Peretz, I. L.

I.L. Peretz, 18591915, captured the essence of Eastern European Jewish life in his writings. Born in Poland in 1859, he eventually settled in Warsaw and became a leader of the movement within the Jewish community to establish and develop Yiddish as a modern, secular, literary language. His early work was written in Hebrew and most of his later work in Yiddish. All of his writings are imbued with a warm understanding of Jewish life.