Nahum Osipovich

OSIPOVICH, NAHUM (1870–?), Russian writer. While preparing for the entrance requirements of the University of Odessa he joined the Narodnaya Volya (the "People's Will" movement) circles, was arrested by the czarist authorities, and spent 18 years in prisons and in exile. Osipovich started his literary activity in 1902. On the recommendation of the *Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia, he studied the educational problem of the Jews in *Bessarabia (in Voskhod, no. 12, 1902). His short story "Za chto?" ("Why?") was refused publication by the censors. Osipovich wrote many short stories devoted mainly to Jewish types and Jewish life. His works are filled with love for nature, humanity, and the Jewish people in particular. His short story "U vody" ("At the Water") shows his devotion to the Jewish Black Sea fishermen whom he knew so well. Soviet critics consider him representative of the Jewish petit-bourgeois intelligentsia who were unable to adapt to the new Soviet reality.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.