SOURCE: "Yiddish in Soviet Russia," in his Yiddish Literature: Its Scope and Major Writers, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1968, pp. 382-425.

Madison was a Russian-born American editor, nonfiction writer, and critic. In the following excerpt, he traces Der Nister's career.

Der Nister (Pinchas Kahanovitch) was sui generis among the Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union. Born in Berditchev, he was early influenced by his older brother, who had become a Braslaver Hasid, and was until adulthood steeped in the study of Hebrew and cabalistic literature. To avoid the draft he lived under an assumed name and earned his bread as a teacher of Hebrew. Unlike other young writers of his day, who saw only the ugly and musty side of Hasidism, he approached it sympathetically and appreciated the simple goodness and pure piety of the dedicated devout. This attitude he manifested in his first volume, [Gedanken un motiveu] Thoughts...