Isaac Bashevis Singer

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer and looks at how they reflect Singer's life and the philosophy of the Hasidic Jewish religion in which he was raised. The paper also points out that Singer's successful blending of fantasy, fact, and faith in his stories allowed him to render images of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and of life in general.

From the Paper:

"According to the Online World Book Encyclopedia, the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer exhibit a kind of Jewish magical realism. Its critical essay on Singer's life and work reads that the author's ?best-known tales are romantic or legendary rather than realistic. The narrators in some of his stories are imps or demons. Many of his works combine modern realism with Jewish folklore and fantasy.? (Saltzman, 2004) The passions of his main characters "are frequently of a sexual nature," but also have the additional quality of ?manias and superstitions, fanatical hopes and dreams, the figments of terror, the lure of lust or power, the nightmares of anguish.? Thus, Singer weaves the fabric of everyday life ?with wonders, reality spun from dreams, the blood of the past with the moment in which we are living.? "

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