Jacob Dinezon

Jacob Dinezon, also known as Yankev Dinezon (-1919), was a Yiddish author and editor from Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire). There are various spellings of Dinezon's name in both Yiddish and English transliteration. Early in his career, Yiddish publications spelled his name דינעזאהן (Dinezohn). Later publications removed the ה and spelled his name דינעזאן or דינעזאָן (Dinezon). In English, his name has been spelled Dienesohn, Dinesen, Dineson, Dinezon, Dinesohn, Dineszohn, Dinezohn, Dynesohn, and Dynezon.

Most of his career was dedicated to promoting the literary status of the Yiddish language, supporting and collaborating in the creation of early Yiddish prose, poetry, journals, and anthologies. He was part of an active group of Yiddish authors, including his colleagues and friends I. L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, and Sholem Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim), considered the classic writers of modern Yiddish literature.

He is credited as the author of the first bestselling novel in Yiddish and the first realistic Jewish romance. During his lifetime, he wrote several novels and short stories about Jewish life in the Russian Empire with scenes from urban environments as well as from '' shtetl'' life. Dinezon was a keen observer of the social changes spreading throughout Jewish communities in his time. His stories often depicted the emotional conflicts arising from the encounter between traditional religious and social norms and the modern ideas of Jewish Enlightenment.Jewish Storyteller Press, ''Jacob Dinezon Biography'',

'

Biography

Jacob Dinezon was born in Žagarė, Nay Zhager (New Zhager) near Kovno in Lithuania. The exact year of his birth is uncertain - various bibliographical entries suggest 1856, 1852, or 1851. A newspaper article published on the occasion of his death in August 1919 (in the Yiddish newspaper Haynt - ''Today'') reports that Dinezon was 68 years old when he died, which suggests the year of his birth was 1851, and data from a census conducted in Žagarė seems to confirm the same date.

He grew up in a relatively well-to-do household with his parents, Pessie and Benjamin, two older sisters, one younger sister, and a brother (who died in his early childhood). His father died in 1866, when Dinezon was about 12. He was then raised by his uncle in Mohilev, where he attended a yeshiva until age 16. In addition to a traditional Jewish education, he was exposed to the new ideas of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment), which encouraged Jews to become educated in secular disciplines and languages. He had the chance to study Russian, German, and disciplines such as mathematics, history, and science.

In Dinezon's time, Yiddish was the everyday language of most Jewish communities in central and Eastern Europe. However, there was barely any literature available in Yiddish, as it was considered a lowly, poorly developed language unfit for literary works. Even within the Jewish community, it was often referred to as ''zhargon'', or jargon, in a demeaning manner. Hebrew, on the contrary, enjoyed a very high status, even though it was a language that was virtually never spoken except for religious events or occasional expressions. Starting from the late 18th century, however, the Haskalah movement had started promoting a revival of Hebrew, working on the development of a modern Hebrew language for the production and circulation of Jewish culture. Dinezon supported the development of the new Hebrew language, but despite his Enlightenment-oriented education, he also developed an interest in Yiddish as a medium of culture and literature.

In 1868, Dinezon was employed as a Hebrew tutor in a prominent family in Mohilev named Horowitz (or Hurevitsh, according to some sourcesJacob Dinezon: Chapter four, ''Dray literarishe doyres: zikhroynes vegn Yidishe shriftshteler'' - ''Three Literary Generations: recollections of Yiddish authors'' (S. L. Tsitron),

'), which gave him the opportunity to further his secular education. It was in this period that he started publishing articles in Hebrew, contributing to Hebrew newspapers as well as scientific education brochures. He eventually also became a trusted advisor, business agent, and estate manager for the Horowitz family.Dinezon, Yankev, ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' (Jeremy Dauber),

' Around 1875, thanks to the Horowitz family, he was introduced to the owners of the renowned Romm publishing house, Widow and Brothers Romm Printing House, one of Europe's most prominent Yiddish and Hebrew publishing houses in the 19th and 20th centuries.Romm Family, ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' (Zeev Gries, transl. Jeffrey Green),

'

With the encouragement of the established Yiddish author Isaac Mayer Dick, Ayzik Meyer Dik,Dik, Ayzik Meyer, ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' (Joseph Sherman),

' who had befriended Dinezon on one of his visits to Vilna, Romm agreed to publish Dinezon's novel, ''ha-Ne’ehavim veha-neimim, oder, Der shvartser yungermanṭshik'' (''The Beloved and Pleasing, or, The Dark Young Man''), which was printed in 1877. The first edition sold out quickly, and even Dinezon had difficulty obtaining a copy.''Jacob Dinezon, Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers'', trans. Tina Lunson (Raleigh, NC: Jewish Storyteller Press, 2014), pp. 184-191

The success of ''The Dark Young Man'', however, did not receive the acceptance that Dinezon desired from the members of the Jewish Enlightenment world whom he had hoped to impress, because he had written the novel in Yiddish instead of Hebrew. Further, as he told the literary critic Shmuel Niger, his novel produced an outpouring of poor-quality, imitative works that embarrassed him. Dinezon wrote, “I couldn’t stop writing, but it didn’t cost me effort or mental strain not to publish the finished works.”.“Jacob Dinezon’s Letters” with commentary by S. Niger, ''Di Tsukunft (The Future)'', trans. Jane Peppler (NY: 1929), p. 620-621,

' Dinezon would not publish another literary work for several years.

Dinezon's return to publishing began after he met and befriended I. L. Peretz in 1889. In that year, Dinezon's ''Even negef, oder a shtein in veg'' (''A Stumbling Block in the Road'') was released.

Between 1899 and 1902, Dinezon published several stories and feuilletons in the Yiddish newspaper '' Der yud'' (''The Jew''). In 1903, he contributed several stories, holiday tales, and his novella ''Alter'' to the Yiddish newspaper ''Der fraynd'' (''The Friend''), which called itself, “The first zhargon (jargon) newspaper in Russia”. On May 15 of that year, the Yiddish critic Bal-Makhshoves wrote a tribute to Dinezon in celebration of his 25th writer's Jubilee. A month later, Dinezon's photograph was also published in ''Der fraynd''.

The year 1904 was a prolific one for Dinezon whose stories, articles, and novellas appeared in the pages of ''Der fraynd'' alongside many of the major Yiddish authors of the period, including Mendele Mocher Sforim (Sholem Abramovitsh), I. L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, S. Ansky, Mordecai Spector,Spektor, Mordkhe, ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' (Nathan Cohen),

' Sholem Asch, D. H. Nomberg, Abraham Reyzen, and the poet Shimen Frug

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases