Jacob Michailovitch Gordin
Encyclopedia
Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (May 1, 1853–June 11, 1909) was a Russia
n-born American
playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and naturalism into Yiddish theater.
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature characterizes him as "the acknowledged reformer of the Yiddish stage". At the time of his rise, professional Yiddish theater was still dominated by the spirit of the early (1886–1888) plays of its founder, Abraham Goldfaden
, which derived in no small measure from Purim
plays, often spectacles more than dramas; Goldfaden's later works were generally operetta
s on more serious subjects, perhaps edifying, but not naturalistic. Again quoting the Cambridge History, after his 1892 arrival in New York City
, "Gordin took the Yiddish drama in America from the realm of the preposterous and put a living soul into it", bringing it up to the level of "realistic melodrama".
, Gordin received a liberal though irregular education at home. When he came to New York in July, 1891, he was already a reformer and a fairly well recognized Russian writer. He had also been a farmer, a journalist, a shipyard worker in Odessa
, and, reportedly, an actor. When he first arrived in New York, he tried to scratch out a living writing for Russian-language newspapers and the socialist
Arbayter Tsaytung (precursor to The Forward), but his acquaintanceship with the noted Jewish actors Jacob Adler
and Sigmund Mogulesko
prompted him to try his hand at play-writing. His first play, Siberia was based on a true story about a man sent as a prisoner to Siberia
who escaped, lived out a normal life for many years, and was then exiled again. Although initially it met a rocky reception (as did his second play, Two Worlds), it was critical success. His third play, Der yidisher kenig lir (The Jewish King Lear) loosely adapted from Shakespeare and the Russian writer Nikolai Leskov's "King Lear of the Steppe", and set in 19th century Russia, laid the foundation of his career as Yiddish playwright. The play drew a new audience of Russian-Jewish intellectuals to the Yiddish theater; it constituted a defining moment in Adler's career as well as Gordin's, and is widely seen as ushering in the first "Golden Age" of Yiddish theater in New York. [Rosenfeld, 1977]
To some extent he had to compromise his modernist
vision with the theatrical conventions of the time. As in the plays of Goldfaden, Hurwitch, and Lateiner
, dancing and songs unrelated to the plot still occupied a prominent part in the play, but Gordin's plots were naturalistic and the characters were living persons. Under the influence of his plays, Jewish actors began to regard their profession as one which calls for study and an earnest attitude.
Gordin is noted more for bringing naturalism and realism into the Yiddish theater than as an intrinsically great dramatist. Again quoting the Cambridge History, "With all the realism of his situations, with all the genuineness of his characters, he was rather a producer of plays for a particular theatrical troupe than a writer of drama. That his comic characters generally stand in organic relation to the play is one of his chief merits. Of his many pieces (about 70 or 80) only a score or so have been published." They single out as some of his best Mirele Efros, Got, Mentsh un Tayvl (God, Man, and Devil, based on Goethe's Faust
), and Der Umbakanter (The Unknown).
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and naturalism into Yiddish theater.
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature characterizes him as "the acknowledged reformer of the Yiddish stage". At the time of his rise, professional Yiddish theater was still dominated by the spirit of the early (1886–1888) plays of its founder, Abraham Goldfaden
Abraham Goldfaden
Abraham Goldfaden ; was an Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yiddish and Hebrew, author of some 40 plays.Goldfaden is considered the father of the Jewish modern theatre.In 1876 he founded in...
, which derived in no small measure from Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
plays, often spectacles more than dramas; Goldfaden's later works were generally operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s on more serious subjects, perhaps edifying, but not naturalistic. Again quoting the Cambridge History, after his 1892 arrival in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, "Gordin took the Yiddish drama in America from the realm of the preposterous and put a living soul into it", bringing it up to the level of "realistic melodrama".
Life and career
Born in Mirgorod (also known as Novomirgorod), Ukraine, Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, Gordin received a liberal though irregular education at home. When he came to New York in July, 1891, he was already a reformer and a fairly well recognized Russian writer. He had also been a farmer, a journalist, a shipyard worker in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, and, reportedly, an actor. When he first arrived in New York, he tried to scratch out a living writing for Russian-language newspapers and the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
Arbayter Tsaytung (precursor to The Forward), but his acquaintanceship with the noted Jewish actors Jacob Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler
Jacob Pavlovich Adler , born Yankev P. Adler, was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and New York City....
and Sigmund Mogulesko
Sigmund Mogulesko
Sigmund Mogulesko — Yiddish: זעליק מאָגולעסקאָ Zelik Mogulesko, first name also sometimes given as Zigmund, Siegmund, Zelig, or Selig, last name sometimes spelled Mogulescu — was a singer, actor, and composer in the Yiddish theater, originally from Kalarash, Bessarabia Sigmund...
prompted him to try his hand at play-writing. His first play, Siberia was based on a true story about a man sent as a prisoner to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
who escaped, lived out a normal life for many years, and was then exiled again. Although initially it met a rocky reception (as did his second play, Two Worlds), it was critical success. His third play, Der yidisher kenig lir (The Jewish King Lear) loosely adapted from Shakespeare and the Russian writer Nikolai Leskov's "King Lear of the Steppe", and set in 19th century Russia, laid the foundation of his career as Yiddish playwright. The play drew a new audience of Russian-Jewish intellectuals to the Yiddish theater; it constituted a defining moment in Adler's career as well as Gordin's, and is widely seen as ushering in the first "Golden Age" of Yiddish theater in New York. [Rosenfeld, 1977]
To some extent he had to compromise his modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
vision with the theatrical conventions of the time. As in the plays of Goldfaden, Hurwitch, and Lateiner
Joseph Lateiner
Joseph Lateiner was a playwright in the early years of Yiddish theater, first in Bucharest, Romania and later in New York City, where he was a co-founder in 1903 with Sophia Karp of the Grand Theater, New York's first purpose-built Yiddish language theater building.Lateiner got his start writing...
, dancing and songs unrelated to the plot still occupied a prominent part in the play, but Gordin's plots were naturalistic and the characters were living persons. Under the influence of his plays, Jewish actors began to regard their profession as one which calls for study and an earnest attitude.
Gordin is noted more for bringing naturalism and realism into the Yiddish theater than as an intrinsically great dramatist. Again quoting the Cambridge History, "With all the realism of his situations, with all the genuineness of his characters, he was rather a producer of plays for a particular theatrical troupe than a writer of drama. That his comic characters generally stand in organic relation to the play is one of his chief merits. Of his many pieces (about 70 or 80) only a score or so have been published." They single out as some of his best Mirele Efros, Got, Mentsh un Tayvl (God, Man, and Devil, based on Goethe's Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
), and Der Umbakanter (The Unknown).
Partial list of works
Some of these plays may have earlier dates than indicated: it is possible that sources are referring to publication dates or revivals.- Siberia (1891)
- Der pogrom in rusland (The Pogrom in Russia) 1892
- Tsvey veltn, oder Der groyser sotsialist (Two Worlds, or The Great Socialist). According to B. Gorin, 1892; according to Z. Zylbercweig, 1896
- Der yidisher kenig lir (The Jewish King Lear) 1892
- Der vilder mentsh (The Wild Man) 1893
- Captain Dreyfus; Pogrom (1893)
- "Di litvishe brider lurie (The Lurie Brothers from Lithuania) 1894
- Zelig itzik, der fidler, free adaptation of Schiller's Intrigue and Love (Kabal und Liebe)
- "Der folks faynd" (An Enemy of the People), an adaptation from Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
, 1896 - Medea: a historishe tragedye (adapted from Franz GrillparzerFranz GrillparzerFranz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...
) no later than 1897 - Mirele EfrosMirele EfrosMirele Efros was an 1898 Yiddish play by Jacob Gordin. The title character is a powerful matriarch who becomes bitterly estranged from her own family...
, oder di yidishe kenigin lir (Mirele Efros or the Jewish Queen Lear) 1898 - Di shkhite (The Slaughter — the title refers to ritual slaughter, in accord with Kosher laws) 1899
- Shloime khokhem (Solomon the WiseSolomon the WiseSolomon the Wise is a 1906 play by Jacob Gordin, based on French sources, and loosely based on actual events in 17th century France, during the reign of Louis XIII and the ascendancy of Cardinal Richelieu....
, Solomon Kaus) 1899-1900 - Di shvue (The Oath) 1900
- Got, mentsh un tayvl (God, Man, and Devil) 1900
- Safo (Sappho) 1900
- Der momzer (The Bastard, a reworking of Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's Lucrezia de Borgia, 1901 - Di makht fun finsternish, translation of The Power of Darkness by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
1902; Gorin lists as 1905 - Di Kreytser sonata (The Kreutzer Sonata), 1902
- Khasye di yesoyme 1903
- Der emes or Die varhayt (The Truth) 1903
- Ta'ares-hamishpokhe (Family Purity) 1904
- Di emese kraft (The True Power) 1904
- Tkhies-hameysim (Resurrection), adapted from the Tolstoy novel, 1904
- Elisha Ben AbuyahElisha ben AbuyahElisha ben Abuyah was a rabbi and Jewish religious authority born in Jerusalem sometime before 70 CE. After he adopted a worldview considered heretical by his fellow Tannaim and betrayed his people, the rabbis of the Talmud refrained from relating teachings in his name and referred to him as the...
(1906) - Der unbekanter (The Stranger) 1905
- Der meturef (The WorthlessThe WorthlessThe Worthless is a 1908 play by Jacob Gordin, described by Lulla Rosenfeld as "a study of provincial bigotry and fear", whose central character Ben Zion Garber is "a man of genius lost and misunderstood in an environment that ultimately destroys him".-Story:Ben Zion is the son of a rich,...
) 1905 - Der fremder (The Foreigner)1906
- On a heym (Homeless) 1907
- Di sheyne Miryam (no later than 1908)
- Dementia Americana (1908)
- Dovid'l meshoyrer (David the Choir Singer) no later than 1911