YANKL RIVES (January 6, 1886-1975)
He was an
author of stories and novels, born in Osveye (Aśvieja), Byelorussia, into a
poor family of fishermen. He worked as a
tailor. From his youth, he was involved
in the revolutionary movement, and from 1919 he was a member of the Communist
Party. During the years of the Soviet civil
war, he worked with the Bolshevik underground in Byelorussia. He published his first stories in 1919 in Vilner vokhenblat (Vilna weekly
newspaper), Tog (Day), Der shtern (The star), and Der shnayder (The tailor), and later in Sovetish (Soviet), and Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland),
among other serials. His work also
appeared in Dertseylungen fun yidishe
sovetishe shrayber (Stories by Soviet Yiddish writers) (Moscow, 1969). His works include: Untererd, dertseylungen (Underground, stories) (Moscow: Central
Publ., 1929), 135 pp.; Bam yam un andere
dertseylungen (By the sea and other stories) (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: Central
Publ., 1931), 160 pp.; In teg fun
fargreytung (In the days of preparation), stories (Minsk: State Publ.,
1935), 99 pp.; Yan dzembo, khronik
(Yan Dzembo, a chronicle) (Moscow: Emes, 1938), 157 pp.; Farborgene koykhes (Hidden strength) (Moscow: Emes, 1941), 210 pp.;
Bol’sheviki, roman (Bolsheviks, a
novel) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1966), 167 pp.; Der veg tsum zig, roman (The road to victory) (Moscow: Sovetski
pisatel, 1975), 182 pp. In Rives’s
stories and novels, which bear a memoirist, autobiographical character, there
is reflected the revolutionary work with which he was personally involved in
Russia.
Sources: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications
in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), see index; Sovetish heymland (Moscow) 3 (1975), p.
189; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Berl Cohen
[Additional information from: 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), p. 363].
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