Friedberg, Berta (1864–1944)

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Friedberg, Berta (1864–1944)

Russian-Jewish poet and playwright. Name variations: Bertha Friedberg; (pseudonym) Izabella Arkad'evna or Arkadevna Grinévskaia; Izabella Grinevskaia; Isabel or Isabella Grinevskaya. Born Berta Friedberg in 1864 in Grodno, Russia; died in Constantinople in 1944; dau. of A.S. Friedberg (1838–1902, Russian Hebraist) and his 1st wife Mordechai Spector.

Moved to St. Petersburg, where she frequented Jewish literary circles; published 1st novel, The Orphan (1888); in Odessa (1890s), worked as translator and also wrote literary criticism; moved to Constantinople (1910); writings, which tended to depict the lives of the Jewish middle class, include The First Storm (1895), The Little Lights (1900), Bab (staged 1904), Poems (1904), Harsh Days (1909), Bekha-Ulla (1912), Salute to Heroes (1915), From the Book of Life (1915) and Poems (1922); also published pamphlet against censorship, The Right of Books.

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