To the origins of the Yiddish cultural center in America: Leon Kobrin, writer, playwright, translator, and memoirist
The article analyzes the creative work of Leon Kobrin (1872, Vitebsk - 1946, New York), who was one of the founders of the Jewish-American literature. His life and destiny are inextricably linked with the history of the first generations of Russian-Jewish immigrants in the USA. This work traces the influence of the Russian literature and ideological movements of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries on the Yiddish writer. The article notes the importance of his translations of Russian and European classics for the development of the Yiddish literature in the United States. Kobrin's critical and memoir texts characterize his attitude to the choice of the language for his literary creativity. The article analyzes Kobrin's prose and dramatic works, his memoirs of the 1920s-1940s, reflecting the psychological and social experience of several generations of emigrant families in America. Leon Kobrin defended the independence of Yiddish literature in America in relation to the long-established Jewish cultural centers in Europe. In his works he reflected the evolution of the spiritual experiences of several generations of RussianJewish immigrants. At the same time Kobrin belonged to that generation of Jewish-American writers who were raised on the ideals of the Narodnik intelligentsia and sought to maintain spiritual ties with the Russian democratic culture.