Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer

by Isaac Bashevis Singer, David Stromberg (Editor)

From the Nobel Prize – winning writer, a new collection of literary and personal essays

Old Truths and New Clichés collects nineteen essays―most of them previously unpublished in English―by Isaac Bashevis Singer on topics that were central to his artistic vision throughout an astonishing and prolific literary career spanning more than six decades. Expanding on themes reflected in his best-known work―including the literary arts, Yiddish and Jewish life, and mysticism and philosophy―the book illuminates in new ways the rich intellectual, aesthetic, religious, and biographical background of Singer’s singular achievement as the first Yiddish-language author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Like a modern Montaigne, Singer studied human nature and created a body of work that contributed to a deeper understanding of the human spirit. Much of his philosophical thought was funneled into his stories. Yet these essays, which Singer himself translated into English or oversaw the translation of, present his ideas in a new way, as universal reflections on the role of the artist in modern society. The unpublished essays featured here include “Old Truths and New Clichés,” “The Kabbalah and Modern Times,” and “A Trip to the Circus.”

Old Truths and New Clichés brims with stunning archival finds that will make a significant impact on how readers understand Singer and his work. Singer’s critical essays have long been overlooked because he has been thought of almost exclusively as a storyteller. This book offers an important correction to the record by further establishing Singer as a formidable intellectual.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Judaism

248 pages, Hardcover

Published May 17, 2022

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

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere in Heaven, Singer must be smiling, or cursing. For years, he wanted to compile and publish a book of his essays. Thank God it finally happened – in my lifetime, at least.

Thank you, David Stromberg, editor. Thank you Princeton University Press, publisher. I’m so grateful that you gave us this collection. It’s a tremendous gift to IBS fans.

Singer is known first and foremost – and, in some minds, exclusively – as a storyteller. A f*%king great storyteller. But he was also a true intellectual whose essays on literature, the Yiddish language and the Jewish enterprise are treasures that we can now digest and enjoy.

If you love his stories and novels, you will probably find yourself aligned with his views on literature. Most of those views, anyway. He allowed his characters’ thoughts and actions to speak for themselves, rather than subjecting the characters to psychoanalysis, which he knew was beyond his limitations as a writer. He also subscribed to the somewhat radical and unfashionable idea that a story should contain, you know, a story. A plot.

His essays on the Yiddish language did NOT align with my previous, errant thinking. Singer convinced me that Yiddish is actually a better vehicle than Hebrew for describing the Jewish experience. I’m not going to reprise his argument here, but I’ll offer one quote that went straight to my heart:

“Yiddish is the language of those who are afraid, not of those who arouse fear.”

Pausing … to let that sink in.

His perspective on Jewish history is equally insightful.

Our historical exile from Jerusalem had its drawbacks, to put it mildly. But Singer points out that it also enabled Judaism to evolve as a spiritual and ethical enterprise, free from the moral compromises inherent to statehood. Zionism, he notes, emerged only as a last resort, when the very survival of Diaspora Jews was in jeopardy.

The idea that exile has been essential to the ethical elevation of Judaism is not originally Singer's. But he expresses the idea as well or better than anyone:

"The truth is that a people who must be ever prepared for war cannot live by high religious ideals. The preacher of love and the bearer of the sword are the greatest contrasts the human mind can entertain."

We can’t quibble too much with Stromberg’s curation here, as he only included essays that Singer himself had translated from Yiddish into English. In other words, these essays may very well have been the ones that Singer had selected for publication in book form.

But this collection does leave readers with an incomplete understanding of Singer’s relationship with God.

In this collection, we find Singer comparing God to a novelist, while we are both the characters and co-writers. Missing is an essay in which Singer presents a much more provocative conception. Addressing God, he wrote:

“You are consciousness and unconsciousness, cause and effect, faith and doubt, what we call reality and what we call dreams. You are the web of all our fantasies, every will and whim. In You roars the lion and hisses the snake, in You the righteous cries out and the evildoer laughs.”

Looking ahead, Singer believed that a “revitalized Judaism” must take the “form of a great spiritual vision and awakening.”

That vision and awakening, in Singer’s view and mine, includes a reframing of our relationship with animals. He wrote:

“We will never ascend to spiritual heights if we look down on God’s creatures, and if we consider them merely meat to devour, or objects of that bloody game called hunting. I believe that if there is ever to be a religious awakening and a reformulation of the old faith, it will require love and respect not only for people but also for animals. The religion of the future will include vegetarianism.”

I would slightly revise and update that vision: “The religion of the present must include veganism.”

Singer was the Jewish intellectual and ethical voice we needed – and need more than ever today.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isaac Bashevis Singer is one of my favorite writers. Reading the Library of America’s three volume collection of his short stories was a profound, intense joy of an addiction. This collection of essays, however, was a real letdown.

Divided into three thematical sections, the first, “The Literary Arts,” reveals a writer whose views on writing seemed downright reactionary to me. A rather closed mind who blithely, almost bitterly, derides any writing that cannot be attached to personal experience. I’m not necessarily a fan of futurism or science fiction, but Singer’s intransigence about these kinds of works put me off so much that I feel like I need to give them a shot sometime soon.

The second section, “Yiddish and Jewish Life,” is very uneven. His pithy descriptions of the meanings of the Kabbalah and the Ten Commandments reminded me of a devout Mormon trying to put lipstick on the silliness of The Book of Mormon. On the other hand, the essays on Yiddish, the significance of the language and place in Jewish culture and history, are insightful and worthy of revisiting. “Personal Writings and Philosophy” reveal a writer very different from the one we meet in the opening set of essays, making the collection as a whole very uneven and somewhat confusing.

Footnotes throughout contain selections Singer crossed out. Perhaps that’s good for an academic, but Singer must have had a reason for excising them from the final drafts. Certainly, they were not intended for final publication. It struck me as being analogous to, for example, modern day conductors who play early versions of Bruckner symphonies and claim they are historical relevant. Bruckner had a reason for changing them for posterity. He wanted to give listeners the best of his evolving ideas, not what he considered the muddle of past drafts. It seems to me that the same applies to all writers, Singer included.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tutti gli artisti sperimentano dolorosamente l'abisso che separa le proprie visioni interiori dalla loro espressione finale, un abisso che non viene mai colmato del tutto. Ognuno di noi ha la convinzione, forse illusoria, di avere da dire molto di più di quello che appare sulla carta." (p. 149)

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

"L'errore più grave che uno scrittore possa fare è presumere che l'epoca del godimento estetico sia finita e che gli artisti possano permettersi di annoiare il pubblico in nome di uno scopo superiore. Non esiste un paradiso che ripaghi i lettori annoiati. Se nella letteratura c'è una redenzione, deve essere immanente. L'arte non prospera grazie alle promesse. Può magari pagare poco, ma lo fa in contanti. Se non ti colpisce subito, non lo farà mai"

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When considering major Jewish literary figures of the past 100 years, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Amos Oz certainly qualify, even though they represent two different traditions. Singer has been called a master of Yiddish literature (something with which the Nobel Prize Committee agreed) while Oz was definitely a major figure in Israeli literature (and, although he never did win the Nobel, has received numerous other awards). Their lives and works were controversial: many Yiddish writers felt other authors were more deserving of the Nobel, while Oz’ opinions about Israeli politics were often said to be too radical. Readers wanting to learn their thoughts on writing and life will be interested in two recently published works: “What Makes an Apple? Six Conversations about Writing, Love, Guilt, and Other Pleasures” by Oz with Shira Hadad (translated into English by Jessica Cohen” and “Old Truths and New Clichés” by Singer (edited by David Stromberg). (Both works were published by Princeton University Press.)
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...

[Benedetta Folcarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A che cosa serve la letteratura?” di Isaac Bashevis Singer è una recentissima uscita Adelphi che raccoglie una serie di saggi offrendo uno sguardo privilegiato sulla poetica e la filosofia dell’autore. Il volume è suddiviso in tre parti: Le arti letterarie, Yiddish e vita ebraica e Scritti personali e filosofia. Attraverso questi testi, Singer riflette sul significato della letteratura, sul mestiere dello scrittore e sul rapporto con il pubblico, le cui esigenze è importante che vadano sempre considerate. Un libro prezioso non solo per chi vuole avvicinarsi alla sua opera, ma anche per gli aspiranti scrittori in cerca di un saggio capace di stimolare la riflessione e offrire spunti su come comprendere meglio le aspettative del lettore contemporaneo.

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un manifesto ancora attuale nonostante abbia piú di mezzo secolo. A cosa serve la letteratura e perché non la si puó usare per manipolare. Ogni volta che leggo qualcosa di Singer non posso peró fare a meno di chiedermi cosa avrebbe pensato della situazione attuale.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most posthumous odds-and-ends anthologies of writers, this gathers scraps. The editor admits how he had to cobble together coherent versions, and how a lot of these entries were in a condition requiring close reconstruction. The results as he intends do show the literary, philosophical, and Yiddish-oriented themes that unsurprisingly delve into his thoughts and his lectures on these topics.

I admired Singer's analogy of God as a author. The writer of stories, songs, and staged entertainment. Who must set up the props, do the lighting, create the sets, do the score, and hire (and fire or retire?) the musicians, performers, promoters, backstage crew, and sell tickets to the audiences, I guess, if one Jimi's keeps extending the wonderful conceit. Singer develops this scenario with skill and smarts.

He also makes useful observations about exile as keeping the Jews intact in the diaspora. He argues that otherwise they'd have been absorbed or assimilated as were already the ten lost tribes during six hundred years in the ancient land of Israel. He shows how Yiddish lives on, why he persists with it rather than switching to either Hebrew or his adopted English, and why Kabbalah infuses his works and from childhood, his imagination. As well as Hume, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, the occult, and of course the Talmud. He explains his own conception of his God, and always champions mercy first.

It's a mixed bag, but the collection is arranged so it increased, for me, in interest by its two-thirds mark. His earlier comments on literary art didn't seem particularly novel, but when he gets to how his imagination has been fired up, and how the Divine Presence in the Kabbalah inspires his characters, the worth of this book reveals itself. It did need another proofreading round. Principle and principal are confused, and there's a subject-verb disagreement both of which are English-language errors...

[Karli Sherwinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very moved by many of these essays, particularly the ones about Judaism and Jewish history. The writing about the lack of integrity in children's literature was also impactful. He could have been writing all of these essays today. Their truths, as indicated in the title, have been known for some time, yet somehow society seems to lose more and more with the passage of time. I particularly loved this poem, and found it extremely relevant today:
To The True Protestor
Wolf and sheep in carnal embrace,
What God will ever show them his face?
God Himself, the Lord of Creation
Has decreed upon them bloodshed, privation
There is one redeemer of God’s cruel game
The only Messiah—Death is his name
He’s wolf ’s and sheep’s only grace
Men’s everlasting resting place
Beaten protester, wary of life
Don’t build a house, don’t take a wife
Don’t bring up children to suffer the fate
Of God’s injustice, man’s lies and hate.
Yesterday’s victim is the oppressor today
There is no hope, there is no way,
In our protest do we cry
Why doest Thou punish the helpless, why?
Thine is the wisdom and the might
While we are blind in the darkest night.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in an effort to gain insight into the mind of the brilliant author, Isaac Beshevis Singer. As a sociologist, I found the introductory materials and the biographical coverage of Spinoza more interesting than some of his essays. Overall, Spinoza desired to be an old-world intellectual who combined cultural critique with fiction.

Some of his ideas were revolutionary, namely the notion that sex and relationships are fundamentally human and ought to be included in artistic depictions of life. He also sees it as the author's obligation to give his characters rich and unique internal lives and plots that are simultaneously unlikely to have happened before yet emblematic of social trends. Other ideas of Spinoza have not aged well, namely the idea that art should not attempt to change the world.

[Graychin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair collection of non-fiction by IBS. I especially liked this little bit about Singer’s idea of his calling as a writer:

“I believe that this generation is possessed by the worst devil the netherworld has ever sent to mislead us. The Satan of our time plays the part of a humanist and has one desire: to save the world. The exorcism of this demon is the most difficult, but I am ready to do my share.”

[Avi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has its moments. The Ten Commandments and Modern Critics was hilarious if you’re into that kind of thing.

There was a lot of pseudo-mysticism I found distasteful. Also I think the book is likely to primarily appeal to people with an interest in Jewish history and culture, it’s not something I’d recommend to a general reader without some background in those subjects.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these essays by one of the 20th century’s great writers. I found his explanations of Hasidism interesting, the satire on the Ten Commandments was hilarious, and the essays on writing and literature were insightful.

[Lisa Tangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook from the library..
Very interesting. The man was incredibly prolific and educated. As a writer, I appreciated his comments on storytelling. I liked this book enough to want to buy a copy to reread.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

unsurprisingly astute commentary on the interplay between journalism and literature (and how the expected delivery speed has changed in the world), disdain for unnecessarily opaque/artistic writing which doesn't actually communicate anything, the importance of keeping in mind the audience as the natural, final judge of any piece's worth, the importance of telling the stories you know rather than assuming the shoes of another, and more. also, cute personal anecdotes. some essays in the middle are more skippable. also, helpful historical context of their initial publication in פארווערטס, under which of the pen names, etc. certainly on the odd side with the kabbalah content.

[gallizio · Rating 4 out of 5]

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