Olexander Beyderman

Who is Olexander Beyderman?

Olexander Abramovytsch Beyderman is a Soviet-Ukrainian writer of Jewish descent. He is lecturer of Hebrew, Russian and English philology at the University of Odessa.

Beyderman writes in Yiddish language, Ukrainian and Russian and is considered as one of the last and at the same time one of the more important Yiddish authors in the former areas of Russian Jews. His entree to Soviet literature took place with the assistance of literature functionaries of the time, though he was never an orthodox follower of the dogmas of socialist realism and soon found his own style combining realistic language with harsh expressiveness that outreaches the simplicity of his themes. He treats the Extermination of Jews in World War II as well as topics reminiscent of Sholem Aleichem and other earlier Jewish writers. His depictions range from subtle criticism of society to quasi-blasphemous sarcasm. His generation is probably the last one to use Yiddish as a literary language. His texts are read in Israel and the USA as well as in Ukraine. The editions of his novels and plays are more numerous in Russian and Ukrainian. During the last couple of years, Ukrainian has come to play a greater role in his writings.