LEYB FAYNBERG (LEON FEINBERG) (February 6, 1897-January
22, 1969)
His full
given name was: Yude-Arye-Leyb. He was
born in Kadima, Podolia Province, Ukraine, and until age seven he attended
religious primary school; later, his parents brought him with them to Odessa
and entered him in a high school. His
father had to make his way to the United States, while he remained in Odessa where
he graduated from the Iglitski-Rapoport high school in 1912 at age
fifteen. He lived for a short time in
the United States, where he met up with his father, and then returned to
Russia. In 1915 he entered the
University of Moscow from which he graduated in 1919. With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution
in February, he was among the large number of Jewish students who took the
officer training course for the army.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, he joined the Red Guards and contributed
to the battles against the Petliuras, Denikins, and other Whites. For a time he served as adjutant to the
well-known Soviet Commissar Yan Gamarnik (the brother-in-law of Ḥ. N. Bialik). In the autumn of 1919, he was captured by
Denikin’s men, who threatened to have him shot, but Bialik interceded on his
behalf and managed to save him. In
November 1919, again with help from Bialik, he departed on board the Ruslan for Jaffa. He remained in the land of Israel but a year
and was one of the founders of a new kibbutz “Kiryat Anavim” (near
Jerusalem). He later made his way across
the world as a sailor aboard ships, and in 1921 arrived in America where his
father was living. He began writing and
publishing Russian-language poems when still quite young. Using the pen name Leonid Grebniev, he joined
the Imagist group of Sergei Esenin in Moscow.
He published his work in a number of Russian and Soviet journals, such
as Niva (Field), Letopis’ (Chronicle), published by Maxim Gorky, and others. In 1918 he received first prize in a competition
for his poem “Dusha Russiya” (The soul of Russia). He published four books in Russian: one in
Odessa in 1914; one in Moscow in 1919; Na
paperti dorog, stikhi (On the porch of the road, poems) (Berlin, 1923), 96
pp.; and Evreiskaia poeziia, antologiia (Anthology of Yiddish
poetry) (New York, 1947), 240 pp. In
America, he wrote for Russian newspapers in New York and Chicago, before
starting to write in Yiddish. He
published poetry, journalistic articles, and translations from Russian and
Anglophone literature in: Feder
(Pen), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free
voice of labor), Tageblat (Daily
newspaper), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning
journal), Amerikaner (American), Frayhayt (Freedom), Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), Hamer (Hammer), Vokh
(Week), Forverts (Forward), Tsukunft (Future), Kundes (Prankster), Idisher
kemfer (Jewish fighter), Undzer veg
(Our way), Yidishe kultur (Jewish
culture), and Vayter (Further) in New
York; Di prese (The press) in Buenos
Aires; Literarishe bleter (Literary
leaves) in Warsaw; and Di goldene keyt
(The golden chain) in Tel Aviv; among others.
He published an anthology in Russian of Yiddish poetry in America, which
included over 300 poems by over 100 Yiddish poets (New York, 1947 [see
above])—from M. Rozenfeld to the youngest one in the United States. In 1926 he became a staff contributor to Frayhayt in New York, but in 1929 at the
time of the Arab riots against the Jews in Israel, he left the newspaper. From 1941 he became a full staff member of Tog (Day) in New York, where he served
for many years as news editor. Over the
years 1943-1947, he edited the journal Epokhe
(Epoch), which he edited with the writer Y. A. Vaysman. For his book, Der farmishpeter dor, roman in fir teyln (The doomed generation, a
novel in four parts) (New York, 1954), 336 pp., he received the Hofer Prize in
Buenos Aires, and in 1966 the Willie and Lisa Shore literary stipend through
the World Jewish Culture Congress. In
book form: Erev shturem (On the eve
of the storm), poetry (New York, 1926), 63 pp.; Groysshtot (Metropolis), poetry (New York: Khaverim, 1931), 127
pp.; Dovid blank, a roman in ferzn
(David Blank, a novel in verse) (New York: Signal, 1934), 160 pp.; Khaver lebn, lider un balades (Comrade
life, poems and ballads) New York: Fraynt, 1938), 128 pp.; In keynems land, poeme (In no one’s land, a poem) (New York:
Bidermans bukh-gesheft, 1940), 44 pp.; Di
yorshim fun der erd, portretn (The inheritors of the earth, portraits) (New
York: Shklarski, 1941), 94 pp.; Ben-azay
in pardes, poeme (Ben Azzai in paradise, poem) (New York, 1948), 95 pp.; Rusishe poezye, antologye (Russian
poetry, anthology) (New York: Committee for “Rusishe poezye” with help from the
Dovid Ignatov Literary Fund, 1950), 256 pp.; Der farmishpeter dor, a novel in verse about the Russian Revolution
[see above]; Got fun tsorn, historisher
roman vegn elishe ben avuye (God of wrath, a historical novel about Elisha
ben Avuya) (New York, 1957), 224 pp.; Der
gebentshter dor, roman in ferzn vegn dem dor, ṿos hot geleygt di yesoydes fun
medines yisroel (The blessed generation, a novel in verse about the
generation that laid the foundations for the state of Israel) (New York, 1962),
256 pp.; Der khorever dor, roman in ferzn
(The destroyed generation, a novel in verse), a novel about Jewish life in
Russia after the revolution (New York, 1967), 256 pp.; Fun revolutsye tsu tshuve (From revolution to repentance) (Buenos
Aires: Lifshits Fund, 1975), 276 pp. He
translated into Yiddish: Dmitry Merezhkovski, Peter der groyser (Peter the Great), performed in the Yiddish Art
Theater (New York, 1926); Maxim Gorky, Yegor
Bulychov and Dostigayev (New
York, 1934-1935), performed in the Artef Theater.
Faynberg
was president of the Yiddish Pen Center in New York and vice-president of the
Y. L. Perets writers’ association. For
many years he wrote under the pen name Leonid Faynberg (Feinberg); and his
Russian pen name, Leonid Grebniev. He
also penned journalistic pieces under the name L. Gorin, L. Senders, and the
like. He died in New York.
As
Shloyme Bikl noted: “From just twenty years ago, a sharp break transpired in L.
Faynberg’s ideological and social attitude, and the dominant motif in his
poetry became that of repentance…. Faynberg’s
poetic pathway stands as a sign of verbal impetuosity, of linguistically
dispersed wings, of a prayer leader’s loud voice before the lectern, and not of
a quiet voice groaning alone somewhere in a corner of the synagogue. The thunderous voice, sharpness, and the hunt
for verse are attributes of Faynberg’s poetry, and they are characteristic of
the repentance experience of his heroes.”
“Faynberg
found his mode of expression,” as Froym Oyerbakh put it, “and he worked with it
from Russian poetry—beginning with Pushkin and all the way to Esenin…. He is one of the most stunning poets among
us. On many an occasion, he is full of
sparkle from the dozens of gems, among which is one, a profoundly flaming
effervescence, that is engraved in the soul until it hurts. From his Der
farmishpeter dor, I learned that he struggles to get to the bottom of his
own pain, and in this struggle there is a poetic contest and also poetic
excessiveness…. There is in his poetry
such impulsiveness, such a nervous shiver, that you feel like he is chasing
after his own experience which the poem calls forth. Perhaps, herein lies his poetic content—the broad,
impulsive-nervous stride over himself.
There is no doubt that, with a vehement, vibrating chord of his poem, he
would arouse in you a kind of vague startle of its own. There is also no doubt that he will dazzle
you with the rapid word colorings and the cinematographic transformation of
images.”
As Arn
Glants-Leyeles wrote: “In the poem ‘Yidish’ (Yiddish), Leyb Faynberg so sensed
the need at the contemporary moment to perpetuate and immortalize poetically
the accomplishment of Yiddish and the works tied to Yiddish. An entire gallery of figures—Yiddish builders—traverse
the poem, songs to and about them. They
resound in the legendary Yiddish, like a blast of the ram’s horn, this is
certainly something mature and necessary in our contemporary time. The poet Leyb Faynberg may loom larger with
his achievement. He bears a love for
Yiddish, as the wonder that is Yiddish itself, ensconced in a monument that
will never disappear. The poem ‘Yiddish’
should often be read in Jewish homes. It
would also be an inheritance such that it should be included in the textbooks
for Jewish schools in the upper grades….
“It’s
been a while, as I leaf through the pages and read his published volume, Der farmishpeter dor, this novel in
verse by Leyb Faynberg. In addition to a
considerable number of particularly good, exceptional poems which are included
in the book, the entire novel is a treasure chest for Yiddish literature, for
Yiddish poetry. Some individual Yiddish poets
bite their lips against mockery and disparagement, against nonsense and
ignorance, and—erect a full sounding, richly instrumented orchestra of Yiddish
poetry. One must attribute this
accomplishment as well to Leyb Faynberg’s course in our poetry and his daring
challenge to write an autobiographical novel in verse.”
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (New York) (August 26, 1926); Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (March 14,
1955); A. Mukdoni, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(July 24, 1931; December 8, 1934); Mukdoni, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 25 (1956); Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 11,
1957); N. B. Linder, in Tog (New
York) (January 18, 1938); Mortkhe Yofe, in Hadoar
(New York) (May 23, 1947); Yofe, in Der
amerikaner (New York) (July 4, 1958); Yofe, Erets-yisroel in der yidisher literatur (Israel in Yiddish
literature) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1961); A. Indelman, in Hadoar (July 1, 1949); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (1949), p. 241; Elye
(Elias) Shulman, in Veker (New York)
(May 1, 1951; October 15, 1951); G. Aronson, in Tsukunft (February 1952); Y. Mestl, 70 yor teater-repertuar
(Seventy years of theater repertoire) (New York, 1954), see index; Froym
Oyerbakh, in Tog (March 19, 1955);
Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (March
11, 1957); Arn Leyeles, in Tog (March
19, 1955); Leyeles, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(June 8, 1957; June 15, 1957; March 3, 1963); S. Kahan, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (March 26, 1955); N. B. Minkov, in Tsukunft (April 1955); Yankev
Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In
essence) (New York, 1956), pp. 329-34; Sh. Meltser, in Al naharot (Jerusalem) (1955/1956), pp. 436-37, 441; Meylekh
Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal)
(May 6, 1957); M. Shenderay, in Di
yidishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (October 4, 1957); Shloyme Bikl, in Tsukunft (March 1958); Bikl, Shrayber fun mayn dor (Writers of my
generation) (New York, 1958), pp. 145-52; A. Meytus, in Di goldene keyt 31 (1958); Sh. Margoshes, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (February 28, 1963); Yefim Yeshurin, 100 yor moderne yidishe literatur,
biblyografisher tsushteyer (100 years of modern Yiddish literature,
bibliographical contribution) (New York, 1966), pp. 192, 479.
Leyb Vaserman
[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers
(Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 440.]
No comments:
Post a Comment