Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Between 1946 and 1955 Isaac Bashevis Singer underwent a total transformation. During the post-Holocaust period Singer reappraised everything he knew, questioned all his assumptions, and rebuilt his artistic vision. This transformation would soon become evident in his literary fiction, but it was also laid out for readers in essays that appeared in the pages of the Yiddish daily Forverts. Sitting in New York, with the Cold War and McCarthyism gripping American hearts and minds, Singer dove deep into his cultural and spiritual heritage to turn the moral and social principles of the past into workable tools that could build a viable Jewish future. Some of the issues that Singer raises in this collection are not only prescient-- they are more urgent in our day than they were in his. Throughout, Singer reminds us that the human spirit is our greatest treasure and that we are each personally responsible for its safekeeping.

Review Quotes

"By offering a glimpse of Singer's own literary treasures, this volume usefully adds to readers' understanding of a 20th-century icon. A well-crafted anthology of musings from a giant of Jewish literature."--Kirkus Reviews

"Bashevis the critic is a revelation....Bashevis offers readers a philosophy of culture rooted in Judaism's foundational texts and folklore, suggesting that Yiddish will only have meaning if it provides faith to its readers by engaging with the demons of history. --Justin Cammy, Professor of Yiddish Literature, Smith College

"David Stromberg's elegant translations and illuminating brief introductions to each essay make it clear that the issues Bashevis raises are as urgent today as they were when they were first written. --Anita Norich, editor of the three-volume Collected Works of Israel Joshua Singer

About the Author

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991) was a Polish-born Jewish-American author of novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and stories for children. His career spanned nearly seven decades of literary production, much of it spent translating his own work from Yiddish into English, which he undertook with various collaborators and editors. Singer published widely during his lifetime, with nearly sixty stories appearing in The New Yorker, and received numerous awards and prizes, including two Newbery Honor Book Awards (1968 and 1969), two National Book Awards (1970 and 1974), and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1978). Known for fiction that portrayed 19th-century Polish Jewry as well as supernatural tales that combined Jewish mysticism with demonology, Singer was a master storyteller whose sights were set squarely on the tension between human nature and the human spirit.

David Stromberg is a writer, translator, and literary scholar. His work has appeared in Salmagundi, The American Scholar, and Woven Tale Press, among others. In his role as editor of the Isaac Bashevis Singer Literary Trust he has published Old Truths and New Clichés (Princeton University Press), a collection of Singer's essays, and a new translation of the canonical story Simple Gimpl: The Definitive Bilingual Edition (Restless Books). Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991) was a Polish-born Jewish-American author of novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and stories for children. His career spanned nearly seven decades of literary production, much of it spent translating his own work from Yiddish into English, which he undertook with various collaborators and editors. Singer published widely during his lifetime, with nearly sixty stories appearing in The New Yorker, and received numerous awards and prizes, including two Newbery Honor Book Awards (1968 and 1969), two National Book Awards (1970 and 1974), and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1978). Known for fiction that portrayed 19th-century Polish Jewry as well as supernatural tales that combined Jewish mysticism with demonology, Singer was a master storyteller whose sights were set squarely on the tension between human nature and the human spirit.