PEREZ [

See also:

• PETER
• PETER (Lat. Petrus from Gr. irfpos, a rock, Ital. Pietro, Piero, Pier, Fr. Pierre, Span. Pedro, Ger. Peter, Russ. Petr)
• PETER (PEDRO)
• PETER, EPISTLES OF
• PETER, ST

PETER]

See also:

• PEREZ [PETER] SMOLENSKIN (1842-1885)

SMOLENSKIN (1842-1885)  , Russian Jewish novelist, was born near Mogilev (Russia) in 1842; he died at Meran (Austria) in 1885 . His story is the Odyssey of an erring son of the Ghetto . He joined and left the opposite parties of the rationalists and the mystics, and followed a variety of precarious occupations . He settled in Odessa, where he familiarized himself with several European languages, and became an antinomian in religion, though he never left the Jewish fold . He became the rallying-point for the revolt of young Jewry against medievalism, the leader, too, in a new movement towards Jewish nationalism . His Hebrew periodical, the Dawn (Ha-shahar), exercised a powerful influence in both directions . Shortly before his death he became deeply interested in schemes for the colonization of Palestine, and was associated with Laurence Oliphant . Smolenskin was the first to dissociate Messianic ideals from theological concomitants . Smolenskin's literary fame is due to his Hebrew novels . He may be termed the Jewish Thackeray . In style and method his work resembles that of the English novelist . There is little doubt but that Smolenskin, had he written in any language but Hebrew, would be regarded as one of the great novelists of the 19th century .

Of his novels only the best need be named here . A Wanderer on the Path of

Life (Ha-Welt be-darkhe ha-Ijayim) is the story of an orphan, Joseph, who passes through every phase of Ghetto life; the work (1868—1g7o) is an autobiography, the form of which was sug-gested by David Copperfield, but there is no similarity to the manner of Dickens . More perfect in execution is the Burial of the Ass (Qeburath ,clamor) which appeared in 1874 . A third novel, The Inheritance (Ha-yerushah), issued in 188o-1881, depicts life in Odessa and Rumania . See N . Slouschz, The Renascence of Hebrew Literature, chs. ix., x., xi . (I .