Talk:Lev Levanda

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Lev Levanda/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Artem.G (talk · contribs) 18:24, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

Hey, I will be reviewing this article. I'm new to GA assessment, but I'll do my best. Artem.G (talk) 18:24, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)
It is reasonably well written. a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists): It is factually accurate and verifiable. a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism): It is broad in its coverage. a (major aspects): b (focused): It follows the neutral point of view policy. Fair representation without bias: It is stable. No edit wars, etc.: It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate. a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall: Pass/Fail:
· · ·

Comments/question:

• Lev (Yehuda Leyb) Osipovitch Levanda (Russian: Лев Осипович Леванда, Yiddish: יהודה לייב לעוואַנדא‎; - Yiddish here is a wikilink, Russian should also be.
• Lev Levanda was born to a poor Jewish family in Minsk, Byelorussia. - The were no Byelorussia in that time, please change to Russian Empire (and maybe add (now Belarus)).
• in Evreiskaia bibliotek - should be 'biblioteka'
• In 1876 he published a collection of sketches under the title "Ocherki Proshlavo," followed later by a number of stories, such as "Chetyre Guvernera," "Lyubitelski Spektakl," and "Iz Dobravo Staravo Vryemeni," in Russkii evrei, Yevreiskoe Obozrenie, and Voskhod. He published over twenty articles on Jewish life in Poland with the title "Privislianskaia khronika" in Russkii evrei. - All this transliterated names should contain their English name (in ()), without it the majority of readers wouldn't undertstand it.
• Other works of this period include "Essays of the Past" (1875), originally published in 1870 in Den [ru]; "Tipy i Siluety" ('Types and Silhouettes', 1881); and the historical novels The Wrath and Mercy of the Tycoon (1885) and Avraam Yosefovich (1887). - almost the same. Some names are in English, some in Russian. It's better to stick to unified style.
• link to commons is unnecessary, the only photo is the same as in the infobox.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Lipman, J. G. (1904). "Levanda, Lev Osipovitch". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. 8. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 17–18. - it is in refs, but not cited. Was it used? If yes, please add it as a proper reference.
• At the end of 1886, he first showed signs of a mental disorder—exacerbated by rumours of an imminent pogrom in the nearby town of Maladzyechna - no sources cited.
• as a result, in May 1887, he was transported to St. Petersburg, but first refused to leave the house and was placed in a St. Petersburg psychiatric hospital only after his friend Isaac Leib Goldberg promised to take him to Palestine. - same, no sources.
• There is almost nothing about how his contemporaries perceive his work. Was it acclaimed or critisized? If he was a supporter of Russification, how did other Jewish writers and intellectuals react to his books? Do modern scholars study his books?

I will put the article on hold, please ping me if the issues will be resolved or if you have questions. Artem.G (talk) 07:20, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Few more comments:

• There is a pen name in the infobox, 'Ladnev', and no mention of it in the article. What works were published under it? Why?
• I would also advise to have a Bibliography, and mention whether any of his books were translated into English (and other languages).
• 'on Jewish affairs (uchonyi evrei)' please use original Russian title with translation in parentheses.

Artem.G (talk) 15:45, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

• @Artem.G: Thanks for the review! I made the suggested changes, please let me know if there's anything else in need of fixing. With respect to reception of Levanda's work, I've yet to find adequate sources on the topic, but I will keep looking in any case. –Kyuko (talk) 18:34, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

  Thanks for the edits!

  Regarding reception and criticism of Levanda's books, I found several sources, hope it will be useful:

  • John D. Klier, “The Jew as Russifier: Lev Levanda’s Hot Times,” Jewish Culture and History 4.1 (Summer 2001): 31–52; Lev Levanda, “Goriachee vremia,” in Evreiskaia biblioteka 1–3 (1871–1873); Shimon Markish, “Lev Levanda between Assimilation and Palestinophilia,” Shevut 4 (1996): 1–52, 6 (1997): 1–27.
  • Brian Horowitz, "Lev Levanda, Russian Jewish Literature, and Literary Madness in 1880s Russia", https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/prooftexts.38.2.11, review
  • Empire Jews: Jewish Nationalism And Acculturation In 19th- And Early 20th-Century Russia ISBN 978-0-89357-349-2
    • It has the following chapter: "A Jewish Russifier in Despair: Lev Levanda’s Polish Question"
  • Times of Trouble: Violence in Russian Literature and Culture
  • An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity
    • Chapter on Levanda is pp 44-60
  • In a Maelstrom: The History of Russian-Jewish Prose (1860-1940)
    • Chapter on Levanda is on pp 62-70
  • SPLIT IN TWO OR DOUBLED? Zsuzsa Hetényi Artem.G (talk) 19:14, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

(I know that you had a lot of these books in sources, I just found some links where it can be accessed online. Artem.G (talk) 21:05, 6 July 2021 (UTC))

• @Kyuko: please either use original Hebrew and Yiddish here, with translation to English, or remove it - it's completely unreadable to anybody and when I google it I've got just few pages with almost nothing about the books. Artem.G (talk) 05:37, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

  ʻIr u-vehalot: sipur me-ḥaye aḥenu bi-medinat Liṭah ba-meʼah ha-ʻavrah (in Hebrew). Warsaw: B. Tursh. 1903.

  A groyser remiz: roman (in Yiddish). Warsaw: Tsentral. 1914.

  @Artem.G: Done! –Kyuko (talk) 15:42, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

I will re-read the article and post some more comments. Artem.G (talk) 15:43, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

• In the novel, young Westernized Jews were urged by the hero, Sarin, to abandon Polish orientation (after 500 years of unhappy experience with the Poles) and become Russians.[2] - I think that discussion of this book, his best-known and major work, can be moved to separate paragraph. I checked the sources (especially th book In Maeistorm, pp 65-69), and there is quite a lot about this work. I also think that some quote from the book can be included, to illustrate his views on Russifiaction of the Jews as told by his hero. (but it's only a suggestion, it's for you to decide)
• The book was released as a book in 1875 under the title Seething Times: The Novel of the Last Polish Uprising.[15] - sounds clumpsy.

I will add more soon. Artem.G (talk) 15:43, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

• I've re-read the article several times, and, unfortunately, it's not a GA yet. I think that without proper section about critical commentary on his works by his contemporaries and by present-day scholars this article can't be considered broad in coverage. I also think that some section on his major writings would be suitable here. And once it's done, I do think it will pass as a GA. Kyuko, thanks for the article, and please don't be discouraged by my review. Artem.G (talk) 16:12, 11 July 2021 (UTC)