Peretz began writing in Hebrew but soon turned to Yiddish. For his tales, he drew material from the lives of impoverished Jews of eastern Europe. Critical of their humility and resignation, he urged them to consider their temporal needs while retaining the spiritual grandeur for which he esteemed them. Influenced by Polish Neoromantic and Symbolist writings, Peretz lent new expressive force to the Yiddish language in numerous stories collected in such volumes as Bakante bilder (1890; “Familiar Scenes”), Khasidish (1907; “Hasidic”), and Folkstimlekhe geshikhtn (1908; “Folktales”). In his drama Die goldene keyt (1909; “The Golden Chain”), Peretz stressed the timeless chain of Jewish culture.

To encourage Jews toward a wider knowledge of secular subjects, Peretz for several years wrote articles on physics, chemistry, economics, and other subjects for Di yudishe bibliotek (1891–95; “The Jewish Library”), which he also edited. Among his other nonfictional works are Bilder fun a provints-rayze (1891; “Scenes from a Journey Through the Provinces”), about Polish small-town life, and Mayne zikhroynes (1913–14; “My Memoirs”).

Peretz effectively ushered Yiddish literature into the modern era by exposing it to contemporary trends in western European art and literature. In his stories he viewed Hasidic material obliquely from the standpoint of a secular literary intellect, and with this unique perspective the stories became the vehicle for an elegiac contemplation of traditional Jewish values.

The Peretz home in Warsaw was a gathering place for young Jewish writers, who called him the “father of modern Yiddish literature.” During the last 10 years of his life, Peretz became the recognized leader of the Yiddishist movement, whose aim—in opposition to the Zionists—was to create a complete cultural and national life for Jewry within the Diaspora with Yiddish as its language. He played an important moderating role as deputy chairman at the Yiddish Conference that assembled in 1908 at Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), to promote the status of the language and its culture.