Yiddish People's Library

... The foundations of modern Yiddish literature were laid by Mendele Mocher-Sforim (1835-1917), who established the basic sentence patterns of the descriptive language, and it steadily flourished and developed through the energetic creative activities of his successors, Shalom Aleichem (1859-1916) and Isaac Leib Peretz (1852-1915). In his works Fischke the Cripple (1888) and The Wanderings of Benjamin III (1878), Mendele depicted the travels of a poverty-stricken man and a man possessed by dreams, satirizing the idealism and prejudice that lingered in Jewish society. Shalom Aleichem contributed to the rise of Jewish literature with the publication of the Yiddish People's Library (1888-89), and in a series of short stories such as Menachem Mendl (1892) and Tevye the Milkman (1894), he vividly portrayed the lives of ordinary Jewish people living in small villages under Russian oppression, in prose full of humor and pathos, and won over a large readership. Peretz stood between the strong traditionalism of Hasidism and the newly emerging idea of ​​modern progress, and in many mystical and religious folk tales and short stories, as well as in his plays The Golden Chain (1911) and Night at the Old Market (1914), he offered sharp, introspective examinations of the complex situation imposed on the Jewish people.

*Some of the terminology used in reference to the "Yiddish People's Library" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　近代のイディッシュ文学の基礎を築いたのは，記述言語としての基本文型を確立したメンデレ･モヘル･スフォリムMendele Mocher‐Sforim(1835‐1917)であり，続くシャローム･アライヘム(1859‐1916)，イサク･レイブ･ペレツIsaac Leib Peretz(1852‐1915)の精力的な創作活動を通じて着実な開花，発展を見ることになった。メンデレは《不具者フィシュケ》(1888)，《ベンジャミン3世の放浪》(1878)で貧困にあえぐ男や夢想に取り憑かれた男の遍歴譚を描き，ユダヤ社会にわだかまる観念主義や偏見を風刺し，シャローム･アライヘムは《イディッシュ人民文庫》(1888‐89)発行によってユダヤ文学興隆に貢献するとともに，《メナヘム･メンドル》(1892)，《牛乳屋テビエ》(1894)など，連作の諸短編でロシア圧政下の小村落に住むユダヤ庶民の姿をユーモアと哀感のあふれる文章で活写し，多数の読者を獲得した。ペレツはハシディズム信奉の強固な伝統主義と新しく勃興した近代進歩思想の相克するはざまに立って，神秘性･宗教性を帯びた多くの民話や短編，さらに戯曲《黄金の鎖》(1911)，《古き市場の夜》(1914)で，ユダヤ民族に課された複雑な状況に対し鋭利な内省的検討を加えた。…

※「《イディッシュ人民文庫》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

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