Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-08-19
The Jewish Writers Of Russia
Contemporary Russian Literature, by Prince $ Airsky,
Alfred A. knopf)


That Russia should have produced even one Jewish
itcIacur Of any importance before lt,youton of
1905 should Ie matter OF great wonder. Confined to
the Pale usually denied into the universities dis
crimnatcd against In the conservative press which
usually the starting point for writer who wished
achieve bit of fame Russia Jews emerge aioye
the mediocre class Itssinn penn may credit
ed with tremendous amount OF energy and
Many Of them found 1t necessary either deny
sake the ranks Of their regionsts, hut there al
most who achieved their celebrity by depletion
of the life of their own people and by working in their
natural mieu.
The First Great R.,sslsn.Jewish Author
Perhaps the best possible historian from certain points
of view. is Prince ID. s. Mirsky ecausp he is tainted
with rrcnctonary ysm' his Contemporary Russian Liter.
aturc be considered valuable survey of Russian
Jewish writer's Any estimate Of approval which he may
pass Jewish writer may be taken authoritative
and the general opinion of Russia. onc may be
that Mlrsk, is not particularly anxious give credit where
II is forced from him
The first fulLboo.led Jew to win a reputation Rus
sian letters ~ NJ Vilenkn, known Minsky blS5J),
whose poetry inspired Of the during
the reign of Alexander Ill 1SS1SI) by the evils Of
d,spotsm and social injustice And although he the
first to Introduce the Molerns movement Into Russian
literature, his efforts codly received because Of his
predominant intclectunsm. His abstention from sentl
mentality and his adherence to cold and ideasm
alienae him from the general Russian render Though
he marks forward movement In Russian poetry, he
rivaed in popular estimation by coregionist.
ognizcd the foremost Civic poet of the time, Semen
Nakovleych Madison (1sG2-1Ss7) who appealed the
masses because of the simplicity and snpotness of his
style. Mirsky declares however, that Nadsons poetry
marks the Owwater mark of Russian poctonl technique
and his popularity the low-water mark of Russian
poetica taste His jelly fish poetry preferred to
thing else school girl and student knew by heart
dreds of lines from him and his collected poems into
several of thousands before the end of the century,
One of the few Russian-Jewisl authors who Spined
Russian readers despite his concentration
on Jewish subjects Semen Soomonovicl Yushkevich
b 1868 whose best known novel THE Jews describes
the life and of his people He several novels
and quite few plays the most famous of which is Mis-
erere because of the attained in the
of the promising the socalel Znanc school Of
fiction" "Inanie the of the magazine founded
Icy Maxim Gorsky which became the ralyine ground for
all the young school of prose writer's and for few
almost monopozed Russian imaginative literature
1t is worth noting at this point that few Jewish
poets writers attained fame when they
followed the academic paths in literature They usually
sunk into the extreme background when they attempted
experiments either in advanced realism in fantastic
futuriSm
Osip Dymov
There probably only two Russian writers whose
work is favornby regarded and widely known
in the United States than in Russia. one Is Michael
cro, cl Artsybaslcv author of "Sann' and breaking
Point. etc The other is the who attained srent
uotorcy because of his suit against Guy Bolton for