(1852-1915) poet,novelist, playwright
Isaac Lieb Peretz was born in Zamosc, Poland. Considered one of the founders of modern Yiddish literature, he was largely self-educated, gaining much of his knowledge through extensive reading. A career as a successful lawyer left little time for Peretz to write until a false accusation forced him to seek new employment. He was hired as a cemetery official for the Jewish cemeteries in Warsaw, Poland.
Peretz’s career change left him with ample time to pursue his writing. He published fiction, plays, and poems and inspired younger writers to pursue their goals. He became active in socialist spheres and was often accused of radicalism. Attracting negative attention from the authorities, he was imprisoned once for his socialist activities.
A voice for the Jewish Enlightenment in Poland, a movement that stressed understanding and embracing Jewish heritage and culture, Peretz wrote his early work in Hebrew and his later work in Yiddish. Much of his work makes the point that, although Jews in Poland were materially poor, their lives were spiritually rich. He glorified the worker and showed compassion for the poor. For example, Stories and Pictures (1900; translated 1906), considered his finest work, is a series of Ha-sidic sketches in which Peretz offers a sympathetic look at Jewish life. With a tone that is sometimes loving, sometimes critical, he describes situations common not only to the Polish Jews of his time but also to all of humanity.
Peretz’s heroes are the oppressed and the suffering who exemplify virtue, faith, and unselfishness that are often lacking in humanity as a whole. The hero of the short story “Bontsche the Silent” (in Man’s Search for Values [translated by A. S. Rap-poport, 1987]), for instance, is a virtuous man who spends his entire life suffering in silence. He receives his reward in the afterworld, where he is told that he can have whatever he desires; however, all the man can think of requesting is a hot roll and fresh butter for breakfast every morning. In this way, Peretz also exemplifies the simple pleasures of life that are most often taken for granted.
Another Work by Isaac Lieb Peretz
Selected Stories. Translated by Eli Katz. New York: Zhitlowsky Foundation for Jewish Culture, 1991.
A Work about Isaac Lieb Peretz
Wisse, Ruth R. I. L. Peretz and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991.
