Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
97th out of 1,169 books
—
879 voters
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
The forty-seven stories in this collection, selected by Singer himself out of nearly one hundred and fifty, range from the publication of his now-classic first collection, Gimpel the Fool, in 1957, until 1981. They include supernatural tales, slices of life from Warsaw and the shtetls of Eastern Europe, and stories of the Jews displaced from that world to the New World, fr...more
Paperback, 624 pages
Published
August 1st 1983
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published January 1st 1982)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,499)
Jun 27, 2012
s.penkevich
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Those who question
Recommended to s.penkevich by:
K.I. Hope
‘If you believe in God, then He exists.’
This sentiment best surmises the questions and crises of faith presented in the Nobel winning body of work from Isaac Bashevis Singer. The Polish born author came to the United States on the brink of WWII and left an honorable mark on Jewish literature, winning two National Book Awards, one for his memoirs and one for A Crown of Feathers (which he shared with Thomas Pynchon for Gravity's Rainbow), as well as the Nobel in 1978. While having written With a w...more
This sentiment best surmises the questions and crises of faith presented in the Nobel winning body of work from Isaac Bashevis Singer. The Polish born author came to the United States on the brink of WWII and left an honorable mark on Jewish literature, winning two National Book Awards, one for his memoirs and one for A Crown of Feathers (which he shared with Thomas Pynchon for Gravity's Rainbow), as well as the Nobel in 1978. While having written With a w...more
Feb 10, 2009
Wayne
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE who loves raw magic.
Recommended to Wayne by:
a lost cousin
Shelves:
short-stories,
european-favourites
These are the equivalent of Grimm's fairy tales...for adults.
Rich, ruthless, colourful and magical...human and humorous.
(Kylie, did you read the volume I bought for you in Paris??)
"The Seance and Other Stories" was a parting gift, a volume I left languishing on the shelf for a few years and which I read more out of guilt,that is, until I got into the very first story. After that an obsession. Now - all read...EVERY volume!!
No Holocaust tales here...Singer tells the most magical, bizarre, intrigu...more
Rich, ruthless, colourful and magical...human and humorous.
(Kylie, did you read the volume I bought for you in Paris??)
"The Seance and Other Stories" was a parting gift, a volume I left languishing on the shelf for a few years and which I read more out of guilt,that is, until I got into the very first story. After that an obsession. Now - all read...EVERY volume!!
No Holocaust tales here...Singer tells the most magical, bizarre, intrigu...more
Isaac Bashevis Singer reminds me of my grandpa . My grandpa to was an old Jewish man with no hair and puffy wrinkly face . He had no hair on his head but plenty in his nose and his ears. I'm not so sure about Mr singer on that account , but i think it's safe to say that by time he had written the last of these stories , he may have had smattering, a small cluster , perhaps gathering restively around the lobes and nostrils.
I loved my Grandpa very much . He used to tell these outlandish stories to...more
I loved my Grandpa very much . He used to tell these outlandish stories to...more
Jan 29, 2008
Tiphany
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like parables, borscht, knishes, and "tradition".
If I could have chosen a grandfather, I would have chosen this man for the stories alone.
I recommend this to people who like dry humor, vegetables, optimism devoid of religion, religion devoid of optimism, despair (both with and without rejection), facades, bold sarcasm, and flirtatious eyes.
I recommend this to people who like dry humor, vegetables, optimism devoid of religion, religion devoid of optimism, despair (both with and without rejection), facades, bold sarcasm, and flirtatious eyes.
If Sholem Aleichem is the grand master of Jewish folk tales depicting life of the common people then Isaaac Bashevis Singer is the anti-Sholem Aleichem, representing all the misfits and lost souls of the Jewish ghetto.
No matter what era – 18th Century, Pre-Holocaust or Post-Holocaust, or community - Poland, Brooklyn, anywhere, his stories all boil down to Jews that are either rejected by their communities or even by themselves. Add a gentle serving of ancient Jewish mysticism, mostly dybbuks an...more
No matter what era – 18th Century, Pre-Holocaust or Post-Holocaust, or community - Poland, Brooklyn, anywhere, his stories all boil down to Jews that are either rejected by their communities or even by themselves. Add a gentle serving of ancient Jewish mysticism, mostly dybbuks an...more
Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote magical realism before it was fashionable. Most of these lyrical stories take place in the twilight world that existed between the first and second world wars. Set in tiny villages and lost cities, these tales are studies in morality and the struggle between good and evil. Singer's stories seem ordinary and warm at first, then turn on a dime and spiral into a strange, warped darkness where the protagonist's soul is often on the line and the devil walks among us in the...more
A little morbid. More often sad. Excellent writing. I enjoyed Gimpel The Fool, The Cafeteria, and Yentl. I'm even thinking about giving up wearing pants! HATED, did I type that loud enough?, HATED, The Slaughterer. Didn't mind some of the others but my favorite by far was The Shortest Friday. This story spoke to my heart and I found myself almost in tears until the very end when I actually laughed out loud!
I will probably read some of these again and I really hope I can find his Naftali the Stor...more
I will probably read some of these again and I really hope I can find his Naftali the Stor...more
I have read 7 stories from this collection as of now . Its just a fascinating world that Singer paints . Singer world view is predominantly set in small Jewish village in Polland called Frampool or Kreshev . Singer brilliantly explores the question of faith of the significance of religious belief as part of human existence .
Faith is the core point of interest in all of these stories . These are feudal villages which are confined to itself . People live by their faith, and how they are forced up...more
Faith is the core point of interest in all of these stories . These are feudal villages which are confined to itself . People live by their faith, and how they are forced up...more
I love Singer! What a mensch. He is truly an artist using words as the colors he paints with. The stories are so heymish and really gave me insight into a world I hardly knew anything about - that of the late 19th and early 20th century shtetl in Poland. A world that was ultimately annihilated by the Nazis, but has been redeemed in the writings of this author, as well as others who make it their life's work to preserve the memory, the literature and the mesoyre of the Yiddish world.
These stories are the literary equivelant of Marc Chagall's paintings. They tend to concentrate on folklore and village characters, and are full of literally fantastic individuals and magical encounters. I loved all of them. I took this book with me when I was doing a week-long course and staying at a hotel near Heathrow about twenty-three years ago, although some nights I was too drunk to see straight and fell asleep in the middle of a story. Drinks were a perk.
Read the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer when you tire of 24/7 news, computers, cellphones, television, and Hollywood. All those stories are here, but without the distracting trappings of technology, the frailty of human nature, and the willingness of persons and "demons" to exploit those frailties, are even more compelling. Bernie Madoff, anyone?
This collection of short stories has everything......pathos, joy, poverty, beauty and dybbuks! Set in an imaginary shetl -a cross between Yentl and Fiddler on The Roof, Singer writes about the villagers, their relationship with God, their superstitions, marriages, deaths & vegetables :) A beautiful book of stories from a lost culture.....
Hey imagine if Kafka had resolution in his short stories! Well, there's nobel peace prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. He did after all said "Kafka is enough for one lifetime" and with Singer, modern literature was ready to head back to place where stories were supposed to end up with in the first place, an ending.
The Jewish shtetl subculture presented by the re-inventor of the short story genre. A must for a Jewish intellectual, and a must for a storyteller. But if you happen to be both -- then place it between the Torah and the Thesaurus.
Dec 18, 2011
Valerie
is currently reading it
I've ready about half these stories and will probably come back to the collection every so often to read another...which seems like the best way to appreciate them. Special mention for Crown of Feathers and The Little Shoemakers.
I don't know if anyone who didn't grow up in a Yiddish-speaking Jewish household would feel this way...but this is the greatest book in the world. Isaac Bashevis Singer is my favorite writer. He writes a kind of magical realism, but of a very different sort than the type one finds in Marquez and Rushdie. The realism never bends in a way that does not illustrate a larger point, his stories are hidden philosophical queries about morality, about existence, about sin, about desire, about love. Singe...more
I really liked all of this. A lot of the early stories read like fairy tales, probably because of all the villages and supernatural beings and stuff. I enjoyed "Short Friday" and all the descriptions of food and cold nights and his weird afterlife views. I liked the juxtaposition in "The Spinoza of Market Street" between the main character's intellectual pursuits and his impending marriage. And all the people outside! The life pulsating all around him! I loved the descriptions of rituals and bel...more
Loved this book, if not for the movie "Yentyl" I may have missed out on this excellent writer. Book is always better than the movie too!
A fascinating insight into Yiddish customs, legends, and culture. I especially love the stories that explore the nature of God, the existence of God, the origin of the universe, the meaning of life, etc. My favourite story is "The Slaughterer", since I myself am preoccupied by the issues Yoineh Meir raises in this story.
Singer had a very keen understanding of human nature, and he presents his characters realistically, warts and all. I love his cynicism and pessimism, interspersed with the occas...more
Singer had a very keen understanding of human nature, and he presents his characters realistically, warts and all. I love his cynicism and pessimism, interspersed with the occas...more
Some of the best short stories I've read. "Gimpel the Fool" is a memorable favorite.
Stephen King recommended author in Chapter 5 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.
Great storyteller. Two of my favorites are 'A Crown of Feathers' and 'Short Friday.'
Magical writer with mostly magical stories. Is there a better short story writer.
Singer is the finest purveyor of Jewish folk tales. A simple, but powerful style. And this is where Yentl came from!
One of my all time favorites that go back to read time again.
Fairy tales for adults. As grim as Grimm. As wise as Aesop
I am loving this book more and more as I get into it.
Great stuff, wish it was a part of high school curriculum
One of my favorite books
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Polish Jewish American author 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, which won the U.S. National Book Award, Children's Literature in 1970.
More about Isaac Bashevis Singer...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“I believe in God but people are liars. It's those people who say they are appointed by God who I don't believe in.”
—
179 people liked it
“We all play chess with Fate as partner. He makes a move, we make a move. He tries to checkmate us in three moves, we try to prevent it. We know we can't win, but we're driven to give him a good fight.”
—
9 people liked it
More quotes…
Jun 27, 2012 07:32am
Jun 27, 2012 07:35am