Lure, Noiakh Gershelevich

Born Dec. 12 (24), 1885, in the small town of Blashna, Byelorussia; died May 18, 1960, in Moscow. Soviet Jewish writer.

the son of a tar distiller, Lur’e traveled through Lithuania, Poland, and the Ukraine in search of work as a longshoreman, construction worker, or teacher. He served in World War I (1914-18) and volunteered for the Red Army in 1920. Lur’e began his literary career in 1911, writing short stories and plays and doing translations. The main themes of his work are the Civil War of 1918-20, the life and work of the Jewish working masses in the agricultural colonies (for example, the novel Ele lorsh, 1938), and the struggle against fascism. His well-known novella The Silence of the Forest (Russian translation, by the author, 1957) was to a large extent inspired by his childhood impressions. Its heroes—tar distillers, carpenters, and potters—are well balanced, integral characters. The sharp social conflicts described in his works are highly dramatic.