AVROM FRUMKIN (April 1873-April 29, 1940)
The son
of Yisroel-Dov Frumkin and the brother of Gad Frumkin, he was born in
Jerusalem. In 1889 he became a teacher
of Arabic in Yisroel Belkind’s school in Jaffa.
Around 1890 he left for Constantinople to study Turkish and law. He began writing for his father’s Haḥavatselet (The
daffodil), as well as for Hamelits
(The advocate) and Hatsfira (The
siren). He debuted in print in Yiddish
in 1896 in the anarchist serial Der
arbayter fraynd (The worker’s friend) and was for a short time editor as
well. In 1897 he published in London an
anarchist serial, Der propagandist
(The propagandist), of which roughly eleven numbers appeared. Between 1899 and 1904, he lived in New York
and was a regular contributor to Forverts
(Forward) and Di idishe velt (The
Jewish world), as well as Chicago’s Hapisga
(The summit). He later settled in Paris
and was an active correspondent and writer (using the pen name Aviv) for Fraynd (Friend) in St. Petersburg. A few years later, he moved to London and
took an active part there in the anarchist serials, Der arbayter fraynd and Der
zherminal (Germinal), edited by Rudolf Rocker. In these he published numerous translations
from modern European and Russian literature (as a rule, probably not from the
original). Among his translations, the
following books appeared in London, mostly from the presses of L. Fridman or “Arbayter
fraynd”: Anton Chekhov’s comedies, Der
ber (The bear [original: Medved’)
and Der shidekh (The match [original:
Predlozhenie]), published together
(1905), 36 pp.; Henrik Ibsen’s drama, Di
shtitsen fun der gezelshaft (The pillars of society [original: Samfundets støtter]) (1906), 109 pp., Di vilde ente (The wild duck [original: Vildanden]) (1910), Yohn gabriel berkman (John Gabriel Borkman), and Ven mir toyte ervakhen (When we dead
awaken [original: Når vi døde vågner]
(1906); Leonid Andreyev’s story, Azoy es iz
geven (How it was); Maxim Gorky’s Dray
menshen (Three men [original: Troe]),
“Malva” (Malva [original: Mal’va]), “Der
royter vaksa” (The red polish), Der khan
un zayn son (The khan and his son [original: Khan i ego syn]), Di herren
fun lebn (The masters of life [original: Khoziaeva
zhizni]), and Di
shtunden (The hours); Knut Hamsun’s novels, HBjørnstjerne
Bjørnson’s Ertsehlungen (Stories)
(1909), 163 pp.; Gerhart Hauptmann’s drama, Eynzame menschen (Lonely people [original: Einsame Menschen]); Multatuli [pseud. Eduard Douwes Dekker], Liebes
brief (Love letters) (1911), 194 pp.; Luize mishels lebens-beshaybung, geshriben fun ir aleyn (Louise
Michel’s life story, written by herself [original: Mémoires
de Louise Michel écrits par elle-même]) (1906); Israel Zangwill, Der eynzamer filozof, borekh shpinoza (The lonely philosopher,
Baruch Spinoza), offprint from his series “Dreams of the Ghetto” (1907); Zangwill,
Troymer fun ghetto (Dreamers of the Ghetto),
9 booklets (1909); John Henry Mackay, Di
anarkhistn, kultur bilder fun 19-ten yorhundert (The Anarchists: A Picture
of Civilization at the Close of the Nineteenth Century), 2 vols. (1908-1910); Octave
Mirbeau’s drama, Gesheft iz gesheft
(Business is business [original: Les
Affaires sont les affaires] (1908), 162 pp.; Maurice Maeterlinck’s Der umgebetener gast (The uninvited
guest [original: L’intruse (The intruder)])
(1906), Di blinde (The blind
[original: Les aveugles]), and Mona vana (Mona Vana) (1909); Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Mayselekh (Stories)
and D”r dzhekel un m”r hayd (Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), with B. Rouz (1911), 155 pp.; a volume of stories by
Anatole France; Perets’s Di akhte opteylung
in genehem un andere ertsehlungen (The eighth section of hell and other
stories [original: Mador hashemini
shebagehenom]), from Hebrew (1907), 103 pp.; Peter
Kropotkin, Broyt un frayhayt (Bread
and freedom [original: La Conquête du Pain]), with M. Katts (1906), 344
pp., Di anarkhistishe filozofye (The
anarchist philosophy) (1907), 94 pp.; Elisée Reclus, Evolutsyon, revolutsyon un
der anarkhistisher ideal (Evolution, revolution, and the anarchist ideal [original:
Èvolution, la révolution et l'idéal anarchique]) (1908);
Georg Büchner, Dantons toyt, a tragedye
in dray aktn (Danton’s death, a tragedy in three acts [original: Dantons Tod]) (1905), 80 pp.; Stepniak-Kravchinski’s
Dos untererdishe rusland (The
underground Russia [original: Podpolʹnaya
Rossiya]) (New York, 1921), 253 pp.; Rudolf Rocker’s Hinter grates (Behind bars); and Georg
Brandes, Anatol frans (Anatole
France), 54 pp.; among others. In Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of
labor), he published his translation of Felix Hollaender’s “Der adoptirter zun”
(The adopted son) and Bernard Kellerman’s “Benkshaft” (Nostalgia). Frumkin’s original work in book form would
include: R’ yisroel bal-shem-tov, der
grinder fun khsidizmus, zayn leben, tetigkeyt un filozofye (Rabbi Israel
Bal-Shem-Tov, the founder of Hassidism, his life, activities, and philosophy)
(New York, 1903), 40 pp.; In friling fun
yidishn sotsyalizm, zikhroynes fun a zhurnalist (In the spring of Jewish
socialism, the memoirs of a journalist) (New York, 1940), 404 pp. In addition, Frumkin participated in the
Yiddish edition of Bernshteyn’s “Natur-visnshaftlekhe folks-bikher” (Popular
books on natural science), published by L. Fridman (London, 1908-1913), in
eighteen parts, which went through several editions—most of this was reworkings
of the anarchist M. Shapiro. He also published
an entire series of stories concerning Jewish life in the land of Israel and
Turkey in Forverts, Arbayter fraynd, and elsewhere, and he
published in a variety of American Yiddish periodicals “Mayselekh fun der gmore
un medresh” (Tales from the Talmud and Midrash). During WWI he left London and moved to New
York, and there he worked for the anarchist weekly Fraye arbeter-shtime. In his
final years he worked for a provincial Yiddish newspaper in the United States,
later for Tog (Day), initially
writing articles about theater, later still a regular contributor and theater
reviewer for Morgn-zhurnal (Morning
journal). He was among the first to
introduce European writers into Yiddish literature. He died in New York.
“Frumkin,
who was no great theoretician,” wrote A. R. Malachi, “but primarily a capable
journalist with a novelist’s talent, placed greater weight on the living
written word, an artist’s depiction, elucidation, and agitational material, than
on the difficult theoretical treatments that the masses at that time lacked the
capacity to understand properly.”
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Khayim Aleksandrov, in Tsukunft (New York) (June 1907); Benyomen Finkel, in Tsayt (New York) (August 1920); Avrom
Reyzen, in Tsukunft (March 1930); Reyzen, Epizodn fun mayn lebn (Episodes from my
life) (Vilna, 1935), pp. 48-49; A. R. Malachi, in Hadoar (New York) (May 17, 1940); Malachi, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (New York) (January 1, 1960; February 1, 1960;
February 15, 1960; March 1, 1960; July 1, 1960; August 1, 1960; August 15,
1960; September 15, 1960; October 1, 1960; October 15, 1960; December 1, 1960;
December 15, 1960; January 15, 1961; April 15, 1966); B. Rivkin, in Yidishe velt (Philadelphia) (June 27,
1940); Shoyel Ginzburg, in Tsukunft
(June 1940); Elye (Elias) Shulman, Geshikhte fun der yidisher
literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in America) (New York,
1943); Rudolf Rocker, in Fraye
arbeter-shtime (July 30, 1948); Kh. Gotesfeld, in Forverts (New York) (December 18, 1958); G.
Kressel, Mivḥar kitve yisroel dov
frumkin
(Selected works of Yisrael-Dov Frumkin) (Jerusalem, 1953/1954); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hadoar (Sivan 4 [= May 23], 1947).
Yankev Kahan
No comments:
Post a Comment