Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: A Spiritual Reappraisal, 1946–1955

by Isaac Bashevis Singer, David Stromberg (translator)

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.

219 pages, Hardcover

Published March 11, 2025

About the author

Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Polish American author of Jewish descent, noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978.
His memoir, "A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw", won the U.S. National Book Award in Children's Literature in 1970, while his collection "A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories" won the U.S. National Book Award in Fiction in 1974.

Reviews

[Rachel]

Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote so many essays for the Yiddish press that many were published under pseudonyms. The third book of his essays to appear in English, “Isaac Bashevis Singer Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: A Spiritual Reappraisal, 1946–1955” edited and translated by David Stromberg (White Goat Press), is the third collection to be reviewed in The Reporter. “Old Truths and New Clichés,” the first to be published, focused on the essays from the 1960s and ‘70s. (To read that review, visit www.thereportergroup.org/book-reviews....) The second, “Isaac Bashevis Singer Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: The War Years, 1939-1945,” offered writings from his early career, before his fiction became popular. (The review of that work can be found at www.thereportergroup.org/book-reviews....)
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/book...