DEMBLIN, BENJAMIN

DEMBLIN, BENJAMIN (pseudonym of Benjamin Teitelbaum; 1897–1976), Yiddish writer. Born in Modzicz, Poland, Demblin immigrated to the U.S. in 1921 and began publishing in various Yiddish periodicals. Three of his novels deal with the ḥalutzim: Tsvey un a Driter ("Two and a Third," 1943), Tsankendike Likht ("Flickering Candles," 1958), and Der Tate iz Gekumen ("Father Has Come," included in the collection Oyf Dray Kontinentn, "Three Continents," 1963). His book-cycle Erev Nakht consists of five parts: Erev Nakht ("Before Night," 1954), Oyf Eygenem Barot ("On One's One," 1961), In der Velt Arayn ("Into the World," 1965), A Fremde Velt ("A Foreign World," 1973), and In Nayem Land ("In a New Land," 1973).His other books are Afn Shvel ("On the Threshold," 1933) and Vest-Sayd ("West Side," 1938; Heb. 1954). Demblin was a realist who depicted in epic style the social changes in Jewish and general life. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Demblin, In der Velt Arayn (1965), 383–98 (bibliography by Y. Yeshurin); LNYL, 2 (1958), 534–5. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kagan, Leksikon (1986), 201. (Moshe Starkman / Tamar Lewinsky (2nd ed.)