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| 10/5/1978 |
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Singer's Yiddish Folly
On this day in 1978 the Polish-American writer Isaac Bashevis Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Singer emigrated from Poland in 1935, but he continued to write mostly in Yiddish, on a forty-three-year-old Yiddish typewriter, of a culture which "sneaks by, smuggles itself amid the powers of destruction, knowing somewhere that God's plan for Creation is still at the very beginning...." |
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American Masters
A PBS biography about Singer's enduring legacy.
"Isaac Bashevis Singer was one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century. His writing is a unique blend of religious morality and social awareness combined with an investigation of personal desires. Though his work often took the form of parables or tales based on a nineteenth century tradition, he was deeply concerned with the events of his time and the future of his people and their culture." |  | Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature
Singer was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life." Visit the official Nobel website for an author biography, Singer's Nobel Lecture and Diploma, and other resources. | | Salon.com
An interview conducted shortly before the author's death, in which the Nobel Prize winner speaks about the nature and importance of literature, reflections on being an author, and topics including free will, God, and suffering.
"The very fact that when you read a novel, you learn about a country, or about an environment, has already done things for education. And if at the same time your spirit is entertained, the writer has really reached his goal." | | The Compassionate Vision
A lengthy article about the Singer's vegetarianism, with quotes from the author's works. From "The Letter Writer":
"They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka...." | | The New York Times
Find reviews of 19 of works including "Shadows on the Hudson," Gimpel the Fool," and "The Collected Stories." Also offers news stories, speeches, articles, and the author's obituary.
"We are still at the very beginning of learning both in science and in the arts. I foresee a time when many of the ideas we have rejected so lightmindedly may come back into science and art; such as the existence of God, Providence, the soul, a plan and a purpose to Creation, reward and punishment, free will and other such obsolete and refuted notions. I feel like saying to my friends, the librarians: Let's begin to build the libraries of the future right now. It is neither too early nor too late." | |
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The TinL masthead features photography by
Natasha D'Schommer
, and the book art featured is by Jim Rosenau.
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