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PART ONE Abramovitsh FIGURE 1 S. Y. Abramovitsh -" ~- . S r--~-... ..J/.i f... ; r-" ~ (I f J [J V1 kilometres 300 .. J II \'1.\0o}''I:!P~.,.'i. ~0> .\\ (/1'1y, .....\\.::::. ···.....·r.... ,fj \."'...... UA.!VIA ( y" ~~ / Vilna· C Z A R:~. 1ST " ..... r" Minsk ~.,...r· Kapoha • / ....,.~......,... (Kopyl). BELO ........... ...:.... Tlmkovltz· ·SI k '/yt..;" ';. ~ Warsaw. uts I..>&/. ;) '( POLISH ~ .:..... :. o miles Moscow 150 ':, PROVINCES R U S S';'::I A \ VOLHYNIA ::....... 'l .....-.. Lutsk· :.......:... ......-,r.,. I r . • Kiev GALle,:/!........ ~:.._Zhitomir. "'1 _ • • Berditchev AUSTRIA HUNGARY ) PODOLIA ~ .Kamenets- ~.....!,OdOlSk i " 'l UKRAINE '.., ~ Odessa 1 ;' ~ ~~ RUMANIA Russia's western border, 1815·1914 (~;;) . 4fIME~ Northern and eastern limit of r ~ the Pale of Jewish Settlement Black Sea Martin Gilbert 1995 FIGURE 2 Abramovitsh's Eastern Europe 1836 1850-52 ca. 1853 ca. 1854-55 1856 1857 1858 1860 1862 1864-65 1865 1866 1867 TABLE 1. Chronology of Abramovitsh's Life Born in Kapolia (Kopyl), Minsk Province (date uncertain ). Studied in yeshivot in Timkovitz (Timkovichi), Slutsk, and Vilna (Vilnius). Lived with his mother and stepfather in Melnik (Mielnik); traveled with Avreml Khromoy (the Lame) through Volin (Volhynia) and Podolia to Komenitz (Kamenets-Podolsk); became acquainted with Avraham-Ber Gottlober, whose daughters taught him Russian and German. Married and divorced his first wife. Passed examinations to become a teacher in Komenitz. First published in Hebrew: "A Letter on Education" ("Mikhtav tal dvar ha-chinukh"). Moved to Berditchev (Berdichev) and married his second wife, Pessie Levin. Published a collection of essays in Hebrew, The Judgment of Peace (or The Judgment of Shalom, Mishpat shalom). Published his first Hebrew story, Learn to Do Well (Limdu heitev), and edited the first volume of his Hebrew edition of the Book of Natural History (Sefer toldot ha-teva<), based on a German work by Harald Othmar Lenz. Serialized his first Yiddish novel, The Little Man (Dos kleyne mentshele), in Kol mevasser, the Yiddish supplement to Alexander Tsederboym's Hebrew newspaper Ha-melitz. Published The Magic Ring (Dos vintshfingerl). Published his second collection of Hebrew essays, The Well ofJudgment C Ein mishpat), and edited the second volume of the Book of Natural History in Hebrew translation. Published an expanded Russian version of his Hebrew work Learn to Do Well as Fathers and Children, alluding to Turgenev's 1862 work bearing the same name. (continued) 1868 1869 1872 1873 1878 1879 1881 ca. 1882 1884 1885 1886 1886-87 1888 1889 TABLE 1. (Continued) Published Fathers and Children (Ha-'avot ve-habanim ) in Hebrew. Published The Tax (Di takse) and Fishke the Lame (Fishke der krumer); moved from Berditchev to Zhitomir, where he studied at the Rabbinical Institute but was refused ordination because of a radical sermon he delivered. Edited the third volume of the Book of Natural History in Hebrew translation. Published The Nag (or The Mare; Di klyatshe) in Yiddish. Published Travels of Benjamin the Third (Kitser masoes Binyomin hashlishi). Published the expanded second edition of The Little Man. Moved to Odessa, where he became Director of the Jewish school (Talmud Torah), a position he retained until the end of his life (except 1906-8); pogroms after the assassination of Alexander II shook his confidence in reform. Suffered from a long period of depression and literary inactivity. His daughter Rashel died at the age of 19; his son Meir (Mikhail), a Russianlanguage poet, was exiled for political activities and later converted to Christianity. Published The Tax (1869) in Russian translation; celebrated his first 25 years of literary activity; honored in a biographical essay by L. Binshtok in the Russian-Jewish journal Voskhod. Travels of Benjamin the Third (1878) published in Polish translation. The Nag (1873) published in Polish translation and then suppressed by the censors. Returned to writing Hebrew fiction with "In the Secret Place of Thunder" ("Be-seter ra'am"; title from Psalms 81:8). Published expanded Yiddish versions of Fishke the Lame and The Magic Ring. Published the expanded Yiddish version of The Nag and printed an autobiographical essay in Hebrew. (continued) 1890-97 1899 1901-5 1906 1908 1909-13 1917 TABLE 1. (Continued) Published new Hebrew stories and Hebrew versions of the Yiddish novels Travels of Benjamin the Third and The Magic Ring. Serialized the beginning of his autobiographical novel in Yiddish as Solomon, Son of Chaim (Shloyme reb Khaim's), which first appeared in Hebrew under the title In Those Days (Ba-yamim ha-hem, 1894- ). Revised his Yiddish and Hebrew works; deeply distressed by pogroms in 1903 and 1905. Moved to Geneva, Switzerland, following the Odessa pogrom of 1905. Returned to Odessa. Publication of Jubilee editions of his collected works in Hebrew and Yiddish. Death on 8 December. Sources: Leon Binshtok, "A Celebration of Yiddish Literature," in Voskhod, 1884; S. Y. Abramovitsh, autobiographical essay in Nachum Sokolov's Sefer zikharon, 1889; Zalman Reyzen, Leksikon fun der yidlsher literatur, presse un filologie, vol. 1, 1928; YIVO Pamphlet, "Di vikhtikstc faktn un dates fun Mendeles lebn un shafn," 1936; Mendele Moykher Sforim: reshimat ketavav ve- 'iggrotav le-hatkanat mahaduratam ha-akademit, 1965; Dan Miron, A Traveler Disguised, 1973; Guide to Yiddish Classics on Microfiche, ed. Chane Shmeruk, 1980. ...

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