Joseph Opatoshu
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Opatoshu
Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to a Hasidic family,
in the Polish town Mlawa.
His father was a Jewish Maskil, who sent Yosef to Russian and Polish
schools. At the age of 19 he went to study engineering in Nancy,
France. However, privation sent him to the USA in 1907, where he
settled in New York City, where his name became Joseph Opatovsky, and
he later took the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu.
In New York he dedicated himself to writing, beginning with short
stories that he published for several years in magazines and
newspapers. He earned his initial fame as a writer from the trilogy In
Polish woods (‡ÈÔ ÙÂÈ�È˘Ú ÂÂÚ��Ú¯). It was published
in 1921 in
Yiddish, and was translated to several languages, among them a 1938
English translation. It is a broad historical novel, describing the
decline of Hasidism.
In 1928 he published a 14-volume collection of his works.
Opatoshu's hundreds of works include descriptions of his many travels
to various Jewish communities around the world. In particular, he is
well known for his rejection of the pacific tenor of his contemporary
"classical" Yiddish writers. This can be found, for example, in his
description of the Jewish criminal underworld in Eastern Europe, in
his book Romance of a Horse Thief. In this approach Opatoshu was
influenced by Micha Josef Berdyczewski. His works were translated to
several languages, including English and Hebrew.
1886 - 1954
Joseph Opatoshu died on Yom Kippur of 1954 (The Jewish year
‰'˙˘Ë"Â),
and is buried in the old Arbeter Ring (‡Ã¯·ÚËÚ¯-¯È‚ –
The Workmen's
Circle) cemetery in New York City, alongside Sholem Aleichem, Yehoash
and others.
Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to a Hasidic family,
in the Polish town Mlawa.
His father was a Jewish Maskil, who sent Yosef to Russian and Polish
schools. At the age of 19 he went to study engineering in Nancy,
France. However, privation sent him to the USA in 1907, where he
settled in New York City, where his name became Joseph Opatovsky, and
he later took the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu.
In New York he dedicated himself to writing, beginning with short
stories that he published for several years in magazines and
newspapers. He earned his initial fame as a writer from the trilogy In
Polish woods (‡ÈÔ ÙÂÈ�È˘Ú ÂÂÚ��Ú¯). It was published
in 1921 in
Yiddish, and was translated to several languages, among them a 1938
English translation. It is a broad historical novel, describing the
decline of Hasidism.
In 1928 he published a 14-volume collection of his works.
Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to a Hasidic family,
in the Polish town Mlawa.
His father was a Jewish Maskil, who sent Yosef to Russian and Polish
schools. At the age of 19 he went to study engineering in Nancy,
France. However, privation sent him to the USA in 1907, where he
settled in New York City, where his name became Joseph Opatovsky, and
he later took the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu.
In New York he dedicated himself to writing, beginning with short
stories that he published for several years in magazines and
newspapers. He earned his initial fame as a writer from the trilogy In
Polish woods (‡ÈÔ ÙÂÈ�È˘Ú ÂÂÚ��Ú¯). It was published
in 1921 in
Yiddish, and was translated to several languages, among them a 1938
English translation. It is a broad historical novel, describing the
decline of Hasidism.
In 1928 he published a 14-volume collection of his works.
Opatoshu's hundreds of works include descriptions of his many travels
to various Jewish communities around the world. In particular, he is
well known for his rejection of the pacific tenor of his contemporary
"classical" Yiddish writers. This can be found, for example, in his
description of the Jewish criminal underworld in Eastern Europe, in
his book Romance of a Horse Thief. In this approach Opatoshu was
influenced by Micha Josef Berdyczewski. His works were translated to
several languages, including English and Hebrew.
Joseph Opatoshu died on Yom Kippur of 1954 (The Jewish year
‰'˙˘Ë"Â),
and is buried in the old Arbeter Ring ( The Workmen's Circle) cemetery
in New York City, alongside Sholem Aleichem, Yehoash and others.