Peretz, I(saac) L(eib)

or Yitskhok Leybush Perets

born May 18, 1852, or May 20, 1851, Zamość, Pol., Russian Empire

died April 3, 1915, Warsaw

Polish writer.

Peretz wrote prolifically, mostly in Yiddish, bringing to the language both a new expressive force and modernizing influences from western European art and literature. His tales of Hasidic lore (e.g., the Silent Souls series) are elegiac meditations on traditional values that draw material from the lives of impoverished eastern European Jews. Among his works are story collections, including Folktales (1908), the drama The Golden Chain (1909), and articles on many subjects to encourage Jews toward wider secular knowledge.

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