WOLF, LEYZER

WOLF, LEYZER (pseudonym of Eliezer Mekler; 1910–1943), Yiddish poet. His bizarre parodies, grotesques, and dramatic sketches bridged popular and elite impulses in the literary group yung-vilne . His first book, Evigingo (1936), was an exotic parody of Europe printed in the Roman alphabet. The collections Shvartse Perl ("Black Pearls," 1939) and Lirik un Satire (1940) gathered poems published previously in the Yiddish press. In 1938–39, he mentored Yungvald, a group of younger aspiring writers, including Hirsh glick . Wolf died of hunger while a war refugee in Soviet Uzbekistan. A posthumous volume, Di Broyne Bestye ("The Brown Beast," 1943), satirized fascism. A selection of his best poems, Lider (1955), included a critical introduction and biographic sketch by Leyzer Ran. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: LNYL, 3 (1960) 278–9; S. Belis, in: Portretn un Problemen (1964), 115–36; J. Cammy, in: Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, 14 (2001), 170–91; E. Shulman, Yung-Vilne (1946), 40–4. (Justin D. Cammy (2nd ed.)