Osip dymov. I remembered and wanted to relate

In two volumes

Edited with preface and commentaries by V. Khazan
in Russian
The book familiarizes the reader with unique materials related to the life as well as literary and journalistic activities of the Russian and subsequently American Yiddish writer Osip Isidorovich Dymov (Perelman, 1878-1959).

Dymov-Perelman was born in Bialystok and studied at the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute (1897–1904). At the beginning of his writing career he was closely associated with Russian literature and Russian theater. During the Russian cultural renaissance, known as the Silver Age, he gained a significant reputation and considerable popularity. In 1913, at the peak of his literary success, however, Dymov left Russia for New York at the invitation of the League of Yiddish Theater Activists to stage his new drama The Eternal Wanderer. In fact, what was intended to be as a brief artistic trip turned out a life-long emigration.

In the second half of his life Dymov switched to Yiddish and became a popular writer and dramatist in the United States.

In the course of his long life Dymov was acquainted with, befriended, and corresponded with a large number of world-renowned personalities of Russian, Jewish, and world culture. His memoirs and epistolary heritage that in part had been published and in part remained in archives until now will be of immense interest to scholars and to all those interested in Jewish and Russian culture of the 20th century.

Dymov's Yiddish memoirs Wos ich gedenk (What I Remember) were published in 1943-44. They focus on the history of Russian Jews at the turn of the 20th century. They comprise, in Russian translation, volume I of the present edition. Volume II constitutes a collection of Dymov's numerous memoir material — sketches, observations, and remarks about people whom he destined to meet — from Fyodor Chaliapin and Vsevolod Meyerhold to Alexander Kuprin and Mikhail Chekhov, from Albert Einstein and Max Reinhardt to Isadora Duncan and Stefan Zweig. Included also is Dymov's correspondence with leading figures of Russian culture — from Ivan Bunin and Leonid Andreev to Aleksei Tolstoy and Kornei Chukovsky, and from Akim Volynsky and Leonid Sobinov to Alexander Kugel and Mikhail Fokin.

The memoirs and letters are accompanied by extensive commentary and rare photographs. The book index numbers several thousands names.