Abram Kofman
Kofman in 1906
Kofman in 1906
Born1865
Odesa, Russian Empire
Diedc. 1940 (aged 74–75)
OccupationBookkeeper, Esperantist, poet

Abram Antoni Kofman (Russian: Авраам Кофман; 1865–c. 1940) was a Russian Esperanto–language poet known for his most famous poem "Communism, Communism". Born in Odesa, Kofman was an early supporter of Esperanto, and one of the first Russian Jews to be so, learning the language in 1889. Kofman was a high-profile member of the first school of Esperanto literature, and had his work featured in the first anthologies of Esperanto poetry. He was responsible for translations of several sections of the Hebrew Bible in both Esperanto and its daughter language, Ido. Kofman also influenced the development of the international religion Hillelism by the creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof in 1901. Eventually switching languages from Esperanto to Ido, and later Occidental, Kofman purportedly died during aerial bombing in Odesa.

Esperanto

Kofman was born in Odesa, Russian Empire, in 1865,[1] working professionally as a bookkeeper.[2] He learnt the international auxiliary language Esperanto in 1889.[3] Ric Berger names him the first in Russia to promote Esperanto;[4] he was one of the first Esperantist Russian Jews.[5]

Under the First Period of Esperanto literature,[6] Kofman was a member of a school of thought called the "Slav School" by Esperanto literature scholar Geoffrey Sutton [eo][2] or the "Slavia" by Nikolaos Trunte.[7] This was the first main school of Esperanto literature and existed from 1916 to 1920. It was divided into two generations: Kofman was a member of the first, alongside authors such as Vasilij Devjatnin [ru; eo], Leo Belmont [eo], and Zamenhof's brother Felix Zamenhof [fr; pl];[8] several members of this group, including Kofman, collaborated on Zamenhof's 1903 anthology Fundementa Krestomatio [eo].[7] Characteristic of this group was a desire for stylistic freedom[9] – in the 1933 Enciklopedio de Esperanto, Julio Baghy described Kofman as an artistic translator, writing[1]:

Liaj stilo kaj tradukmaniero distingiĝas per arta simpleco kaj viva klareco. Lia pionira laboro meritas atenton de la posteuloj. En la komenca periodo de la literatura lingvo li vekis admiron per sia esprimkapableco.
His style and manner of translation are distinguished by artistic simplicity and vivid clarity. His pioneering work deserves attention by the coming [Esperantists]. In the initial era of the literary language he drew admiration for his capacity of expression.

Kofman wrote both original material as well as translations for several Esperanto periodicals, such as Lingvo Internacia. Kofman wrote in a variety of genres, including satirical epigrams; one of Kofman's short stories was featured in Louis de Beaufront's magazine L'Espérantiste [eo].[2] Kofman also featured in the first anthology of Esperanto poetry, La liro de la Esperantistoj, edited by Antoni Grabowski.[8] In 1896, he planned to publish a collection of poems[1] entitled Voices of People (Voĉoj de Popoloj) in eighteen languages, although this was never published.[10] For the texts in Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Mordvin, he asked for assistance from the Finnish Esperantist Gustaf John Ramstedt,[10] although Ramstedt could not speak Japanese.[11] In an open letter in the magazine Lingvo Internacia, Kofman stated that he hoped to eventually have 35-50 languages including:[12]

Zamenhof's 1901 brochure for Hilelismo

Kofman was the first Ancient Greek–Esperanto translator, translating Homer's Iliad between 1895 and 1897 as Iliado.[2] He was part of a team of Jewish translators in Odesa responsible for a translation of the Old Testament into Esperanto; Kofman also translated the Old Testament into Ido, alongside Esperanto translations of the Book of Esther and the Book of Ruth (in 1893).[13]

Kofman was a close friend of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto,[10] who communicated with Kofman regarding his ideas for [[Judaism]]. On 28 May 1901, Zamenhof sent Kofman a letter about his plans for Hillelism (Hilelismo), his planned version of Judaism that would form an international religion. This included the manuscript form of a brochure for the religion, that Zamenhof would publish later in 1901. Kofman did not read the full brochure, and responded with a letter of disgust, viewing the introduction of a philosophy such as Hillelism dangerous to the reputation of the Esperanto movement;[14] Zamenhof had wanted to use Esperanto as a "neutral language" in the religion.[15] Kofman was one of a number of educated Jews among which Zamenhof allowed the brochure to circulate[16] – he received an overall negative response, particularly from Esperantists in Poland and France.[14]

Post-Esperanto

La Literaturo en Ido [Literature in Ido]

Nia linguo, per sa konstanta [sic] devlopo, divenas sempre plu richa, do sempre plu apta a literatural uzado.

Our language, by its constant development, will become ever richer, thus ever more apt for literary use.

Abram Kofman, November 1910 in La Belga Sonorilo [eo] [17]

Although in 1894, Kofman was one of 157 Esperantists who voted against a reform of Esperanto,[18] in 1907, he changed languages from Esperanto to the Ido; this had been introduced by a proposition from the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, and around a tenth of Esperantists would switch alongside him.[1] He would later change to Edgar de Wahl's Occidental.[1] Author of a later-destroyed manuscript of a Russian-Occidental dictionary,[4] he also translated poetry into Occidental – a translation of a poem by Ivan Krylov by Kofman appeared in an edition of the magazine International magazine of stenography (Occidental: Revúe internationale de sténographie).[19]

Kofman was reported to have died during aerial bombing in 1940;[2] a message in the Occidental-language magazine Cosmoglotta records him as having died "just before the war".[4]

List of works

Poems

[2]

Translations

[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Baghy, Julio (1933). "Koffman, A.". Enciklopedio de Esperanto (PDF). p. 795. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sutton, Geoffrey (2008). Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto, 1887-2007. Mondial. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-1-59569-090-6. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. ^ Auld, William (1984). Esperanta Antologio, Poemoj 1887-1981 (2nd ed.). p. 852. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Berger, Ric (June 1948). "Jan Kajš". Cosmoglotta A. No. 138. p. 49. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  5. ^ Künzli, Andreas (2010). L.L. Zamenhof (1859-1917): Esperanto, Hillelismus (Homaranismus) und die "jüdische Frage" in Ost- und Westeuropa (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 490. ISBN 978-3-447-06232-9. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  6. ^ Römer, Cornelia (2009). Das Phänomen Homer in Papyri, Handschriften und Drucken (in German). Phoibos Verlag. p. 111. ISBN 978-3-85161-014-7. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b Trunte, Nikolaos (2012). Schnittpunkt Slavistik: Einflussforschung (in German). V&R unipress GmbH. pp. 266–267. ISBN 978-3-89971-972-7. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  8. ^ a b Lapenna, Ivo; Lins, Ulrich; Carlevaro, Tazio (1974). Esperanto en perspektivo: faktoj kaj analizoj pri la internacia lingvo (in Esperanto). Universala Esperanto-Asocio, Centro de Esploro kaj Dokumentado pri la Monda Lingvo-Problemo. pp. 132–133. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  9. ^ Janton, Pierre (22 March 2016). Esperanto: Language, Literature, and Community. State University of New York Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-4384-0780-7. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Halén, Harry (1998). Biliktu Bakshi, the Knowledgeable Teacher: G.J. Ramstedt's Career as a Scholar. Finno-Ugrian Society. p. 15. ISBN 978-952-5150-15-5. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Nia trezoro: Gustav John Ramstedt". La Ondo de Esperanto (in Esperanto). 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  12. ^ Kofman, Abram (December 1896). "Malfermita letero al esperantistoj de ĉiuj landoj" [Open letter to Esperantists of every nation] (PDF). Lingvo Internacia (12): 230–231. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  13. ^ Jeziorkowska-Polakowska, Anna (2018). "La Sankta Biblio Ludwika Zamnhofa". Żydzi Wschodniej Polski. Seria 6, Żydzi białostoccy: Od początków do 1939 roku, redakcja naukowa Jarosław Ławski, Kamil K. Pilichiewicz, Anna Wydrycka (in Polish). Wydawnictwo PRYMAT, Mariusz Śliwowski. 36: 208, 212. ISBN 978-83-7657-207-9. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  14. ^ a b Żelazny, Walter (18 February 2022). "Próba rozwiązania kwestii żydowskiej przez Ludwika Zamenhofa". Sprawy Narodowościowe. Seria nowa (38): 111. doi:10.11649/sn.2011.008. ISSN 2392-2427. S2CID 247101476. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  15. ^ Künzli 2010, pp. 175, 466.
  16. ^ Künzli 2010, p. 165.
  17. ^ Gonçalo Neves (7 December 2018). Esperanto ed Ido: diferanta voyi adsur Parnaso. p. 36.
  18. ^ Berger, Ric (June 1946). "Vive de Edgar de Wahl". Cosmoglotta A. No. 130. p. 17. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  19. ^ (unknown) (November 1947). "Cronica" [Annals]. Cosmoglotta B. No. 94. p. 106. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
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