Der Nister’s Followers (13)

Der Nister

Born

in Berdychiv, Ukraine

January 01, 1884

Died

January 01, 1950

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Der Nister (Yiddish: דער נסתּר; Berdychiv, Ukraine in 1884 – 1950 the Soviet Gulag) was the penname of Pinchus Kahanovich (פנחס כהנאָוויטש), a Yiddish author, philosopher, translator, and critic.

Kahanovich was born in Berdychiv to a Hasidic family of merchants. He received a traditional religious education, but was drawn through his reading to secular and Enlightenment ideas, as well as to Zionism. Forced to avoid the military draft to the Imperial Russian Army, he hid in Zhytomyr, where he earned a modest living as a tutor at an orphanage for Jewish boys. Even in his earliest works, he was drawn to the arcane teachings of the Kabbalah and to the intense use of symbols in his writings. This is reflected in the pseudonym he adopted, ‘’Der Ni Der Nister (Yiddish: דער נסתּר; Berdychiv, Ukraine in 1884 – 1950 the Soviet Gulag) was the penname of Pinchus Kahanovich (פנחס כהנאָוויטש), a Yiddish author, philosopher, translator, and critic.

Kahanovich was born in Berdychiv to a Hasidic family of merchants. He received a traditional religious education, but was drawn through his reading to secular and Enlightenment ideas, as well as to Zionism. Forced to avoid the military draft to the Imperial Russian Army, he hid in Zhytomyr, where he earned a modest living as a tutor at an orphanage for Jewish boys. Even in his earliest works, he was drawn to the arcane teachings of the Kabbalah and to the intense use of symbols in his writings. This is reflected in the pseudonym he adopted, ‘’Der Nister" (in English, “The Hidden One”). His best-known work, Di Mishpokhe Mashber, is a more naturalistic family saga. It has been translated into English by Leonard Wolf as The Family Mashber.
In 1920 he lived with Marc Chagall in Malakhovka.[1] In 1921, in the wake of the Russian Revolution, Der Nister left Russia and settled in Germany. While living in Berlin, he published his first two collections of stories. In 1927, he returned to the Soviet Union, where his symbol-laden work, rich in Jewish themes, was declared reactionary by the Soviet regime and its literary critics. As a result, he stopped publishing his original works and earned a living as a journalist.
During World War II, the Soviet government briefly adopted less censorious policies over writings considered to be promoting Jewish nationalism. Der Nister began writing again, describing the persecution and destruction of the Jewish communities in Europe under the Nazi regime, and hinting at Soviet persecution as well. He was arrested in 1949 and sent to a prison camp, where he became ill and died the following year.
Der Nister appears as one of the main characters in the novel The World to Come by Dara Horn. The book describes Kahanovich's uneasy friendship with artist Marc Chagall, inside whose frames he hid some of his writings. Adaptations, descriptions, and excerpts from his stories, and those of other Yiddish writers, are included. (Horn makes one fictional change: Der Nister dies almost as soon as arrested, whereas in reality he died the following year, or maybe as late as 1952 according to some sources).

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Average rating: 4.1 · 156 ratings · 31 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Family Mashber (New York Review Books Classics) 4.05 avg rating — 131 ratings — published 1939 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Regrowth: Seven Tales of Jewish Life Before, During, and After Nazi Occupation (Northwestern World Classics) by Der Nister, Erik Butler (Translation) 4.47 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Royaumes juifs: Trésors de la littérature yiddish, Tome 1 by Rachel Ertel (Editor), Sholem Asch, Dovid Bergelson really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	תחת גדר/מעשה בלץ בעכברה ובנסתר עצמו by Der Nister, א.ד. שפיר (Translator), דב סדן (Translator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	BY Nister, Der ( Author ) [{ The Family Mashber (New York Review Books Classics) By Nister, Der ( Author ) May - 20- 2008 ( Paperback ) } ] it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sortilèges 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1992	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	CONTES FANTASTIQUES ET SYMBOLIQUES 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Von meinen Besitztümern: Jiddische Erzählungen by Der Nister, Daniela Mantovan (translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Primordium by Der Nister, Aubrey L. Glazer (preface), Nathan Wolski (translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hekher Fun Der Erd 1910 [Leather Bound] 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Der Nister (?)

“No matter where one looked, the sky had a clean-washed appearance. There was not a trace of a cloud to be seen anywhere in its vast expanse. It was one of those days that made one want to open doors and gates to release the last traces of winter, to watch them disappear like thin wisps of smoke into the farthest reaches of the sky.”
― Der Nister, The Family Mashber

tags: nature, seasons, spring, winter

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“The day on which he was buried was beautifully sunny. No matter where one looked, the sky had a clean-washed appearance. There was not a trace of a cloud to be seen anywhere in its vast expanse. It was one of those days that made one want to open doors and gates to release the last traces of winter, to watch them disappear like thin wisps of smoke into the farthest reaches of the sky.
It is true that older people still wore their winter coats, but they no longer wore them buttoned up. As for the children, they seemed to have grown wings at their shoulders and wouldn’t think of wearing coats any longer. They swarmed into the streets on that day with such lively, untrammelled spirits that one might have thought they were a flock of swallows readying themselves for flight—straight or zigzag, high or low, in avian madness.
It was, in short, a day unfit for sorrow.”
― Der Nister, The Family Mashber

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Der Nister’s Followers (13)

Der Nister

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