National Yiddish Book Center - "The Kids Are Alright": The Poets of Di yunge

With the arrival of our interns each summer, the Book Center is filled with the energy of enthusiastic young Yiddishists – a reminder that in the early 20th century, the Yiddish literary avant-garde was itself a vibrant youth movement. Nearly every city with a sizeable Jewish population had a small group of young, experimental poets determined to forge a new path in Yiddish literature. Almost all these groups had names that emphasized the word yunge, young: Di yunge in New York, Yung Vilna, Yung Shikage, Yung Meksike, Yung Brazil, Yung Yisroel.

We're thrilled, then, that one of the interns' most notable finds this summer was a rare copy of the first of only two issues of the journal Khalyastre / The Gang. Published in Warsaw in 1922, this journal contains early works by I.J. Singer, Peretz Markish and Uri-Tsvi Grinberg, all of whom were under 30 at the time of publication.

Other important works by members of these avant-garde groups include:

	Shriftn / Writings. 8v. New York, 1912-1926. This eight-volume series is one of the major journals of Di yunge in New York. The third volume (pictured at left) was published in 1914 and contains Mani-Leib’s famous poem “Shtiler, shtiler / Quietly, Quietly,” a protest against the bombast of his predecessors. Mani-Leib actually pawned his watch to help with the initial funding of this publication.
	Yung Shikage: A zamelbukh / Young Chicago: A collection. Chicago, 1922. A beautifully printed anthology of poetry and art by young poets in Chicago.
	Abraham Sutzkever. Valdiks / Woodlore. Vilna, 1940. In the 1930s Abraham Sutzkever was studying Old Yiddish literature in Vilna under Max Weinreich, who was working with rare 16th-century manuscripts. Inspired by Weinreich's discoveries, the 25-year-old Sutzkever wrote a series of new poems in a pseudo-Old Yiddish style. This rare volume was published a year before the Vilna ghetto was established, and very few of the 500 copies printed still survive.

Books about young writers:

Der friling fun di yunge / The Reformers of Yiddish Literature. Buenos Aires, 1978.
This authoritative anthology of writings by young Yiddish poets all over the world is part of the Musterverk (Masterworks) series and is a fantastic doorway into the world of experimental Yiddish poetry.

Ruth R. Wisse. A Little Love in Big Manhattan. Harvard University Press, 1988.
The essential English book about Di yunge in New York by one of the most important scholars of Yiddish literature. Available for sale in our bookstore.

The National Yiddish Book Center
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building • 1021 West Street • Amherst MA 01002 • Phone 413-256-4900 • Fax 413-256-4700 • Contact