English translation as Inheritance by Mary Schulman (Toronto:
TSAR, 2007), 158 pp. (JAF)
PERETS MARKISH translated into Yiddish Raffaello Giovagnoli's historical novel Spartak (orig.: Spartaco).- Kharkov ; Odes : Kinder-Farlag fun USSR, 1935.- 194, [2] pp., ill
ReplyDeleteספארטאק : ראמאנ פארקירצט
דזשיאװאניאלי ; יידיש - פ. מארקיש ; צײכענונגענ - א. דאװהאל
Spartak : roman farkirtst
Dzshiovanioli ; yidish - P. Markish ; tsaykhenungen - A. Dovhal