Simon Horontchik
Portrait of Horontchik by Gela Seksztajn
Portrait of Horontchik by Gela Seksztajn
Native name
שמעון האָראָנטשיק
Born(1889-06-13)13 June 1889
Vyelun, Kalisz Governorate, Vistula Land
DiedSeptember 1939 (1939-10) (aged 50)
Kalushin, Poland
LanguageYiddish

Simon Horontchik (Yiddish: שמעון האָראָנטשיק; 13 June 1889 – September 1939) was a Polish Jewish novelist and short story writer writing in Yiddish.

Horontchik was born into a poor Hasidic family in Wieluń. He worked as a labourer at a lacework factory in Kalisz from the age of 17 until the outbreak of the First World War,[1] during which time he began composing poetry. He narrowly escaped the destruction of Kalisz in August 1914, fleeing to Lodz and then Sompolno. There he became a grocer and married.

His first publication was a short story in the Yiddish daily Lodzsher Togblat in 1916. He published poetry in numerous publications until 1921, when he published his first book, Feldblumen ('Flowers of the Field'; Warsaw, 1921), thereafter devoting himself primarily to prose writing.[2]

He lived for several years in Vlatslavek, Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw.[2][3] He fled toward Vilna upon the Nazi occupation of Warsaw in September 1939, but ran into German troops engaged in a pogrom in Kalushin. He committed suicide to avoid a violent death.[4][5]

Partial bibliography

  • Feldblimen [Flowers of the Field]. Warsaw: Vaysenberg Ferlag. 1921.
  • Farplonterte vegn, oder tsvishn di khurves fun yidishn lebn [Confused Ways, or, Among the Ruins of Jewish Life]. Warsaw: S. Goldfarb. 1924.
  • In geroysh fun mashinen, roman in tsvey teyln [Amid the Whirr of Machines: A Novel in Two Parts]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1930 [1928].
  • 1905, roman [1905: A Novel]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1929.
  • Zump, roman [Swamp: A Novel]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1931.
  • Baym shvel [At the Threshold]. Warsaw: Kinder-fraynd. 1935.
  • Shtarke mentshn, noveln [Strong People: Novellas]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1936.
  • Masn, roman [Masses: A Novel]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1929.
  • Dos hoyz afn barg, roman [The House on the Mountain: A Novel]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1934.
  • Tsvey veltn [Two Worlds]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1935.
  • Di printsesin, un andere dertseylungen [The Princess, and Other Stories]. Warsaw: Farlag Kultur-lige. 1938.
  • Geklibene shriftn [Selected Writings]. Warsaw: Yidish-bukh. 1950.

References

  1. ↑ Schulman, Elias; Miller, Marc (2007). "Horontchik, Simon". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
  2. 1 2 Fuks, Khayim Leyb (23 February 2016). "Shimen Horontshik (Szymon Horonczyk)". Yiddish Leksikon. Translated by Fogel, Joshua. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  3. ↑ Rejzen, Zalman (1926). Leksikon fun der Yidisher literatur, prese un filologye [Lexicon of Yiddish Literature, Press, and Philology] (in Yiddish). Vol. 1. Vilna: Farlag fun B. Kletskin. pp. 788–789.
  4. ↑ Ravitch, Melech (1945). Mayn leksikon (in Yiddish). Vol. 1. Montreal: Aroysgegebn fun a komitet. pp. 65–67.
  5. ↑ Cohen, Nathan (2008). "Horontshik, Shimen". In Hundert, Gershon (ed.). YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Translated by Hann, Rami. New Haven: Yale University Press.
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