Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Life

by Janet Hadda

Isaac Bashevis Singer brought the vibrant milieu of pre-Holocaust Polish Jewry to the English-speaking world through his subtle psychological insight, deep sympathy for the eccentricities of Jewish folk custom, and unerring feel for the heroism of everyday life. His novels, including The Family Moskat and A Love Story , and his short stories, such as "Yentl"  and "Gimpel the Fool," prove him a consummate storyteller and probably the greatest Yiddish writer of the twentieth  century.

Genres: Biography, Jewish, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Piotr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Get it, read it and look for something else. Far from being "A Life" story. Singer's formative Warsaw years are practically neglected. Instead we have a number of psychoanalitical vivisections of his parents, grandparents and siblings. With an overdose of trendy gender issues. Second part is little better, finally we can see the real man - IBS. With all his habbits, weaknesses, prejudices. Pity that we only see an Old Man.

[Agnes Kelemen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a really interesting monography, I like the author's sceptic but at the same time sympathetic way of writing. The first chapters show where can it drive, when a psychoanalist writes a literaly work...I find exaggerated many of Janet's conclusions which she made in base of the behaviour of Singer's parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents.
However all Singer-fans should read it!