Golden Chains

...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 permeated 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 and introspective examinations of the complex situation imposed on the Jewish people. Influenced by these three so-called classic writers, many talented young writers emerged, and Yiddish literature entered its golden age in Lithuania, Poland, and New York from the 1860s to before World War II.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Golden Chain" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…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。これらのいわゆる古典的三大作家の影響を受け，多数の有能な若手作家が輩出し，1860年代から第2次大戦前までの期間，イディッシュ文学はリトアニア，ポーランド，ニューヨークにおいて黄金時代を迎える。…

※「《黄金の鎖》」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。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報