SHIMEN
VOLTSONEK (VOLTSENAK) (b. 1856)
He was born in Lublin and lived in
Warsaw, Grodno, and Bialystok, where he entered circles of followers of the
Jewish Enlightenment. He worked as a
private tutor, a broker, and later a craftsman and a merchant. He was the author of a series of pamphlets, among
them: Rebe yokhontshe oder der
geshtudirter magid (R. Yokhontshe or the studious preacher), “a highly
interesting novel” (Warsaw, 1883), 45 pp., with a foreword by the author, in
which we learn that Voltsonek had already published the following pamphlet: Di geheyme hokhtsayt (The secret wedding)
(Warsaw, 1884), 60 pp. His other works
include: Dos farbrente kind (The
zealous child) (Warsaw, 1886), 48 pp.; Der
kaydaner ile (The prodigy of Kaidan), “in my version, this would be a
story, in Shomer’s version a novel” (Warsaw, 1886), which appeared in a number
of editions, the last in Vilna (1927), 32 pp., with a preface in which the
author notes: “It is particularly difficult to write a work for Yiddish
readers…. The reader seeks a novel, and
first of all a novel should be burning with love, with unhappiness for that
love, with all the appurtenances. By the
way, says he, it might not be a bad idea to have two, three, or at least one
murder with a proper denunciation, so that a good Jew might suddenly flip out. Why not, who’ll be bothered by it; who would
say that at first glance a little person, say for example a teacher of little
children, would become out of thin air a ‘residential doctor.’ That would certainly be a novel!... So what can a poor writer who feels a spark
in himself of the divine fire that we call talent do—he would have to rid himself
of such worthy merchandise. It leaves
him feeling unsettled, like a beloved muse hangs him by the throat, yanks him
along by the hand, smacks him on the ear, there! Have pity, don’t be confused, give an
accurate picture of Jewish life, an accurate image of its nature…. So pleads the talented one on the one hand, while
on the other stands the bookseller with his handful of rubles reproachfully. What’s the good of this talent of yours, we
see the joys that Spektor makes with his journal, and that’s sufficient
talent. Give us a novel, brother. Bring the Prussian frontier together with the
Western Wall, but it’s okay to be confused.”
Voltsonek was also the author of: Shoshanim
ben hakhokhim (Lilies among the thorns) (Vilna, 1892), 55 pp.; Der bakanter doktor (The well-known
doctor) (Warsaw, 1882), which he later published as a drama in five acts with
the title Der bakanter doktor, oder vi
nit lib iz im der apikoyres (The well-known doktor, or how the heretic was
not loved) (Warsaw, 1882), 30 pp.; Di geheyme
libe (The secret love) (Warsaw, 1883),
second edition (Lublin, 1885), 32 pp.; A fuler vogn lebedige skhoyre, oder shloymke der bal-agole (The
full wagon of living merchandise, or Shloymke the wagon-driver) (Warsaw, 1894),
32 pp.; Di farlorene kinder, oder der
ataman iber di vald royber (The lost children, or the head of a band of
forest robbers), a novel in two parts (Warsaw, 1889), 112 pp.; Der groyser gevins (The great winnings)
(Warsaw, 1895). He also compiled two
textbooks: Utshebnik kontroler, a metode
vos lernt oys shraybn un lezen rusish in dray vokhn on a lerer un kontrolirt
zikh zelbst (A manual, a method to master writing and reading Russian in
three weeks without a teacher and through self-regulation) (Warsaw, 1895), 64
pp.; Der yudisher kaligraf, vos lernt
zelbst shraybn un lezen yudish (The Jewish calligrapher, which teaches oneself
to write and read Yiddish), 2 volumes (Warsaw, 1895), each 32 pp. He also published stories about Jewish life
in Varshever yudisher familyen-kalendar
(Warsaw Jewish family calendar) and in Mortkhe Spektor’s Hoyz-fraynd (House friend) 5 (Warsaw), under the pen name “V-k.”
Sources:
Noyekh Prilucki, in Mame-loshn (Mother tongue) (Warsaw, 1921); Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo
(Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928); Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of
the Yiddish theater), vol. 1; Zalmen Reyzen, in Vakhshteyn-bukh (Wachstein book) (Vilna, 1939), p. 605; Dr. Y.
Shatski, Geshikhte fun yidn in varshe
(History of Jews in Warsaw), vol. 3 (New York, 1954), p. 269.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
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