Zalman Shneour (1886 - 1959): his poetry
It was in the decade before the First World War that Shneour became widely known to the Yiddish-speaking world. Daringly licentious verses such as Karshn, but above all the poem he originally entitled simply "Tra-la-la-la" which was set to music and became the beloved folksong "Margaritkelekh" made him famous. It opens his book 40 yor lider un poemen, 1945, from which these four later, inter-war poems have been selected. Read full article.
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Shneour's Life and Work
Zalman Zalkind, who took the surname Shneour, (1886 - 1959) was born into a well-off family in Shklov, Belorussia. The family was traditional but not Orthodox, (despite descent from the founder of Lubavitch Chassidism, Shneour-Zalman of Liady, whose influential book Tanya was first published in Shklov). Shneour's nostalgic novel of 1929, Shklover Yidn, draws upon the pains and thrills of his own childhood, evoking a world the Soviets had destroyed. Read full article. |