V. E. Kelner

David Vygodskiy and his Conception of Development of the Jewish Poetry

(based on the materials of the Manuscript Department at the Russian National Library).

After a blitz on August 7, 1942 during the Leningrad siege, the Public Library received a message saying that numerous books and papers could be seen in a broken wall of flat No. 1 in 9 Mokhovaia Street destroyed by a bomb. The arriving Library team found the previous home place of Vygodsky family. By that time the father, David Vygodsky, was sent to a concentration camp for alleged counterrevolutionary activities, his wife Emma evacuated and their son Isaac at the front. All the books and papers were brought to the Public Library in two trucks. In this manner the Manuscripts division acquired the archives of a prominent translator and literary critic, David Isaakovich Vygodsky.

He was born in a family of long cultural tradition. Several generations of Vygodskys contributed well-known authors, politicians and scholars. Orphaned as a very young child, David Vygodsky was brought up by an uncle in a most cultured home with a vast library. Although Russian was actually a household tongue, David also had an extensive national education. He attended a Russian gymnasia, graduating with a gold medal in 1912. This medal gave him a chance to join the history and philology department at Petersburg University. As an undergraduate student, he attended the famous seminars led by S.A. Vengerov and F.F. Zeiinsky. Among his instructors were eminent philologists and historians like J.A. Baudoin de Courtenet, V.F. Shishmarev, L.V. Sherba, S.F. Platonov, I.M. Grevs, A.I. Vvedensky. His outstanding talent for linguistics enabled him to master basic European languages in the course of several years. He was particularly keen on the Esperanto. And David never abandoned poetry. As a gymnasia pupil, he contributed to the school magazine Zarnitsy (Summer Lightnings). As a high-school student, he published short reviews in the local press. He took an active interest in modern poetry. David Vygodsky had been publishing critical essays since 1914. In a newspaper Polesie (Woodlands) published in Gomel, he edited the regular column Letters from Petrograd. Most of his articles between 1914 and 1917 appeared in the journal Letopis (Chronicle) and newspaper Novaia zhizn (New Life) published M. Gorky's. Among them were reviews and critical essays on poetry and prose, dealing with such authors as F. Sollogub, D. Merezhkovsky, V. Bryusov, A. Akhmatova, N. Gumilev, V. Mayakovaky, V. Khiebnikov. At the same time, he met the young authors and critics: lu. Tynyanov, M. Slonymsky, V. Shklovsky. During the Civil War David Vygodsky stayed in Gomel. He taught literature and foreign languages, and contributed actively to the local press. His critical articles signed "Lishniy" (Superfluous) were prominent in the newspapers Probleski (Flashes) and Gomelskaia mysl (Gomel Conception). His Russian-language volume The Land was published in Gomel in 1922. In the same year he returned to Petrograd and was employed by Vsemirnaia literatura (World Literature) press. He also translated for the foreign department of Gosizdat (State Publishing) office in Petrograd, and contributed to the magazines Russia and, at a later time, Zvezda (Star). When World Literature press was closed in 1925, Vygodsky moved to the State Literature Publishing House, and in 1934 began editing foreign and domestic national literature for the Khudozhestvennaia literature. (Belles-Lettres). In the 20s and 30s he translated at least twenty novels by French, Spanish, German and Latin American authors. He also published critical reviews of contemporary poetry. As translator and critic, David Vygodsky was appreciated and respected both in the USSR and in many European and Latin American countries. His archives contain multiple letters from authors in various countries. He also corresponded extensively with authors and poets in the USSR attracting his critical interest. His continuous friendly communications included authors and scholars lu. Tynyanov, M. Slonimsky, C. Vaginov, B. Livshitz, V. Zhirmunsky, B. Eichenbaum, M. Kozakov. A. Akhmatova signed a portrait for him and 0. Mandelshtam dedicated a comic poem. Also, Mikhail Slonimsky made a pencil portrait of Vygodsky. His friends used to call him King David. In 1934 he was delegated to the First Congress of USSR Writers' Union, with deliberative vote. This seemingly prosperous life ended on February 14, 1938 when he was arrested for counterrevolutionary activities. I had an opportunity to see his Case. It shows that David Vygodsky was involved in the so-called Translators' Case, already causing arrest and subsequent execution by shooting of well-known authors B. Livshitz and V. Stenich. David Vygodsky was specifically charged with holding, screened by the Spanish/American Society under his presidency, "illegal meetings criticizing, in counterrevolutionary terms, actions of the Communist Party and Soviet Government" In prison David Vygodsky was exposed to torture and humiliation by investigators, as recollected vy his former cell-mate, poet Nikolay Zabolotsky. Among the friends speaking in defense of Vygodsky were lu. Tynyanov, B. Lavrenev, C. Fedin, V. Shklovsky, M. Slonimsky, M. Shaginian and "M. Zoshenko. Each wrote to the NKVD and the Office of Public Prosecutor, questioning every point of the prosecution. Their efforts seemed helpful. The prosecution demanded a minimum sentence of that time - five-year camp labor. David Isaakovich Vygodsky died in the Karlag (Karaganda Camp), Kazakhstan, in 1943. ⁵⁵

David Vygodsky already had a fluent knowledge of Jewish, both Hebrew and Yiddish, as a very young child. The family regarded national education as an integral part of general child education. He also showed an early interest in Jewish writing. Early 20^th-century journals and notebooks in his archives indicate systematic knowledge of Jewish authors and poets. His early critical efforts include both reviews of Jewish authors and attempted translations from Hebrew and Yiddish into Russian. During his student years in Petrograd, he retained interest in his people's literature. In 1915 he published in the magazine Evreiskii student (Jewish Student a review of recent third edition of collected Songs and Poems by Khaim-Nakhman Byalik in authorized translation and with introduction by another key representative of Jewish culture and politics, Vladimir Zhabotinsky. In his review David Vygodsky wrote that "Byalik is a serious national and popular poet though not in the usual sense. He expresses his love for the people, describing their needs and sorrows; he blames his people, cursing the grievances that strike them, the shame they invoke, the stupid submissiveness to anything that may befall them. In this way he intends to rouse and awaken the people". The reviewer goes on declaring that "A poet is a prophet grieving for God..." In his opinion, Byalik's curses are "... born of boundless love." Also, Vygodsky believes that "...in Byalik we have an Old Judean prophet revived."⁶ His review shows a keen insight into the core and meaning of translating skills. He was fairly critical about the quality of translation provided by such recognized expert as V. Zhabotinsky. Not without youthful temper, he pronounced the version very inferior to the original. Immediately admitting "the common fate of translation" and suggesting an "omnipresent spirit of the Song of Songs in Jewish imagery" that is "inevitably lost in translation."⁷ David Vygodsky who also attempted translation at that time, concluded the review rather pessimistically, saying that "While poetic style generally defies translation, this is particularly true for Old Hebrew poetry. There is too much original splendor, and too much intimate poetic imagery to be expressed in a foreign tongue".⁸

The great prestige that David Vygodsky enjoyed in the field of Jewish literature led editors of the newspaper Novaia zhizn in 1917 to invite him to write the obituary of Mendele Moikher-Sphorim. The obituary was actually transformed as a critical essay dedicated to this classic of Jewish literature. The obituarist provided both serious criticism and linguistic analysis. He was probably the first to emphasize the author's linguistic achievements, describing Mendele Moikher-Sphorim as "ever dashing between the two tongues... Both gained new merit in his style; the almost extinguished Hebrew appearing as extraordinarily sensitive everyday speech, and the street slang as elegant and noble."⁹ Vygodsky as a critic submitted to no authority. This was largely consistent with the dominant trends in Russian early 20^th-century criticism. He made it evident in analyzing the collected works Gatkufe published in Hebrew in 1918, with a well-known author D. Frischman acting as compiler, editor, translator and chief contributor. Having noted the „fact, Vygodsky wrote that "... the trouble is that, as could be expected, Frischman has won no laurels in any capacity." Consequently, Vygodsky labeled him as "a third-rate poet, indifferent fiction writer, and superficial critic." On the other hand, he pointed out that D. Frischman's greatest merit seems to lie "in his love for Jewish literature and his efforts to promote it."¹⁰ In the same manner Vygodsky discussed The Jews, a play written by another recognized author of the time. Semen lushkevich. Reviewing the Gomel company performance in the People's House, he described it as "too topical", grossly tendentious, generally oversimplified ..., of no artistic merit whatever."¹¹ Years after in a review ofPeretz Markisch's Borderline in Russian translation, David Vygodsky was very critical about the quality of translation made by P. Antokolsky, 0. Kolychev, E. Bagritsky, D. Brodsky and L. Penkovsky.¹² And three more years after, in one of his last "Jewish" works, a review of Selected Jewish Poets translated by 0. Kolychev, he also criticized both the content and the quality of translation.¹³

The most significant literary study of D. Vygodsky concerning contemporary Jewish poetry was his Modern Jewish Poetry published in Parthenon collected papers in 1923. This questioned the popular thesis of the "demise" of Hebrew poetry. Analyzing the work of S. Chernikhovsky, Z. Schneur, Kh.-N. Byalik and some other poets writing in Hebrew, he suggested some new ways for them, insisting that "...

they involve extended subject range and unhindered adoption of all-European poetic achievements ... along with free vocabulary, liberal syntax and active searching for new techniques of poetic expression."¹⁴ The author compares poems of Byalik, Chernikhovsky and Z. Schneur with the heyday of Jewish medieval Spanish-Arabic writing. But further suggesting that future conditions may reduce the literature to mere amateurishness. Notice that this was written at the time when Hebrew writing was attacked by Jewish Communist critique notoriously condemning the tongue as "reactionary and religious".¹⁵

David Vygodsky showed a life-long passion for Hebrew. The archives include his manuscripts of both published and unpublished Russian versions of poems by Kh.-N. Byalik, M. Berdichevsky, I.-L. Gordon, S. Chernikhovsky, essays and comments on their work.

At a later time, when Hebrew writing was actually banned in the second half of the 20s, David Vygodsky directed his attention to Jewish poetry and prose in Yiddish. His archives contain a presentation at a meeting of Jewish poets in Leningrad in the early 30s. This is a brief review of Yiddish poetry after 1917. He mentioned the "founding fathers", David Gofstein, Peretz Markisch and Aron Kushnirov. Then he offered a periodical classification of Yiddish poetry, specifying the two stages: 1917 to 1920 and 1921 to 1924. According to Vygodsky, authors then "were free of the burden of mystic gibberish, the messianic ideas - the common burden of bourgeois legacy." He found a pivotal point in A. Kushnirov's poem Hirsch Lekkert. His major preoccupation was with the evolution of Peretz Markisch and David Gofstein.¹⁶

Vygodsky also discussed some specific features of translation from Yiddish in his essay on National Poetry in Russian Translation.¹⁷ Among the Yiddish-writing poets he was particularly interested in Peretz Markisch. Vygodsky described him as "the greatest Jewish poet", emphasizing his "... original and very pronounced poetic quality ... extraordinary rich and precise, well-considered and always vocabulary-mediated style."¹⁸ In 1933 David Vygodsky wrote a special review of the Russian version of P. Markisch's Borderline. He was primarily concerned with the early phase between 1919 and 1921. At that time the poet's "pre-Soviet" period was generally "sacrificed" in favor of the next phase fitting in the Procrustean bed of Soviet literary criticism. Contrary to popular cliches, D. Vygodsky described Markisch's early poems as "rebellious, brisk, buoyant, repudiating the nationalistic romanticism of pre-Revolutionary Jewish verse and remonstrating against small-town melancholy and idealistic tradition, as well as poetic "millennial mourning", synagogal gloom and hand-wringing..."¹⁹ The review inevitably followed contemporary stylistics. In the 30s, a different manner meant both individual risk and potential trouble for the author analyzed.²⁰ Along with his primary interest in the new generation of Jewish authors, Vygodsky attempted using the official press to advantage, to remind the public of the writers and poets pursuing their literary career long before 1917. Thus his article on National Art in the USSR contains a special section dedicated to Avraam Reizen's collected Tales and Short Stories published in 1929. David Vygodsky described the author as "the first Jewish writer to find his topic in poor Jewish settlements... "²¹

Critical analysis of Russian versions, assistance to the authors in solving various artistic and organizational problems - these were only a few efforts made by David Vygodsky to support and promote Jewish literature. His archives include some projects for an anthology of Jewish poetry, initiated in different periods of his life. They certainly represent a valuable legacy of 20^th-century Jewish verse in Russia. He was also the author of all Russian versions of selected Hebrew and Yiddish verse. According to his dates on the manuscripts, he began selecting verse as early as 1912, proceeding until the mid-30s. For many years Vygodsky had been pursuing his dream of a published world collection of Jewish poetry in Russian translation.²² Each project included a prefatory essay. The one specifically dedicated to Hebrew verse contained the following address to prospective publishers: "This volume is designed to present the finest and most characteristic work of poets writing in Hebrew, from the origins of Jewish poetry in Spain to modern times. The broad author list would run as follows:

the father of secular poetry, Ganagid; the Great Spanish Triad - Ibn-Gabirol, Halevy, Ibn-Ezra; the Prince of Jewish poetry in Italy, Emmanuel of Rome. Then the West European poetic revival with Letteris, Luzzato, and the Russian revival with M. Lebenson, Michel Gordon, Oscher Schapiro, Mane, etc. Then via Frischman and I.-L. Peretz to recent poets past and present like Byalik, Chernikhovsky, Schneur, Jacob Kagan, David Fischman, Izkhak Katzenelson and others.

All these should give the Russian public an insight lacking at present. Byalik being the only familiar name. Other translated versions have been occasional and very few, with selection mostly governed either by religious considerations for medieval poetry, or nationalistic quality for modern poets. A genuine anthology should emphasize secular motives in medieval lyrics and universal humanism in modem verse.

The volume will accompanied with a brief introductory review explaining the main phases of Jewish poetry and relating them to general European cultural events."²³ Judging by content, this address to the publishers could be written between the 20s and 30s. It uses some well-established definitions indispensable for any potential publisher of this volume. However, the author list includes Kh.-N. Byalik soon to be declared reactionary and nationalistic, and consequently banned in the USSR. In addition to the list provided by D. Vygodsky, the anthology was to include many poets appearing in the last decade and representing the Hebrew literary tradition in Russia. Among them were David Schonovich, Ely Lisitsky, L. Gainer, Benjamin-Nakhum Silkiner, Jacob Steinberg, Eliahu Eingom and some others.

Obviously, the project was dismissed and D. Vygodsky suggested another, presumably less questionable in terms of censorship. His project proposal concerning the new anthology appears to account for the spirit of the times and the requirements of authorities responsible for such publication. The new project was entitled the Ne\v Jewish Poetry. The material was divided in four sections. Section one included the poets Schloime Ettinger, Mikhl Gordon, Eleakum Zunser. Section two included residents of Russia like Semen Frug, Izhok-Leibusch Peretz, S. An-sky, Maurice Rosenfeld. Section three involved early 20^th-centuIy poets, including Eliahu Eingom, Avraam Reizen in Russia, and Mani Leib and M. Weber in the US. Section four was described by Vygodsky as "the young school of pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary poets." Among them were Zusman Segalovich, Leiba Kvitko, Peretz Markisch, Aron Kuschnirov, Elisha Rodin.²⁴ Analysis of this project clearly indicates deliberate combination of authors writing in Hebrew and Yiddish in one anthology. In this way David Vygodsky sought to prove the thesis of integral Jewish literature, independent of such considerations as language or publishing dates. Hence the Yiddish-writing Markisch along with the persecuted member of the last generation of Hebrew-writing Jewish poets in Russia, Elisha Rodin. In a special covering letter to the project proposal, the compiler argued that the project incorporated "pieces of Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary poetry in Russia, demonstrating that Jewish poetry is flourishing along with literature of other ethnic minorities in the USSR." He pointed out that "the volume will provide for the reader, in addition to knowledge of individual national literature, many notable pieces of genuine secular lyricism and revolutionary passion." Notice another feature - the anthology included both famous authors and significant numbers of poets only occasionally published in Jewish periodicals. Thus the reading public was offered a broader genre- and subject range of Jewish poetry. Vygodsky promised a preface "explaining how and why Jewish poetry, unlike major writing types, originated among the lower classes, ever evolving upwards and not otherwise."²⁵

However, all the contrivances failed to implement David Vygodsky's dream of publishing this comprehensive collection of Jewish poems he selected and translated into Russian. His archives include other anthology projects taking decades to develop:

Jewish Poets and Selected Jewish Lyrics. His collected translations of Jewish poetry in medieval Spain also remained unpublished.

David Vygodskiy had been simultaneously translating and studding either Russian or the Jewish poetry during all his life. This movement in the parallel directions influenced over his poetic manner and even over his translation skills.

The archives of David Vygodsky demonstrate his genuine and life-long passion for his people's poetic heritage. Despite the unfavorable contemporary conditions, he made every conceivable effort to promote this literature. As early as the 20s he was the first to notice the young playwright Mosche Gerschenson, translating from Yiddish one of his early works, the poem Spring Legend. His archives contain letters from many Jewish writers and poets who regarded him as both a clever and subtle critic, and a tireless advocate of his people's literature. He corresponded with David Galkin, Aron Kuschnirov, Peretz Markisch, Khaim Gildin, Izi Kharik, Cesar Voipe, Khaim Gorfunkel, Khaim Levin, Note Lurye.

The name of David Vygodsky was also familar among Jewish poets and writers in the US. This is evident from his correspondence with Leiba Khanukov whose novel Submarine Z-l he translated into Russian. Letters from L. Khanukov contain interesting information on Jewish literary developments in the US during the 20s and 30s. In the 30s, he also translated a novel of another Jewish author in the US, the Red Fields by Peretz Hirschbein. He wrote prefatory articles for the two translated versions, introducing the reader to Jewish writing in the US.

As a young man, David Vygodsky had started special note-books for his friends, acquaintances and colleagues. The archives include one such book for 1916-1921. This contains, for instance, poems written down by Sophia Dubnova and G. Leievich. Some other entries were signed by multiple young beginners surrounding Vygodsky during his residence in Gomel.

David Vygodsky had always collected photographic portraits, cartoons and friendly jests related to literary figures. Many of them will be useful for further development and research of Jewish literary iconography.

Materials preserved there demonstrate that his conception of development of the Jewish poetry was based on the notion of its continuity without paying attention to its language, thematic, and stylistic verity. He always underlined a deep connection of times being characteristic for the Jewish poetry as well as permanent interaction between literatures belonged to peoples Jewish poets lived and worked among.

The archives of David Vygodsky, an important contributor to Jewish literature in Russia, contain documented evidence of sufficient amount and importance to provide, upon proper investigation, a better view of 20^th-century Jewish literature.

1Thus Jacob Vygodsky, a notable Jewish activist, was on Lithuania's first independent government in 1918 and 1919. A cousin of David Vygodsky, eminent psychologist and educationalist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, began his scholarly and literary career together with his cousin in Gomel in 1918. To avoid confusion, he altered his family name or, more exactly, substituted the "t" for the.

2Fatkhullina R. Materials towards a biolgraphy of David Vygodsky // Faces: A Book of Biography. M., L.,1992.

3Case No. 35928 incriminating Vygodsky D.I. under article 58-8 (Leningrad Martyrology archives)

4 Zabolotsky N. The Story of My Imprisonment II The Silver Age. Memoirs. M., 1900. P. 667.

5 Fatkhullina R. Id.

6 Evreiskii student. 1917. N 5. 10 April.

7 Ibid.

8 8 Ibid.

9 Novaia zhizn. 1917.N 141 (185). 2 December

10 Polesie. 1918. N 63. 8 September.

11 National Library of Russia. Manuscripts. F. 1169, Item 216, Sheet 104.

12 As above. Item 186.

13 Vygodsky D. Selected Jewish Poets // Zvezda. 1936. N 3. P. 201-203.

14 Vygodsky D. Modem Jewish Poetry // Parthenon. Coll. 1. St.P., 1922. P. 92-94.

15 Gilboa 1. Hebrew Writing in the USSR // Jewry in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1967. Jerusalem, 1967.P.251.

16 NLR.F. 1169. Item 131.

17 Zvezda, 1934. N 11. P. 166-167.

18 Ibid. P. 167.

19 NLR. Manuscr. F. 1169. Item 181.

20 For similar considerations, D. Vygodsky in his review of Selected Jewish Poets in 1937, published in the magazine Zvezda (1936. N 3. P. 201-201) highlighted, among other merits of the compiler, his wise choice ensuring that"... not a trace remains either ofByalik's nationalistic narrow-mindedness or ofEingorn's synagogal tearfulness."

21 NLR. Manuscr. F. 1168. Item 181.

22 As late as 1937, in his review of a minor selection of Jewish Poets translated by 0. Kolychev, he insisted that the edition was by no means exhaustive but rather"... anticipating the task of an extensive anthology of Jewish poetry both Soviet and pre-Revolutionary, representing every significant achievement." (Zvezda. 1936. N 3. P. 203)

23 NLR. Manuscr. F. 1169. Item 225. Sh. 1-2.

D. Vygodsky among young writers and journalists. Gomel, 1920.

L. Vygotsky, D. Vygodsky, H. Garfunkel.