In the World of Chaos - by Isaac Bashevis Singer

About the Book

As a young man in Warsaw, Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991) wrote naturalist stories, sketches, and his first memoir, and translated eleven books of contemporary European literature into Yiddish. Published originally in the Yiddish press under the pseudonym Yitskhok Bashevis, the edition introduces the early writings in fluent English translations. The early fiction and non-fiction are annotated, richly illustrated, and includes a literary historical introduction.

Book Synopsis

This volume includes a collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer's early work, including 27 short stories, 7 sketches of early fiction, and a range of critical essays, childhood memoirs, and interviews.

Singer's early literary career in Warsaw (1925-1935) was crucially important in laying the building blocks for his great achievements in Jewish and world literature as a storyteller of Polish Jewry. During this period, Singer worked as a journalist, writer and translator in the main Yiddish center in Eastern Europe. However, much of this work remains unavailable in English-language translation. This volume makes part of Singer's early fiction and non-fiction available for scholarship, teaching, and a general readership for the first time.

About the Author

A leading figure in the Yiddish literary movement, Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991), was a Polish-born Jewish-American dramatist, novelist, playwright, satirist, and translator. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.

Jan Schwarz is Associate Professor and Senior lecturer of Yiddish at Lund University in Sweden.