S. A. An-sky, pseudonym of Shloyme-Zanvl Rapoport (1863-1920), was a Russian Jewish writer, ethnographer, and cultural and political activist. He is best known today for his play The Dybbuk. Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He is author of Dreams and the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction and is translator of a dozen Russian novels, including works by Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky.

An-sky brilliantly captures a week in the life of young Jewish intellectuals fleeing their tiny villages to find the possibility of personal growth in larger towns where the enlightenment has begun to work its way. (Jewish Book Council) Michael R. Katz's translation renders another Russian literary gem into fluid and lively English. . . . The publication of Pioneers in English . . . appears at an auspicious moment, for readers today may be more receptive than ever to narratives that convey the richness, complexity, and diversity of Jewish life in times of dynamic and decisive change. (Marginalia)

• IntroductionNote on TranslationList of Principal CharactersPioneersGlossarySelected Bibliography