Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and naturalism into Yiddish theater.
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature characterizes him as "the acknowledged reformer of the Yiddish stage."[1] At the time of his rise, professional Yiddish theater was still dominated by the spirit of the early (1886–1888) plays of its founder, Abraham Goldfaden, which derived in no small measure from Purim plays, often spectacles more than dramas; Goldfaden's later works were generally operettas on more serious subjects, perhaps edifying, but not naturalistic. Again quoting the Cambridge History, after his 1892 arrival in New York City, "Gordin took the Yiddish drama in America from the realm of the preposterous and put a living soul into it," bringing it up to the level of "realistic melodrama."[1]
^ ab"Jacob Gordin." The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An encyclopedia in eighteen volumes. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907-1921. Volume 18: Later National Literature, Part III. Chapter 31, Non-English Writings I (German, French, Yiddish), section 52. Online version by Bartleby.com.
Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-American playwright active in the early years...
Yidisher Kenig Lir, also known as The Jewish King Lear) was an 1892 play by JacobGordin, and is generally seen as ushering in the first great era of Yiddish...
Gordin may refer to: Abba Gordin, (1887–1964) anarchist active in the Russian revolution JacobGordin, Russian-American playwright Michael D. Gordin (born...
Elisha's grave. JacobGordin wrote a Yiddish play, Elisha Ben Abuyah (1906); it was performed unsuccessfully in New York City during Gordin's lifetime, and...
theater's first realistic playwright, JacobGordin. Adler scored a great triumph in the title role of Gordin's Der Yiddisher King Lear (The Jewish King...
Mirele Efros was an 1898 Yiddish play by JacobGordin. Some[who?] have called it "the Jewish Queen Lear". The title character is a powerful matriarch who...
redeemed prostitute Katusha Maslova in JacobGordin's play based on Tolstoy's Resurrection and Batsheva in Gordin's The Homeless. She introduced "realism"...
Worthless (original Yiddish title דער מטורף, Der Meturef) is a 1908 play by JacobGordin, described by Lulla Rosenfeld as "a study of provincial bigotry and fear"...
the Wise (original Yiddish title Shloime Chuchem) is a 1906 play by JacobGordin, based on French sources, and loosely based on actual events in 17th...
her own theater. She was most famous for playing the lead roles in two JacobGordin plays, Di shkhite and Mirele Efros, the former an attack on arranged...
Di shkhita was an 1899 Yiddish play by JacobGordin. The title refers to the Kosher slaughter of animals, and has been variously rendered in English as...
in 1902 by Russian-Jewish playwright JacobGordin. American playwright Langdon Mitchell later adapted Gordin's version into English, which debuted on...
a translator. As a playwright he is generally seen as a disciple of JacobGordin, but his mature work was more character-driven, more open and realistic...
JacobGordin later explained, wanted to “utilize the theatre for higher purposes; to derive from it not only amusement, but education.” JacobGordin himself...
playwright JacobGordin's didactic plays brought unprecedented attention to the Yiddish stage. In 1900, she starred as Freydenyu in the premiere of Gordin's God...
of Jacob Pavlovich Adler. She was known for among other roles playing Jessica to her father's Shylock and appearing in the plays of JacobGordin. Starting...
Glik ("Big Luck") by Kornblatt, and Der Umbakanter ("The Unknown") by JacobGordin. He was married to Amalia Feinman. She was born about 1860 in Iasi, Romania...
Her first book,Finding the Jewish Shakespeare: The Life and Legacy of JacobGordin, a biography of her great-grandfather, was published in 2006 and reissued...
Ottawa University in Canada in 1980, under the advisorship of Professor JacobGordin Kaplan. Repacholi then took up the position of Chief Scientist at Royal...
August 2023). "No prison time for Jacob Zuma after 'remission' decision". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 11 August 2023. Gordin, Jeremy (2008). Zuma, A Biography...
1904, he had great success with the more naturalistic repertoire of JacobGordin; in 1906 he played in one of the many Yiddish productions of Karl Gutzkow's...
King Lear alongside her father and step-mother, in a role playwright JacobGordin had written specifically for her. Celia used her stepfather's last name...
(Benno Straucher, Nathan Birnbaum, Chaim Zhitlowsky, David Pinski, and JacobGordin) expressed a sense of urgency to the delegates that Yiddish as a language...
the villain's daughter, in JacobGordin's Siberia (1892). Commercially unsuccessful at the time, this first play of Gordin's is now considered a landmark...
staged works of Osip Dymov (Yashke-muzikant – "Yashka the Musician"), JacobGordin, I.L. Peretz (Banakht afn altn mark – "A night at the old market"), Sholem...
working classes of Yelisavetgrad, South Russia, under the leadership of JacobGordin, in response to a wave of pogroms in the area. The founders of the Brotherhood...
on. After Adler recruited JacobGordin as a playwright and found a way to draw the masses to serious theater with Gordin's The Yiddish King Lear, and...
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