AVROM REYZEN (April 10, 1876-March 31, 1953)
Poet,
storyteller, and editor, he was born in Koydenov (now, Dzyarzhynsk), Byelorussia. He was the son of Kalmen Reyzen and the
brother of Zalmen and Sore Reyzen. His
father was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment and an author of Hebrew and
Yiddish poetry and sketches, including the book Yona homiya (Humming dove) (Berdichev, 1893/1894). His mother was a reader of Yiddish religious
texts. Reyzen attended religious
elementary school, later studying privately with his uncle, the Talmud teacher
Hersh Reyzen. With his father he studied
Hebrew, Russian, and German, and with private tutors secular subject matter. At age fourteen he himself became a teacher
in the town. Already at age nine he
began composing verse, and under the influence of his father, he tried his hand
at Hebrew poetry. He read the writings
of Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Sholem-Aleichem, and Mortkhe Spektor. The lullaby of the powerful man’s deserted wife
in Mendele’s Dos kleyne mentshele (The little
fellow) made a strong impression on him.
The works of Turgenev, Gogol, Lermontov, and other Russian writers left
an enduring influence on him. With the
encouragement of the Yiddish writer Yaknehoz [Shaye-Nisn Hacohen
Goldberg],
who had settled at the time in Koydenov, he published several correspondence
pieces in Yudishes folksblat (Jewish
people’s newspaper) in St. Petersburg.
After reading Yankev Dinezon’s Even negef,
oder a shteyn in veg (A stumbling block in the path), he began corresponding with Dinezon
and Y. L. Perets, and both of them encouraged him to write. Perets published one of his first poems, “Ven
dos leben iz ferbitert” (When life becomes embittered), in Yudishe biblyotek
(Yiddish library) 1 (1891).
Around
this time, he was working as a teacher in the nearby town of Samkhvolevitsh (Samachvalavičy) and he lived for a short while in Minsk where he
became acquainted with followers of the Jewish Enlightenment, external
students, and pioneers of the Jewish socialist labor movement. It was there that he composed his story, “A kapore der noz abi a goldener zeyger mit 300
rubl nadn” (Damn the nose, as long as there is a dowry of a watch and 300 rubles),
published as a booklet by Y. L. Mats in Vilna in 1892. In the winter of 1892, he was again a teacher
in a town and then returned home. With
the emergence in 1892 of Sholem-Aleichem’s Kol
mevaser (Herald), he submitted a number of poems. Under the title Troyerike motivn gevidmet
oreme layt (Sad motifs dedicated to the poor), these poems were
published by Sholem-Aleichem in Philadelphia’s Shtodt-tsaytung (City newspaper) with an appended note in which he
compared Reyzen with Shimen Frug who was at that time highly regarded. At the same time, Perets published in Literatur un leben (Literature and life)
in 1894 his poems: “Vos es tut zikh dort in himl” (What happens in heaven)
after Heinrich Heine; and “Hor fun bord” (Hair of a beard) after Pushkin. And, Spektor published his miniature “A
zekhtsikst kheylek fun gan eydn” (One sixtieth portion of paradise) in Der lamtern (The lantern) (Warsaw, 1894)
and his poems “Di zun un der vint” (The sun and the wind), “Yuden vilen nebekh
esen” (Jews just want to eat), “Der gemore-nign” (The Talmud chant), and “Men
fregt mikh: vorum biztu bleykh?” (People ask me: Why are you pale?) in Hoyz-fraynd (House friend) III (1894),
later edition (1907/1908).
In
1895 he went to serve in the military in the musicians’ command in Kovno. There he met Ayzik-Meyer Devenishski
(A. Vayter) and Yitskhok-Yankev Propus. From
time to time, he wrote poems in the barracks, among them an elegy on the death
of the Kovno rabbi Yitskhok-Elkhonen Spektor, entitled Di yudishe trer (The Jewish tear) (Kovno, 1896), 13 pp. In the barracks he read a great deal from the
works of Dostoevsky, Hamsun, Chekhov, Shevchenko, and Heine, whose writings had
a major effect on him. After being freed
from the military, he returned to Minsk, and with the initial appearance of Der yud (The Jew) in January 1899, he
published in it the poem “Mayn tsurikker aheym” (My return home). He then left for Warsaw when, according to
Zalmen Reyzen, “a new period in his literary activities commenced to which his
previous efforts were merely a beginning.”
As Getzel Kressel put it: “Reyzen, Sh. Asch, and H. D. Nomberg were the
three important writers of the post-classical generation.” In Der
yud, he published poems and stories, among them “A shmek tabak” (A pinch of
snuff), “Der milkhiker tsholent” (The dairy cholent), and “Oys blote” (No more
mud!). Reyzen wanted to maintain the
tradition of Sholem-Aleichem, Perets, and Spektor with the publication of a
collection in which he would be able to include his own writings and works of
new Yiddish authors. He was also unhappy
with Der yud, which advocated for
Zionism and Hebraism. As he noted in his
memoir, Epizodn fun mayn lebn
(Episodes from my life), he contemplated a collection “which had to be convincing
about the living capacity and greatness of the Yiddish language, in the
expression of its authors”; and it had to reflect the general ideals of the
modern era. In his memoir he explained
that not everyone was clearly supportive of him at the time with regard to his
planned journal: “To be sure, the idea that the collection had to convey as a
red thread through it was not so clear to me.
On the one hand, I was following a socialist idea, while on the other I
was also attracted to the currents then predominating in finer literature,
which in many details ran counter to socialism and to the labor movement
generally. Not everything that I
explained was kosher in the struggle of the awakening masses, and by the same
token it was insufficient for the aesthetes.”
This collection appeared in 1900 in Warsaw under the title Dos tsvantsigste yohrhundert, zamelbukh fir
literatur, visenshaft un kritik, redagirt durkh avrom reyzen, heroysgegebn
durkh yoysef kaplan (The twentieth century, collection of literature,
scholarship, and criticism, edited by Avrom Reyzen, published by Yoysef
Kaplan), 140 pp. This work begins with
Reyzen’s “Dos naye lid” (The new poem) which was to become well known at a
later date. It went on to include: Y. L.
Perets, A. Reyzen, Kalmen Reyzen, Hersh-Dovid Nomberg, Yitskhok-Yankev Propus,
Dovid Pinski, and Yoysef Kaplan. Reyzen
criticized Der yud for publishing
numerous pro-Hebrew articles. The newly
emerging Yiddishism found expression in M. Rubinshteyn’s article, “Zhargon als
natsyonale shprakh” (“Yiddish” as a national language). At that time Reyzen published in various
illegal Bundist publications the poems: “Di vant” (The wall), “Kirkhen-gloken”
(Church clocks), and “Hulyet, hulyet, beyze vintn” (Rampage, rampage, raging
winds). These poems became popular and
were sung by the people. At the same
time, he was publishing poems and stories under the pen name M. Vilner in Di yudishe familye (The Jewish family)
and Yudishe folks-tsaytung (Jewish
people’s newspaper), helping Yankev Lidski to establish his publishing house
“Progres” (Progress), and working (1902) in Avrom Kotik’s publishing house
“Bildung” (Education) in Bialystok. For
“Progres” he translated Valerian V. Lunkevich’s popular scientific pamphlet Dunner un blits (Thunder and lightning) (Warsaw,
1902), 45 pp., and for “Bildung” he and Khayim Yoysef Brener translated a book
on the history of Egypt. In 1902
Reyzen’s own first collection appeared: Tsayt-lieder
(Period poems) (Warsaw: Progres), 48 pp.
In the forward, written by Gershom Shofman (according to Zalmen Reyzen),
we read inter alia: “One hears many
new melodies among Jews in recent times, many new masterful songs…both in
Hebrew and in zhargon [Yiddish]. Should we listen closely to our genuine
quotidian suffering,…we would sense that all of these many and sundry songs are
somehow not ‘that’ which the heart seeks.
Reading the short poems of this young poet, one is soon convinced that
you are dealing here with a moving, deeply suffering soul that feels every
pain, that responds to every sigh of the poor and dejected people…. Such booklets are the first swallows that
announce to literature that spring has begun.”
In 1903 Reyzen’s first collection of stories was published: Ertsehlungen un bilder (Stories and
images) (Warsaw: Progres), 80 pp. In
1903 Reyzen became a close contributor to the newly founded, first daily
Yiddish newspaper in Russia, Der fraynd
(The friend), and in 1904 to the daily Der
tog (The day)—both in St. Petersburg.
He was not, however, pleased with his association with the
aforementioned newspapers or with other serial publications, as he later wrote
in his Epizodn. He thus began bringing out a series of
collections and periodicals closer to him in spirit and attitude. In these collections he aimed at presenting
poetry, stories, articles on popular science, essays on literature, and
articles on current problems. The first
in these collections were: Khanike, a
zamlung fir literatur, visenshaft, kunst un humor (Chanukah, a collection for literature, science, art, and
humor) (Warsaw: 1903/1904), 64 pp., with illustrations by A. M. Lilyen; Beymer (Trees) (Warsaw: 1903/1904), 32
pp.; and in honor of Purim, Di megile, a
zamlung fir literatur, visenshaft un kunst (The scroll, a collection for
literature, science, and art) (Warsaw: 1903/1904), 48 pp. In these collections were published poetry
and stories by: Reyzen, Sholem Asch, Y. L. Perets, Hersh-Dovid Nomberg, Dovid
Frishman, Dovid Kasel, L. Shapiro, Yehoash, Yoysef Bovshover, Morris Rozenfeld,
and others. Reyzen’s holiday sheets
played an important role, as they were a kind of proxy periodical which was a free
and accessible tribune both by virtue of its own creation and for the newly
emerging Yiddish writers. He did not,
though, wish to be satisfied with a thin holiday notebook and strove to bring
out more substantial collections in which “one would be able to present
arguments against the opponents of Yiddish,” he recorded in Epizodn, “who with the spread of the
Yiddish press were becoming more indignant and active…[and in which one would
be] more critical of new books about which practically the entire press
remained silent.” The publisher Yankev
Lidski accepted Reyzen’s proposal to publish such a collection, and in 1904 he
published it under the title Yohr-bukh progres,
a zhurnal fir literatur, visenshaft un kritik, ershaynt yohrlikh (Progres
annual, a journal for literature, science, and criticism, published annually)
(Warsaw), 164 pp., with an appendix of Mendele Moykher-Sforim’s In yener tsayt (In those days [original:
Bayamim hahem]), translated specially
by Yankev Shteynberg. In the collection
were poems and stories by Y. L. Perets, Morris Rozenfeld, Yehoash, Sholem Asch,
Dovid Kasel, and others, and by Reyzen himself: the poems, “Vos vil er der
regn” (What does the rain want), “Di nakht” (The night), “Balebatishe muser”
(Patrician moralizing), “Fargrobenes glik” (Buried happiness), and “Alter
gloybn” (Old belief); the stories, “In krig” (At war) and “Men koyft nisht”
(Can’t be bought); the comedy Di repetitsye
(The repetition); and critical essays. Alter
Bresler and L. Shapiro were represented in the collection with militant
Yiddishist articles. Reyzen’s approach
to Yiddish and Yiddishism was boldly expressed in the volume. The articles and the spirit of “Progres”
helped to prepare the soil for the Czernowitz Conference of 1908. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War,
out of fear (as a reservist) of being mobilized into the Russian army, he left
Warsaw and settled in Vienna. There he
gave speeches, appeared at literary evenings, and with Nosn Birnboym (Nathan
Birnbaum) “received moral support for my exalted view of Yiddish” (Epizodn). While in Vienna at that time, his poetry
collection Yudishe motiven (Jewish
motifs) was published (Cracow: Tsien, 1904), 64 pp.—which included, among other
items, “Kirkhen-gloken” and the autobiographical poem “Mayn tsurikker
aheym.” Reyzen did not remain for long
in Vienna. The revolutionary unrest in
Russia and the new, bolder tone in the press did not allow him to rest. He thus left Vienna and settled in
Cracow. He planned, with help from
Yankev Lidski, “to publish a weekly according to my literary tastes and my
convictions, mainly to proclaim Yiddish as the national language of the Jewish
people.” In a prospectus for the planned
periodical, to be entitled Dos yudishe
vort (The Yiddish word), Reyzen wrote: “Yiddish is not only a means of
educating the masses, but a goal in and of itself, for it will also serve the
Jewish intelligentsia, and in this way reflects all the aspirations and
currents of the wider world, so that Jewish intellectuals should not have to
turn to other languages for higher matters, which are alien to the Jewish
people.” The prospectus both aroused
interest and opposition. On January 3,
1905 (marked as issue 1-2), the first number of Dos yudishe vort appeared in print.
Aside from the editor, the following men contributed to it: M. Y. Berditshevski, M.
Rubinshteyn-Mikhelzon, Hersh-Dovid Nomberg, Sholem Asch, Avrom Koralnik, Y.
Vaserman (a translation), A. L. Shulheys, and Nosn Birnboym. Subsequent issues saw contributions from: A.
Sh. Zaks, Bal-Makhshoves, L. Shapiro, Yehoash, H. Royzenblat, and others, and
among a few other writers—Y. L. Perets and Yankev Dinezon. Reyzen published a great number of poems and
stories there, which constituted a significant portion of his creative
output. Using the pen name Ben-Kalmen,
he published in it articles on writers and books, often full-fledged
critiques. The main thrust of this
weekly was Yiddishism. This ideology was
expressed in various articles by M. Rubinshteyn-Mikhelzon, L. Shapiro, and
Reyzen (in his reviews and remarks). In
all, twelve issues were published of Dos
yudishe vort, a modern journal following the best methods of Russian and
Western European periodical writings.
The journal provoked interest and enthusiasm and reverberated as far
away as the United States, where Leon Kobrin published an essay about it in Tsukunft (Future) in New York (March
1905). In 1905 Reyzen returned to
Warsaw, where he wrote stories, poems, and critical articles for the daily Der veg (The way). For a certain period of time, he lived in
Vilna and Minsk and contributed to various periodical publications. At that time, the following works of his were
published: Di yudishe gas, ertsehlungen
(The Jewish street, stories) (Warsaw, 1905), 24 pp., including: “Der boym” (The
tree), “A drame iber finf kartofel” (A drama about five potatoes) [see
below-JAF], “Di letste hofenung” (The last hope), and “Gloybn un hofenung”
(Belief and hope); Der Lehrer, ertsehlung
(The teacher, a story) (Warsaw, 1905), 11 pp., an apparently autobiographic piece;
a translation of the Russian-Jewish poet N. Minsky’s Di belagerung fun tultshin, a hisṭorishe
drame fun bogdan khmelnitski’s tsayten (The siege of Tulchyn, a historical
drama from the time of Bogdan Chmielnicki), five acts (Minsk: Kultur, 1905), 88 pp.; and a
translation of Vladimir G. Korolenko’s story, Di rege, ertsehlung (The moment, a story) (Minsk: Kultur, 1905), 16
pp. In Warsaw in 1907 he brought out A bletl grins, a literarishe zamlung fir
shvues (A sheet of greens, a literary collection for Shavuot), 10 pp. Even Reyzen’s name is not mentioned, though
it is known from the contents and the manner of editing that he was the editor. The following authors had work in this
serial: Y. L. Perets, Avrom Reyzen, Dovid Pinski, Dovid Kasel, Yehoash, and B.
Morison. Also there was Ḥaim-Naḥman
Bialik’s poem “Tsu der gelibter” (To my beloved), translated from the Hebrew by
Golde Shvarts, and Ben-Kalmen’s (Reyzen) critique of the newspapers of jokes:
“It is truly difficult for me to find a name to express the obscene and obtuse
nature of them…. They have argued that
the Jewish masses are conscious in our stormy times—how can this audience, the
conscious masses buy such newspapers of jokes?”
At that time, Reyzen published Yudishe
khrestomatye, a leze-bukh far
shul un hoyz, gezamelt fun di beste literarishe un visnshaftlikhe kvelen, nokh
di nayeste metodes (Yiddish reader, a reader for school and home, assembled from
the best literary and scientific sources, following the latest methods) (Warsaw:
Progres, 1908), 171 pp. This volume
included poetry and stories by: Morris Rozenfeld, Avrom Liessin, Shloyme
Etinger, Avrom Reyzen, Y. L. Perets, Ḥaim-Naḥman Bialik, and others. Together with his brother Zalmen, they published
Di muter shprakh, a metode tsu lezen un
shrayben yudishe mit gramatikalishe klolim, baygeleygt ale hebreishe verter,
vos gehn arayn in der yudishe shprakh (The mother language, a method to
read and write Yiddish with grammatical rules, with an attachment of all the
Hebrew words that are included in the Yiddish language) (Warsaw, 1908), 78 pp.,
later editions (1912, 1914).
In the summer of 1907 Reyzen departed from
the Russian empire, lived for half a year in Berlin, and later settled in
Cracow. There he published the first
collection of his works under the title Shriften
(Writings), 4 vols. (Warsaw: Progres, 1908-1910?): (1) Gezamelte lieder (Collected poems); (2) Menshen un velten, ertsehlungen (Men and worlds, stories); (3) Geshtalten (Figures); and (4) Ertsehlungen un stsenes (Stories and
scenarios).
At that
time, he also published: Gute brider,
komedye in eyn akt (Good brothers, a comedy in one act) (Warsaw, 1909), 16
pp.; Di tsigaynerin un andere
dertseylungen (The gypsy woman and other stories [= “Di tokhter” (The
daughter) and “Ohn liebe” (Loveless)]) (Warsaw, 1909), 16 pp. The year 1908 was a significant year in
Jewish cultural life, in Yiddish literature, and in Reyzen’s life. The Czernowitz Conference took place at this
time; he published his Kultur un leben
(Culture and life), and he visited the United States for the first time. Shmarye Gorelik, A. Vayter, and Shmuel Niger
published Literarishe monatshrift (Literary monthly), in which it
was said, among other things, in the programmatic article that “literature can
have no existence, cannot be free and grow, if it relies on scarcely developed
readers, if it satisfies the spiritual-aesthetic need only of those who have no
access to the culture of other peoples.”
The editors strove in their periodical to provide the modern and refined
in literature. With regard to Reyzen,
Niger wrote therein: “In the future Jewish school, our children will repeat
Reyzen’s poetry by heart, and use them to teach our people and our language,
but Reyzen is not yet my poet. His
prayer book contains no prayer for me, none for us, for many of us
intellectuals. We hear his voice,
satiated with sorrow and solitude, but our grief is different, our solitude is
different. Other voices summon us, and they
open other wounds in our heart.” Reyzen
was not invited to write for Literarishe
monatshrift. His personal friend A.
Vayter asked him privately to do so. He
sent in several items, but they were not published. Reyzen was offended both because his work was
not published and because of Niger’s criticism.
He thus decided to publish a serial that would be “worthy of competing
with such a prestigious publication.” The
first issue under the title Kultur un
leben appeared in June 1908 in Warsaw.
There was no question of competition with Literarishe monatshrift, because it ceased publication in May
1908. Reyzen later wrote that he
“couldn’t compete with a journal that had three editors.” In all, four issues appeared and it excelled
in its reliable approach to Yiddish literature.
He included in its important writers from that era, such as:
Bal-Makhshoves, Gershom Shofman, Khayim Yoysef Brener with a long treatment of Literarishe monatshrift, and Reyzen
himself with poems, stories, and criticism.
In the final issue, he published Y. L. Perets’ declaration about Yiddish
which several newspapers had not correctly reported earlier, as well as an
appeal from the office of the conference on the Yiddish language signed by Dr.
Nosn Birnboym and Dovid Toybish. Reyzen
took an active part in the Czernowitz Conference. During the discussion about Yiddish and
Hebrew, Perets did not participate—he held that this ought not be treated—and
Reyzen openly criticized him for this.
After the conference, Reyzen, Asch, Perets, and Nomberg made a tour
through a string of cities in Galicia and Bukovina on behalf of the conference
office, which was aimed at implementing the resolutions of the full assembly.
During his first trip to America
in the fall of 1908, Reyzen was enthusiastically welcomed by Forverts (Forward) in New York, which
had as early as 1902 published stories of his—such as “Shtile trit” (Quiet
steps) and “Gmiles khesed” (Interest-free loan)—as well as later in 1905 and
1907. Ab. Cahan praised these two
stories, and Reyzen later wrote that this was “the first critical assessment of
me generally” in Yiddish. In the summer
of 1909, he returned to Europe and settled in Warsaw. He was then editing: Fraye teg, literarishe zamlung (Free days, literary collection), 1,
n.s.: “Literarishe zamlung tsu peysekh” (Literary collection for Passover)
(Warsaw, 1910), 48 pp.; Frihlings bleter,
a literarishe zamlung tsu shvues (Spring pages, a literary collection for
Shavuot) (Warsaw: 1910), 44 pp.; Dos
yohr, literarishe zamlung (The
year, literary collections) (Warsaw, 1911), 48 pp.; Familyen
ḳalendar (Family calendar) (Warsaw, 1911); Sukes blat, literarishe zamlung (Sukkot sheet, literary collection)
(Warsaw, n.d. [apparently 1910 from context]), 32 pp. In all of these collections, Reyzen published
his own poems, stories, and reviews, creations of earlier contributors and new
writers such as Elye Izgur, Leyb Naydus, and Zusman Segalovitsh, original
Yiddish poetry by the Hebrew poets D. Shimenovitsh (Shimoni) and Yankev
Shteynberg. In one collection, Frihlings-bleter, he wrote about a book
of Lider (Poems) by H. Royzenblat and
a volume of stories Veltelekh (Little
worlds) by Moyshe Odershleger. At that
time, reviews of American Yiddish writers were a rarity in the Yiddish press in
Europe—it was thus an achievement of Reyzen’s to announce Yiddish authors from
America. He contributed as well to Fraynd (Friend) in Warsaw and other
Yiddish serial publications. His major
accomplishment at that time was the publication of the weekly paper Eyropeyishe literatur (European
literature). He understood that Yiddish
literature had to free itself from self-sufficiency and link up with world
literature. Yiddish readers at the time
were also interested in such a connection, and that such a journal of
translated world literature would be a potent item. In this weekly was published poems, stories,
and novels by Peter Altenberg, Leonid Andreyev, Charles Baudelaire, Lord Byron,
Charles Dickens, Mikhail Lermontov, Knut Hamsun, Heinrich Heine, Thomas Mann,
Jakob Wassermann, and an array of other well-known writers. The translators were: Zalmen Reyzen, L.
Shapiro, Leon Kusman, Max Weinreich, Arn-Yitskhok Grodzenski, Moyshe-Leyb
Tshudnovski, Yudl Tupman, Sh. Rotshild, and Yekhezkl Blaykher. From issue no. 26, Reyzen began—at the
request of readers—to also publish original works by Yiddish writers: Y. L.
Perets, Dovid Eynhorn, Yitskhok-Dov Berkovitsh, Yoyel Mastboym, G. Shofman, H.
D. Nomberg, A. Reyzen, and Yedidye Margolis, among others. In total, thirty-six issues appeared in
print: 1,872 pp. This publication
brought new textures into Yiddish literature, expanded its horizons, and
afforded the Yiddish reader an opportunity to become acquainted with the
writings of important writers in world literature. From the remaining materials after the
journal ceased publication, the publisher Progres brought out a collection Fraye erd (Free land) with original
works and translations. Afterword,
Reyzen left Warsaw, traveled through Paris, Geneva, and London where he gave
speeches and read from his own works. In
the Warsaw era, 1900-1910 (with interruptions), Reyzen greatly enriched Yiddish
literature with his poems and stories, and he accomplished a great deal by
publishing and editing various and sundry literary publications and by encouraging
young Yiddish authors and stimulating the older ones.
In early 1911 he arrived for the second time in
the United States. He felt very much at
home with the writers and his readership, contributed work to Forverts and Tsukunft, and with great speed on September 15, 1911 published a
new literary weekly entitled Dos naye
land (The new land). From samples of
his Dos yudishe vort, this was a bold
move, because there was no precedent in America for a Yiddish literary weekly,
but Reyzen with his enthusiasm, optimism, and enterprising character succeeded
in publishing a serious literary journal.
Each issue included stories, poems, essays, articles, and literary
news. He provided the best of Yiddish
literature in Europe and America. As in
all of Reyzen’s publications, the new journal was also Yiddishist. Chaim Zhitlovsky came out in the weekly both
for Yiddishism and for cultural pluralism.
Also published in the journal were works of such Jewish American writers
as Dovid Ignatov, M. L. Halperin, Mani Leyb, Zishe Landau, Ruvn Ayzland, Fradl
Shtok, Khaymovitsh, Yoyel Slonim, and other, older writers such as Chaim
Zhitlovsky and Nakhmen Sirkin. Publishing
the poetry group known as the “Yunge” (Young ones) gave them prestige by
assuming such an important place in Yiddish literature in America. The European Yiddish writers who wrote for
the journal were virtually the same as those who had written for Reyzen’s
journals in Europe. The new journal was
welcomed by Morris Winchevsky and Ab. Cahan.
Thirty-two issues in all were published (the last on April 26,
1912). Years later, Reyzen wrote: “If Dos naye land reached the thirty-second
issue with great difficulty, it was thanks to my great love for the newspaper
in general, and no sacrifice was too difficult for me to maintain its
existence.” As a bonus to the journal
was published Yohrbukh dos naye land, a
zamel bukh far literatur un visenshaft (Dos
naye land yearbook, a collection for literature and scholarship) (New York,
1912), 100 pp.—of the same character as the journal and with the participation
of the same contributors. In this work
it was announced that Reyzen “compiled and edited Hebreyishe literatur in mustern (Hebrew literature in specimens),
from R. Yehuda Halevi to Bialik, conveyed in Yiddish.” The anthology was not published, and the fate
of the manuscript remains unknown. After
the discontinuation of Dos naye land,
Reyzen found himself in a difficult bind, although he nonetheless had enough
audacity to publish a new weekly serial, together with Arn Karlin, Di literarishe velt (The literary
world)—first issue: December 14, 1912.
It bore the same character as all of Reyzen’s journals, with the same
contributors, aside from several new ones, such as A. A. Robak, Moyshe Kats,
and Fishl Gelibter, among others. He
edited Di literarishe velt through
issue 7 (January 17, 1913) and then left it due to a critical article (in issue
1) concerning volume one of Shriftn
(Writings) by the “Yunge.” Because of
the critique, the “Yunge” no longer wished to contribute to Di literarishe velt, but Karlin wanted
to continue having their work, and Reyzen, it appears, thus departed. He went on to write for Forverts, in which he published a story every week. He also gave readings in New York and the
hinterland. He was able to stay on in
America with his literary activities, but he had to pay a remaining debt from a
loan taken out to publish Dos naye land. And, there was no other way than to have a
farewell evening for him. The profits
taken in from the evening were actually more than enough to cover the debt, and
Reyzen then set off for Europe, stayed temporarily in London, and the settled
in Paris, where he continued his writing and editing. Concerning his time in America, he later
wrote: “In the two and one-quarter years that I spent in my second sojourn in
America, until June 1913, I fulfilled my duty to the Yiddish reader. I published Dos naye land with a singular intensity to develop its literary
taste. I suffered both morally and
materially, and left with the sole goal of paying a debt that I owed for a
newspaper, founded for the masses, to raise them up to a more artistic and
cultured conception of the world.” In
Paris, Brussels, Liège, and Ghent, he gave readings of his works and
speeches. In Paris he met Leo Kenig,
Sholem Asch, Khayim Zhitlovsky, and Sholem-Aleichem who were visiting
there. As was his way, Reyzen soon began
planning a new publication. With his savings,
contributions from lovers of Yiddish, and a loan, on October 17, 1913 he
published the first number of Der nayer
zhurnal, vokhnshrift far literatur, kunst, kritik un kultur (The new
journal, a weekly for literature, art, criticism, and culture). In it were published poetry, stories, essays
on literature, journalistic articles on Jewish cultural issues, and essays
concerning art and Jewish artists. It
also published notices of Yiddish literary events in France, Russia, and
America, and the journal functioned as a kind of central organ for Yiddish
literature—it actually appeared in Paris, Warsaw, and New York. This weekly published writings by: Avrom
Vevyorke, Yekhezkl Dobrushin, and Leo Kenig; by the Belgians, Yankev Kreplyak
and Shiye Podruzhnik; by the visitors, Sholem-Aleichem, Sholem Asch, and Chaim
Zhitlovsky; and by Yoysef Opatoshu, Morris Rozenfeld, Zalmen Reyzen, and Sore
Reyzen. There were also translations
from world literature. In journalism, he
continued his fight on behalf of Yiddish and Yiddishism. The eleventh and last issue of the journal
appeared on January 2, 1914. After the
discontinuation of Der nayer zhurnal,
Reyzen visited Copenhagen, Berlin, Katowice, and once again Berlin. With the outbreak of WWI, he set out for the
third time for the United States, where he would remain resident for the rest
of his life. He again wrote for Forverts and placed stories and poetry
in it. In Der groyser kundes (The great prankster), he published humorous
sketches, and he contributed as well to Di
feder (The pen) together with young authors. In 1917 he switched to Tog (Day), for which he wrote stories and poems weekly. Over the years 1922-1923, he published Nay-yidish, monat-shrift far literatur un
kunst (New Yiddish, monthly journal for literature and art)—the first issue
July 1922 and the last November 1923. Reyzen
later wrote that he thought of Nay-yidish
“as a university in which one entered after have completed several classes in
the school of [Di] feder.”
It was an international Yiddish journal which had an impact on Yiddish
literary events in the United States and Europe. It was different from his earlier periodicals
in that the new journal published no articles on community issues. Aside from his own writings, what appeared in
published in Nay-yidish was poetry
both by well-known poets such as Yehoash, Morris Rozenfeld, Uri-Tsvi Grinberg,
Mani Leyb, and Arn Leyeles, and by such less well-known poets at the time as
Yankev Glatshteyn, Zishe Vaynper, Meyer-Ziml Tkatsh, Y. Y. Sigal, and Khayim
Krul, among others. Also in the journal
were: stories by Ayzik Raboy, Yitskhok-Dov Berkovitsh, and Avrom-Moyshe Fuks;
essays by Yankev Shatski, Menakhem Boreysho, Yoyel Slonim, and others. The journal provides an excellent picture of
Yiddish creativity in America at the beginning of the 1920s. Younger writers were especially well
represented in it. This was to be Reyzen
last published and edited journal, although he retained a close relationship
with Di feder, in which for many
years he ran a section entitled “Literarishe revyu” (Literary revue). Reyzen’s fiftieth birthday was celebrated in
1926 with organized events and through the press in which great enthusiasm was
expressed him. He was especially warmly
received by the leftists, and he later moved to Frayhayt (Freedom), where he began writing his Epizodn and its sequel, Tsvantsik
yor in amerike (Twenty years in America).
In late 1928 Reyzen made a tour through Western Europe, Poland, and
Soviet Russia. He was received
everywhere with eager interest, especially in the Soviet Union where people
displayed extraordinary friendship and he was often welcomed at receptions by
representatives of the government. He
was also selected to be an honorary member of various institutions and literary
organizations, and two Jewish colonies were named for him. During his trip to Soviet Russia, a number of
his books were published there: Lider un
dertseylungen (Poems and stories) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publ., 1929),
79 pp. with a foreword by Kh. D. (Khayim Dunets); Dertseylungen (Stories) (Kiev: Kultur-lige, 1929), 318 pp.; In amerike (In America), short stories
(Moscow: Tsentral felker-farlag fun f.s.s.r., 1929), 174 pp.; Amolike tsaytn (Past times) (Moscow:
Tsentral felker-farlag fun f.s.s.r., 1929); Geklibene
lider (Selected poems) (Moscow: Tsentral felker-farlag fun f.s.s.r.,
1929). After returning to America, he
continued writing for Frayhayt, among
other items a series of articles on his voyage to Soviet Russia. In August 1929, he—along with M. Boreysho, H.
Leivick, Leyb Faynberg, and A. Raboy—left Frayhayt
in protest at the stance taken by the newspaper vis-à-vis the Arab pogroms in
Israel. Reyzen again became a writer for
Forverts until the end of his
life. In it he published stories,
poetry, and Epizodn fun mayn lebn in
a fictional form. In Di feder, he continued writing his
“Literarishe revyu” in which he would fervently extol writers and their
books. These paeans aroused aversion,
and critics sharply attacked him for this (for example: Yankev Glatshteyn, Prost un poshet [Plain and simple],
1978; and Shmuel Niger, in Tog
[January 1933]). Reyzen, however, did
not change his way as a critic, especially as concerned younger writers. Although he may have exaggerated his praises,
he did encourage a number of writers, and they were to become well known. Among them should be single out: Leyvi
Goldberg, A. Lutski, and Khayim Pet.
Reyzen picked up his Epizodn fun
mayn leyb, interrupted from its installments in Frayhayt, in Tsukunft,
though in only a few issues (1930-1931).
Kletskin Publishers brought out Epizodn
in three volumes (Vilna, 1929-1935).
These ended with the Czernowitz Conference of 1908. Subsequent portions remain on the pages of Frayhayt and Tsukunft. Also, the sections
of Epizodn that appeared in Forverts (1944-1949) were never
published in book form. He later edited
the volume Koydenov, zamlbukh tsum ondenk fun di koydenoṿer
kdoyshim (Koydenov, collection to the memory of the Koydenov victims) (New
York, 1955).
Jewish composers wrote music to
accompany Reyzen’s poetry, and many of them were sung by people, such as the
popular: “Hulyet, hulyet, beyze vintn,” “Kirkhen-gloken,” “May ko mashmo
lon” (What does this mean to us?), and “Der
gemore-nign,” as well as his translation of Bialik’s “Hakhnisini” (Take me
under your wing) as “Zay a zhuts mir” (Protect me). Reyzen’s version of a Russian poem, “Dos
flaterl” (The butterfly), was also often sung.
His one-act plays—Gute
brider, Dem shadkhns tokhter (The
matchmaker’s daughter), A ruike dire
(A quite apartment), and Di repetitsye—were
performed by professional acting troupes as well as amateurs. Several of the poems in Iser Ginzburg’s Yidishe
denker un poetn in mitlalter (Jewish thinkers and poets in the Middle
Ages), 2 vols. (New York, 1918-1919), were translated by Reyzen. He also translated a portion of Lev Tolstoy’s
Kinder yorn (Childhood [original: Detstvo]) (Moscow, 1918), 90 pp. Many of Reyzen’s stories were published in
Hebrew, but we have only three of his original stories in Hebrew (according to
Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit
[Handbook of Hebrew literature], vol. 2 [Merḥavya, 1967]).
Reyzen’s stories in Hebrew are translations by Bialik, Brener,
Shteynberg, Yankev Fikhman, Shaya Bershadski, and Uriel Akavia. In America, Reyzen was active in Jewish
cultural life. He frequently appeared at
Yiddish literary-artistic evenings and was regular guest in Jewish schools
where he was received with great affection from the children. His poems and stories appear in a number of
textbooks and anthologies. He was an
active leader in the Y. L. Perets writers’ association and in the Pen Club (of
which he was president for several years).
He was also a cofounder of the World Jewish Culture Congress. Participating at his funeral were not only
the Jewish masses but also Jewish intellectuals, and a popular sorrow was
expressed at the passing of this great poet.
Reyzen
was one of the most highly creative and productive Yiddish writers. In every place that he lived, he ceaselessly
composed stories and poems. As the
author of stories, he developed an original style and perfected the short
Yiddish story. His stories excelled in
austerity, concentration on the main theme, and for simplicity and
truthfulness. He succeeded in his
stories in describing the surroundings and in introducing vivid figures in
every detail and nuance. He paints a
gallery of Jewish men and women, wealthy and poor, simple tradesmen,
seamstresses, and stocking makers, but also yeshiva lads, teachers, and intellectuals. He paints them with their virtues and faults,
but with a warm connection all their types, and his profound humanism hovers
over them. Even in the least trifles,
Reyzen demonstrated the dignity of simple men.
He derived material from poor people and expressed those deeply human
and Jewish elements and values that made it possible to exist in not too
friendly surroundings. He depicted in an
artistic manner the personal ties between people and the relations in Jewish
life. He often expressed, but in a genteel
way, the social links in Jewish society.
He related with deep sympathy to the poor and persecuted but was wary of
expressing hatred for the unsympathetic types whom he depicted. The themes of his stories were varied: Jewish
life in Europe and America, love, hopes and disappointments. The stories were realistic, often written
with humor, irony, and pathos, and they convey the very essence of Jewish life.
Reyzen’s
poetry possessed a folk quality, authenticity, and a simplicity that was highly
artistic and refined. He expressed both
his internal sensibilities, the feelings of a simple Jewish man of the people,
and of a popular intellectual, and a harmony was created between him and his
readers, and hence there was much admiration for him and his works. Reyzen exercised an immense influence over
authors of poetry and stories, who emerged in the first decades of the
twentieth century. It was felt as well
by a number of Soviet Yiddish poets, especially in their poems from the early
1920s. As Khayim Bez (Hyman Bass)
remarked: “What influences were exerted on Reyzen which nourished him his
entire life? First of all, there was the
folksong. Reyzen had an ear for what the
people were singing, and the people were always singing…. There was born in Reyzen as well a pure
lyrical and genuine version of folk poetry—it emerged purified and authentic in
its simple genuineness, while tender in the lines of love poems… A remarkable match of folksong, of biblical
imagery, and of motifs of social agitation, shadows of the synagogue study
chamber and images of sunset, boisterous streets, poems of ego, poems of one’s
own moods, and poems of the community at large—all of this together was Avrom
Reyzen, a multi-talented, diversely talented, a never simple but extremely
complicated poet and author.”
“Is
Reyzen a poet of the people?” asked Shloyme Bikl. “No, he was immeasurably higher than that; he
was the first authentic Yiddish poet of the people. ‘He does not soar about in heaven,’ noted
Perets of the young Reyzen, ‘but on earth he is the very best.’ And, these word of Perets came true. For, what can be better than ‘the very best’
which Reyzen attained: his poetry penetrated and became the song beneath the
poorest thatched roof, and his work became a social force, a support for belief
and consolation for thousands of his people….
When it came to Avrom Reyzen’s stories,…it is altogether a different
matter. Here, in his stories, is Avrom
Reyzen not only the first figure in our fictional work, but on numerous occasions
the last, the highest of achievers.”
“When
one turns to Reyzen’s poetry,” noted Yankev Glatshteyn, “one confronts a great
Jew. A Jew and seer, a seer and a sage,
a sage and a skeptic, a skeptic with a truly wise and bitter smile…. How much purity, how much truly Jewish human
refinement there is Reyzen’s poetry! It
thus seems to me that only a young Jew in our time, who wishes to approach
Reyzen without prejudice—because Reyzen has become a school poet, for good and
for bad:…fresh and with a desire to receive and understand—will perceive a
great Jewish personality, many times greater than five other older Jewish writers
whom critics celebrate and acclaim.”
“Reyzen’s
poems and stories,” wrote Ezriel Naks (Israel Knox), “possess a
universal tone. It was a universalism
forged of goodness and compassion, of irony, quiet despair and patient
hope. This is, however, not
pseudo-universalism, an artistic composite gained by selecting themes that are not
Jewish or appeared to be supra-national and have also lost their concreteness
and distinctiveness. Reyzen’s stories
derive their universalism precisely from their direct and proximate quality,
from their concreteness and distinctiveness.
Because he had absorbed in himself his shtetl with all of its modalities;…his
stories of sadness and joy…are so universal, in their atmosphere, just as are
Chekhov’s stories.”
“The
era in which Reyzen emerged,” commented Shmuel Rozhanski, “was most certainly
not fit for ‘veahavta’ (and you shall love [your neighbor as yourself]). It was a bitter time period. Even Sholem-Aleichem was more a satirist at
the time than a humorist. [Reyzen] was
discouraged by the ‘grandfathers.’
Mendele was using his pen to rip and thrash…. Musar [moralizing]—this was Perets’s
beginning, secular moralizing. Into this
era emerged Reyzen with his ‘kol demama daka’ (voice still small), a lyrical
one, and with quiet humor, soft, but penetrating. He walked side by side with Y. L. Perets, whom
he loved as a hassid does his rebbe, but along his own quiet approach. He walked in league with Sholem Asch and H.
D. Nomberg, who just like him were pupils of Perets, though alien to him was
Nomberg’s small world of broken intellectuals and Sholem Asch’s flying to the
heavens and dictating to the gods.
Reyzen sought out the humanity even where there was no proper man…. His value lay not in the motifs of the
time. Without the divine, Reyzen sought
and found the Sabbath festiveness even in everyday events and everyday
people…. His main point was humanity,
all humanity.”
“Avrom
Reyzen derived the theme [of poverty],” remarked Leyzer Podryatshik,
“from the crowded Pale of Settlement and elevated it to a world issue. His depressed poor folk and wretched
tradesmen, disgraced servants and offended journeymen were all victims of the
general injustice that dominated the world.
A. Reyzen regarded small town Jewish poverty as part of the great social
injustice in the world. Hence, the
pathos of his protest against the corruptors of men and mankind. Therein his revolt against the societal
forces that lead to national and social injustice…. His poems and stories were imbued with ethical
depths and aesthetic heights, rich in the wisdom of life, understanding, and
prudence. They were a manifesto of an
elevated humanism. ‘To humanize life,’
wrote A. Reyzen, ‘is the highest step.’
Regardless of the appalling, often even gloomy atmosphere prevailing in
his stories, Avrom Reyzen the artist was not an elegiac poet, but rather a
consoling one. His artistic frame of
mind is truly a tragic one, but not a pessimistic one.”
“Reyzen
is the poet of the common Jew,” wrote M. Olgin.
“He recounts the heartache of the average, ordinary man. The thousand years of sorrow that has
accumulated in the Jewish soul rings out in his poetry, but the sorrow is
without rage, the sorrow is without curses, the sorrow is locked within itself
and is nourished by compassion. This is
the Jewish misfortune…. Reyzen’s poems do
not lack social or national motifs. He
does not ponder the community at large; he does not ask: From where and to
where? The community, the people, the
society are for him facts, they exist, and he takes them for a readymade
substratum of his longing and anxiety.”
“Just
as he simplified the form of his story into a conversational mode,” noted
Borekh Rivkin, “…and thus worked out his own admirable method of storytelling,
he also sought and found a simplified frame for his poems in approaching the
form of a folksong, with concrete content—replete with mood, feelings, and
wisdom. He also considered it necessary to
invest energy in a melody for his poems, so that Lithuanian Jews would be able
to reproduce them…. And Reyzen had
worked out his own poetic form, not a folksong, but an artistic, prudent
borrowing of the ‘classical’ folk style in verse: with exclamation, questions
and answers, parallels, and refrains.
And the people would thus come to the recognition: Yes, a song, no one
should be ashamed of singing it, and a large number of Reyzen’s poems were included
among those songs of the people.”
“Avrom
Reyzen was one of those,” wrote Shiye Rapoport, “who brought Yiddish poetry to
the people and thus brought the people to Yiddish poetry. This does not hold for Bovshover, nor for
Edelshtat, nor for Winchevsky, because they brought to the people the
revolutionary poem, the poem of revolt.
It does hold for Morris Rozenfeld, Yehoash, and Avrom Reyzen. They brought the people to the lyrical poem,
which spoke not only to the class-conscious proletariat, to social instinct,
but also to the human heart, to its sentiments, to its sixth literary sense. And of the three of them, the closest to the
heart of the common man was Avrom Reyzen.
His poems spoke to the heart of the common man, because it was
primitive, both in its feelings and in the language of expression. Avrom Reyzen was very close to the folksong
which is almost always simple, open, unartistic, and naïve. His poetry was the middle ring linking
Yiddish folk poetry with Yiddish art poetry.”
In
addition to those mentioned above, his works include the following: Der proletaryer af frishe luft, Reyzele, Orime
layṭ (The proletariat in fresh air, Reyzele, Poor people) (Warsaw:
Algemeyne ferlag, n.d.), 29 pp.; Der
samovar, Di orime kehile, Di groyse suke (The samovar, the poor Jewish
community, the large succah) (n.p., n.d.); Lieder
fun leben, a naye zamlung (Poems of life, a new collection) (Warsaw:
Progres, 1904/1905), 95 pp.; Fermashkent
zikh aleyn, ertsehlung (Mortgaged myself, a story) (Warsaw: Bikher-far-ale,
1905), 11 pp.; Skhar-limed, ertsehlung
(Tuition, a story) (Warsaw: Bikher-far-ale, 1906), 11 pp.; Farshpetigt (Tardy) (Warsaw: Familyen biblyotek, 1909), 16 pp.; Naye ertsehlungen (New stories) (Warsaw:
Velt biblyotek, 1909/1910), 2 vols; Shriften
(Writings), vol. 1, collected poetry (Warsaw: Progres, 1909/1910), 301 pp.; Naye verk (New works) (Warsaw:
Bikher-far-ale, 1910-1914), 3 vols.; Novelen
(Stories) (Warsaw: Progres, 1911), 92 pp.; Ale
verk in tsvelf bender (Complete works in twelve volumes) (New York: Dos
naye land, 1912), 190 pp.—only vol. 1, Ertsehlungen,
appeared; Shriften (Warsaw: Progres,
1913/1914), 10 vols.; Ovend-klangen, naye
lider zamlung, 1911-1913 (Evening sounds, a new poetry collection,
1911-1913) (Vilna: B. A. Kletskin, 1914), 145 pp.; Di ibergeblibene un andere ertselungen (The remaining ones and
other stories) (Vilna: B. A. Kletskin, 1914), 237 pp.; Ale verk fun avrom reyzen (Complete works of Avrom Reyzen) (New
York: Idish, 1917), 12 vols.—(1) Lieder
(Poetry); (2) Amolige menshen (People
of the past); (3) Heymishe menshen
(Familiar people); (4) In shtodt (In
the city); (5) Lider; (6) Eynakters un monologn (One-act plays and
monologues); (7) Shtile liebe (Quiet
love); (8) Orime gemeynden (Poor communities);
(9) In amerike (In America); (10) Di obshpiglung (The reflection); (11) Lieder; (12) Bunte ertsehlungen (Batch of stories)—Tsvey briderlakh, Dos zeydens lamtern, Di idene mitn bob (far aykh un
ayere kinder) (Two little brothers, Grandfather’s lantern, The Jewish woman
with the bean, for you and your children) (New York: Idish, 1919), 32 pp.; Geklibene lider (Selected poems), comp.
and annot. Itshe Goldberg (New York, n.d.), 11 pp.; Humoresken-bukh, 1916-1920 (Volume of humorous sketches, 1916-1920)
(New York: Nay-tsayt, 1920), 256 pp.; Naye
shriftn (New writings) (New York: Idish, 1920), vol. 1, 224 pp.; Der boym, Di fabrik, Af di hoykhe berg
(The tree, The factory, On high mountains) (Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1921), 25 pp.,
“shortened for children” (later editions: 1926; Mexico City, 1962); 50 lider, a matone di kinder fun di idishe
shuln (Fifty poems, a gift to the children in Jewish schools) (New York:
Matones, 1926), 46 pp.; Gezamlte shriftn
(Collected writings) (New York: Frayhayt, 1928), 14 vols. in 7; Nyu-yorker noveln, naye zamlung (New
York tales, a new collection) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1929), 330 pp.; Naye lider (New poems) (Vilna: B.
Kletskin, 1929), 371 pp.; Gezamlte
shriftn (New York: Idish, 1930), 14 vols. in 7; Ven est di mame? Di naye late, dertseylungen (When does Mother eat?
The new patch, stories) (Vilna: Naye Yidish folksshul, 1933), 16 pp.; Gezamlte shriftn (New York: Forverts,
1933), 14 vols. in 7; Fun tsvey heymen
(From two homes) (Warsaw: Kinder-fraynd, 1935), 53 pp.; Der iber, Der kranker finger, A drame iber finf kartoflyes (The
intercalary month, The sick finger, A drama about five potatoes) (Vilna:
Grininke beymelekh, 1936), 15 pp.; Dertseylungen
(Stories)—A drame iber finf kartoflyes;
Di nasherin (The nibbler); In di raykhe gasn (In the rich street)—(Vilna:
Grininke beymelekh, 1939). 12 pp.; Geklibene
dertseylungen un lider, shul-oysgabe tsu avrom reyzens 70-yorikn yoyvl
(Selected stories and poems, a school edition for Avrom Reyzen’s seventieth
birthday) (New York: Workmen’s Circle Middle School, 1947), 126 pp.; Lider tsum zingen, mit di notn, a matone
mayne fraynt (Poems to sing, with notations, a gift to my friends) (New
York: Yoyvl-komitet, 1947), 64 pp. in typescript; Avrom reyzens 70-yoriker yubiley bukh (Avrom Reyzen’s seventieth
birthday jubilee volume) (Los Angeles, 1947); Di lider in tsvelf teyln, 1891-1951 (The poems in twelve parts,
1891-1951) (New York, 1951), 304 pp.; Dertseylungen
(New York: Tsiko, 1952), 320 pp.; Oysgeveylte
verk (Selected works) (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1955), 403 pp.; Oysgeveylte verk (Warsaw: Yidish bukh,
1964), 458 pp. (possibly a sequel to the previous work); Lider, dertseylungen, zikhroynes, muzik tsu 22 lider (Poems.,
stories, memoirs, music to twenty-two poems), edited with an introduction by
Shmuel Rozhanski (Buenos Aires: Yoysef Lifshits Fund, 1966), 316 pp.
Sources: The bibliography of works about Avrom Reyzen
until 1929 may be found in Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon,
vol. 4; for the subsequent years, see Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook
of the Yiddish theater), vol. 6 (Mexico City, 1969); Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of
Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Merḥavya,
1967); M. Olgin, In der velt fun gezangen (In the world of songs) (New
York, 1919), pp. 219-42; Bal-Makhshoves, Shriftn
(Writings), vol. 3 (Vilna, n.d.), pp. 92-96; Ab. Cahan, Bleter fun mayn leben (Pages from my life), vol. 4 (Vilna: B.
Kletskin, 1928), pp. 321ff; Khayim
Dunets, foreword to Reyzen’s Lider un
dertseylungen (Poems and stories) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publ., 1929);
Elye (Elias) Shulman, in Literarishe
bleter (Warsaw) (April 24, 1936); Shulman, Bay zikh (On my own) (Tel Aviv, 1977-1980), pp. 9-17; Shulman, Portretn un etyudn (Portraits and
studies) (New York, 1979), see index; Moyshe Blekher, in Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 10.1-2 (1936); Nokhum-Borekh Minkov, Yidishe klasiker-poetn, eseyen
(Classical Yiddish poets, essays) (New York, 1937), pp. 183-224; special Reyzen
issues of Di feder (New York) (1946,
1953); Borekh Rivkin, Yidishe dikhter in
amerike (Yiddish poets in America), vol. 1 (New York: Tsiko, 1947), pp. 109-18; Rivkin, Unzere prozaiker (Our prose writers)
(New York: IKUF, 1951), pp. 128-39; Hillel Rogoff, Der gayst fun “forverts” (The spirit of the Forward)
(New York, 1954); Yankev Glatshteyn, In
tokh genumen (In essence) (New York, 1956), pp. 48-63; Glatshteyn, In der velt mit yidish (The world with
Yiddish) (New York, 1972), pp. 15-16; Shloyme
Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye
(Avrom Reyzen’s bibliography) (New York: Library of Jewish teachers’ seminary
and people’s university, 1956); Shiye Rapoport, Oysgerisene bleter (Torn up pages) (Melbourne, 1957), pp. 177-86;
Rapoport, Zoymen in vint (Seeds in
the wind) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 211-16; Shloyme Bikl, Shrayber fun mayn dor (Writers of my generation) (New York, 1958),
pp. 271-77, and (Tel Aviv, 1965), pp. 324-29; Yefim Yeshurin, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom
Reyzen’s bibliography) (Buenos Aires, 1966); Dovid Shub, Fun di amolike yorn, bletlekh zikhroynes
(From years gone by, pages of remembrances) (New York, 1970), see index);
Khayim Bez, Shrayber un verk
(Writings and [their] work) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1971); Dov Sadan, Heymishe ksovim, shrayber, bikher, problemen
(Familiar writings, writers, books, issues), vol. 1 (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah,
1972), see index; Shmuel Niger, Yidishe
shrayber fun tsvantsikstn yorhundert (Yiddish writers of the twentieth
century), vol. 1 (New York, 1972); Niger, Fun
mayn togbukh (From my diary) (New York, 1973), see index; Shmuel Rozhanski,
Yidishe literatur-yidish lebn
(Yiddish literature, Jewish life), vol. 2 (Buenos Aires: YIVO literature
association, 1973), pp. 375-76; Ezriel Naks, in Jewish Book Annual (New York) 33 (1975/1976); Leyzer Podryatshik, In profil
fun tsaytn (In
profile of the times) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1978); Khayim Bez, in Jewish Book Annual 37 (1979/1980);
Charles A. Madison, Yiddish Literature:
Its Scope and Major Writers (New York: Ungar Publishing Company, 1968); Sol
Liptzin, A History of Yiddish Literature
(New York: J. David, 1972); Emanuel S. Goldsmith, Architects of Yiddishism at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: A Study
in Jewish Cultural History (Rutherford, NJ: Farleigh Dickenson University
Press, 1976).
Dr. Elye (Elias)
Shulman
