Der Nister

(pen name of Pinkhos Mendelevich Kaganovich). Born Oct. 20 (Nov. 1), 1884; died June 4, 1950. Soviet Jewish writer.

Born in Berdichev, Der Nister was educated in a heder. In 1907 he published a book of poems in prose, Thoughts and Motifs. Der Nister’s prerevolutionary verse and prose were modernistic in form, but in content his works were democratic.

From 1922 to 1925, Der Nister lived in Berlin and published his work in Soviet Yiddish journals. Published in 1929, the short-story anthologies Among My Possessions and Imagination reveal a symbolist perception of revolutionary reality. Three Capitals, a book of essays, marked Der Nister’s transition from symbolism to realism. The sociohistorical novel The Mashber Family (parts 1–2, 1939–43) depicts the life of Jews in Russia during the last third of the 19th century. Der Nister’s realist works include the unfinished novel 1905 (published 1964).