October 2024: Isaac Bashevis Singer

In October we will get acquainted with Isaac Bashevis Singer (1903-1991).

He is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 among other awards.

He started publishing in Yiddish, then translated (some of) his own work (with some help) into English.

I've read a single story by him (The Eclipse) that I remember and I am not yet sure what I plan on reading.

So what are your plans for this month? And if you had read him before, what would you recommend?

Isaac B Singer is a wonderful story’teller. My favorite book of his to date is Enemies a Love Story which I read earlier this year and reviewed here.

I will be reading The Family Moskat in October

Coincidentally I recently read two of IBS's short stories, "The Gentleman From Cracow" and "The Mirror". They were published in a Limited Editions Club edition but I believe originally found in Gimpel the Fool. There is an element of the supernatural to each, part of the reason I decided to read these in October.

I've read Shosha (1974), which is set in the Warsaw ghetto during the 1930s, which was good but very dark. I've also read A Day of Pleasure, in which Singer re-fashioned his In My Father's Court for younger readers, and it was funny and enjoyable.

I have The Manor and The Estate in a one-volume edition that is huge, and I will probably not read them this month. But if anyone has read these, I would be interested to hear their thoughts.

My plan is to read The Spinoza of Market Street (1961), a collection of short stories.

in my fathers courtsuch a great description of growing up in a orthodox Jewish family in Warsaw in the early 20th century

I am now reading old cliches and old truths a collection of his essays about literature esp Yiddish, and other jewish themes. I dont find it an easy read; he tends to rant and rave and you dont know why. but for the most part I am liking it

Ill be reading the family moskat and eager to compare it with his older brothers the brothers askenazi which I just loved

I would like to lay my hands on the two books that, according to the German National Library, were translated from Yiddish, but no luck so far. These are Gimpel der Narr and Der Zauberer von Lublin.

>7 MissWatson: Many of his books in English were translated from Yiddish by his nephew Joseph Singer, son of his brother Israel Joshua Singer.

Ive read most of his short story collections and recommend them. Also looking at the slave;it take place during the same time period as the books of jacob and wonder if they would be similar

>9 cindydavid4: I had to put Slave down as it was too disturbing. From the little I’ve read I don’t think it’s similar to The Books of Jacob . The Slave seemed to be a story mirroring the Holocaust which I don’t think the Books of Jacob is? I will be returning to the Slave as it smacked of Singer’s brilliance. But I was very ill when I started it and thought I needed a braver front to continue.

>8 kac522: I'm having trouble finding his books in English here unless I buy them, and I am a bit reluctant to do that. But I can't find those editions translated from Yiddish again (did I imagine that??). I think I'll pay a visit to the library later this month and inquire about getting English versions through ILL.

>10 kjuliff: no they seem quite different and Ill probably skip this one

>12 cindydavid4: I could be wrong about The Slave. It was my understanding of it but I’m no Isaac Singer expert.

>13 kjuliff: just read the synopsis, and they are quite different, however

"The opening setting of The Slave is the remote rural mountains of southern Poland in the late 17th Century in the years immediately following the Chmielnicki (often spelled Khmelnytsky) Uprising, an invasion by Cossack forces in rebellion against Polish domination. In Jewish history, these events are known as the Chmielnicki Massacres, as the Cossack forces, aided often by the Poles themselves, perpetrated widespread and massive pogroms."

the books of jacob is set in the same time and place, and Jacob is a real person who becomes a slave. I havent read either but Id be curious if Tokarczuk wasnt thinking of the slave when she wrote the book

I thought I had The Family Moskat on my shelf, but I don't. Evidently it was on my WL and I never purchased/borrowed it. I do have Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories and The Spinoza of Market Street and Other Stories, so I guess it's short stories for me!

finished the very short booklet of his Nobel Lecture. He was awarded this in 1978 for "his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Pollish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life" In his speech he talks about Yiddish and Jewish literature including his love for writing for children

For many years Yiddish was considered a dead language, but in previous decades many people were responsible for its revival, including Singer and his brother. I think 50 years later, he'd be pleased by the amount of Yiddish cinema newpapers and theatre, books in translation and the interest in Yiddish classes. Its certainly part of the Jewish identity. He'd no doubt agree with this:

“Yiddish will never die because it has a special charm,It contains our heritage, our family, our bubbes and zaydes grandmas and grandpas, our chicken soup and our kugel, our proverbs and our sayings. Yiddish is not only a language—it’s a culture and it’s a people. If it were a palace, it would be a palace with many doors that you can open and be welcomed.” (from YIVO)I think we will see this in the stories we will be reading

>17 cindydavid4: You might be interested in this short clip from The Shtick - a production from my hometown where my Singer, Renata Singer talks about her role in the Kadimah Cener in Melbourne where she’s heavily involved in promoting Yiddish literature and culture, and keeping Yiddish alive. Click here.

very interesting, thanks for that Took me a few minutes to figure out the name of that song they ended with, very familiar and oh yeah Joni Mitchell "hey thats no way to say goodbye" also didnt realize it was a Cohen tune

One more bit from the Nobel speech which I thought interesting : why i write for children

childrn read books not reviews. they dont give a hoot about critic

childen dont read to find their identity

they dont read to free themselvs of guilt, for quench their thirst for revolution

they have no use for psychology

they detest sociology

they dont try to understand Kafka

they still believe in god, family, angels devils witches, logic, clarity and other such stuff

when a book is boring they yawn without any shame or fear of authority

they dont expect their dear writer to redeem humanity young as they are they know that is not in their power only adults have such childish illusions

I read two short stories by Singer: SPOILERS!
1. Gimpel the Fool Gimpel was a simple baker in a shetl and struggles with being the object of ridicule and deception. Gimpel has an unwavering faith in the goodness of people. Was he a fool?

2. Spinoza of Market Street Set in 20th century Warsaw, the story follows Mendel, a Jewish philosopher. Mendel tried to reconcile the old ways of life and the new mentality which rejected the Torah and supported strikes and riots. The description of the marketplace was certainly sensory.

I'm not a short story fan, so meh! But they are better than most I have read.

I started Collected Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer (the Goodreads Press edition) which collects 47 stories and I am not sure how much of it I will read. While not bad, the stories just feel a bit pointless so far: the first 4 stories are "Gimpel the Fool", "The Gentleman from Cracow", "Joy" and "The Little Shoemakers". Halfway through story #5 ("The Unseen") and I seem to have lacked any enthusiasm to even finish the story...

The collection opens with an Author Note where Singer is very vocal about what a fiction should and should not be ("... As a matter of fact, the writer of fiction should not even try to double in psychology and its various isms..." and "The zeal for messages has made many writers forget the storytelling is the raison d'etre of artistic prose.") and what a short story should be ("The short story must have a definite plan; it cannot be what in literary jargon is called "a slice of life"" among other things).

And yet, after reading these first stories, they do not seem to match his own idea of what a story should be.

Maybe I am not in the mood for reading him. But I think that this will be all for me this month... I may decide to give one of his longer pieces a try some time in the future but I may as well decide that there are enough other authors to explore.

>21 AnnieMod: Ha, you are so right about Isaac B Singer’s early stories. I wonder when he wrote that author’s note. His early works set in Poland are quite different than his later New York writings.

Singer’s yearly stories are indeed slices of life. And many have very abrupt endings, forcing one to ponder the meaning of what one has just read.

I have to admit to having a literary crush on Isaac B Singer, and recommend Enemies, a Love Story which does conform to his idea of a story in that author’s note and is one of his later works. I think you would enjoy it.

>22 kjuliff: The note is dated July 6, 1981 - which is when this collection was first created and published (and he talks about choosing the stories for it). Which is why I figured it may be a good introduction to his work -- he decided which stories to include and which to skip after all. Plus I like stories and I tend to give a lot of leeway to authors when stories are involved. And yet...

Kindle Unlimited has Enemies -- so I will get this one instead and see if it feels better (although I may just not be in the mood - in which case I will just keep it there until I am in the mood).

>23 AnnieMod: Interesting - about the author’s note. I reviewed Enemies here.

>21 AnnieMod: interesting, Ive been reading some of his essays and found his opinions about how things to be very overbearing. rocketk is reading it as well and says we should give him some slack;that tho he sound like a cranky old man, he was 31 when he wrote that. I suspect coming to america from his life in Poland had to be hard for him, not wanting to change to the new ways

>25 cindydavid4: I agree with @rocketjk. Cut the guy some slack. He’s got the LES NYC down pat for that post war period. Just ask my dentist. Seriously. Though for Yiddish literature of the 20thC I prefer Joseph Roth.

oh ok. I was complaining more of his essays not his stories. Im eager to get my copy of Right Left. Ill let you know if I fall in love with him too

I had barely heard of and certainly never read anything by this author before, but I borrowed Enemies: A Love Story from my local public library. This was an interesting, humorous and slightly frustrating story. Herman Broder is a Holocaust survivor in New York in the early 1950s. His wife Tamara and their children were killed by the Nazis and he now lives in an apartment with Yadwiga, a Polish peasant woman who saved his life by hiding him in her hayloft for three years. At the same time though, Herman is having an affair with Masha, another Holocaust survivor, who is separated from her husband and living with her mother. As if this wasn't complicated enough, he finds out that Tamara has managed to survive (though sadly not their children). She is now in New York too, and living with her uncle and aunt. He must dodge between these three women, and this throws up a range of humorous sitcom-like situations, though with a blackly comedic tinge as the characters are mentally scarred by their wartime experiences, feeling survivor guilt and often deep scepticism of their religion for "allowing" the Holocaust to happen. A number of them characters veer between a determination to create new lives and relationships, and suicidal ideation or reckless promiscuity. I enjoyed seeing how things would turn out, but I found the ending a bit disappointing and ambiguous. I would read more by this author.

>28 john257hopper: I loved this book and loved your review. Thank you for choosing this Singer - a most overlooked book.

there is a group read in the works for Singers the Family Moskat We are thinking of starting in November.. Let us know if you are interested and keep track of this thread for more info!

I have loved the stories he writes about his childhod, but did he write a memoir, or did someone write a biography?

nvm Found it Love and Exile: An Autobiographical Trilogy. and also saw Lisas review; I take it you wouldnt recommend it labfs39?

The group read starts November 1, looking forward to seeing you the link is below

https://www.librarything.com/topic/365362#n8657267