About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100195084209

ISBN-139780195084207

eBay Product ID (ePID)498013

Product Key Features

Book TitleIsaac Bashevis Singer : Alife

Number of Pages272 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicJudaism / General, Jewish

Publication Year1997

IllustratorYes

GenreLiterary Criticism, Religion

AuthorJanet Hadda

Book SeriesStudies in Jewish History Ser.

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight16.2 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.9 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN96-028593

Dewey Edition20

Reviews"Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective, which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simple causes.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and divided personality and the sociological elements in his art."--LibraryJournal, "What cannot be denied is Singer's genius in translating the life of OldWorld Jewry prior to World War II and Professor Hadda's insightful examinationof those background forces that shaped Singer as man and author. The combinationcaptivates."--king Features Syndicate, "Using original Yiddish sources and interviews with those who knew Singer, the author demonstrates how the cultural milieu together with major world events impacted on Singer, a complex literary personality."--Jewish Book World, "The key to both the life and the art, as Ms. Hadda presents it with candor and clarity, is the utterly dysfuncitonal family life of Rabbi Pinkhos Menakhem and Baheve Singer, forced to live in the heart of Warsaw's Jewish slum.... Gleaning from their published memoirs and autobiographicalficiton, Ms. Hadda reconstructs a family dynamic rife with massive emotional feglect and repressed desire."--Forward, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such to give the slip to the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddish trickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The story she tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both those who have yet to discover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Janet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer in particular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to give us unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --Leonard Nimoy "Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective, which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simple causes.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and divided personality and the sociological elements in his art."--Library Journal, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such to give the slip to the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddish trickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The story she tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both those who have yet to discover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, author ofGod: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Janet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer in particular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to give us unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --Leonard Nimoy "Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective, which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simple causes.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and divided personality and the sociological elements in his art."--LibraryJournal, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such to give the slip to the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddish trickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The story she tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both those who have yet to discover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography , winner of the Pulitzer Prize Janet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer in particular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to give us unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --Leonard Nimoy "Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective, which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simple causes.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and divided personality and the sociological elements in his art."-- Library Journal, "Using original Yiddish sources and interviews with those who knew Singer,the author demonstrates how the cultural milieu together with major world eventsimpacted on Singer, a complex literary personality."--Jewish Book World, "Janet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer inparticular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to giveus unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --LeonardNimoy, "An unvarnished and bewitching account of the century's most acclaimedYiddish Writer.... Her portrait of Singer is sad, clear-eyed, and awesomelycomplex."--The Jewish Journal, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such as to give the slipto the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddishtrickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The storyshe tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both those who have yet todiscover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, authorof God: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, "Hadda honors Isaac Bashevis Singer at the very same time that she draws a bright line between myth and reality in his life and work."--Los Angeles Times, "What cannot be denied is Singer's genius in translating the life of Old World Jewry prior to World War II and Professor Hadda's insightful examination of those background forces that shaped Singer as man and author. The combination captivates."--king Features Syndicate, "The key to both the life and the art, as Ms. Hadda presents it withcandor and clarity, is the utterly dysfuncitonal family life of Rabbi PinkhosMenakhem and Baheve Singer, forced to live in the heart of Warsaw's Jewishslum.... Gleaning from their published memoirs and autobiographical ficiton, Ms.Hadda reconstructs a family dynamic rife with massive emotional feglect andrepressed desire."--Forward, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such as to give the slip to the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddish trickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The story she tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both thosewho have yet to discover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, "Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective,which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simplecauses.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and dividedpersonality and the sociological elements in his art."--Library Journal, "Janet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer in particular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to give us unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --Leonard Nimoy, "An unvarnished and bewitching account of the century's most acclaimed Yiddish Writer.... Her portrait of Singer is sad, clear-eyed, and awesomely complex."--The Jewish Journal, "The iridescent charm of Isaac Bashevis Singer is such to give the slip to the very letters of the alphabet, but Janet Hadda has out-tricked the Yiddish trickster in this brief but wonderfully alive-and-kicking biography. The story she tells will entertain, appall, and fascinate both those who have yet to discover Singer and those who think they already know him."--Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography, winner of the Pulitzer PrizeJanet Hadda....is a great shcolar of Jewish writings and Singer in particular. In addition, her training as a psychoanalyst positions her to give us unique, exciting insights into Singer's creative process." --Leonard Nimoy"Clinical psychologist Hadda writes from a psychological perspective, which illuminates aspects of Singer's art and life without reducing it to simple causes.... Throughout, Hadda effectively explores Singer's complex and divided personality and the sociological elements in his art."--Library Journal, "Hadda honors Isaac Bashevis Singer at the very same time that she draws abright line between myth and reality in his life and work."--Los AngelesTimes

Dewey Decimal839/.0933 B

Table Of Content1. Introduction, Sandra F. Joireman 2. The Catholic Tradition and the State: Natural, Necessary, and Nettlesome, Robert B. Shelledy 3. Lutheranism and Politics: Martin Luther as a Modernizer, but for the Devil, Timothy J. Lomperis 4. Reformed...and Always Reforming?, James W. Skillen 5. Anabaptist and the State: An Uneasy Coexistence, Sandra F. Joireman 6. The Anglican Tradition: Building the State, Critiquing the State, Leah Seppanen Anderson 7. For the Sake of Conscience: Some Evangelical Views of the State, Timothy Samuel Shah 8. Pentecostalism: Holy Spirit Empowerment and Politics, Stephen M. Swindle 9. Concluding Reflections, Mark R. Amstutz

SynopsisIsaac Bashevis Singer, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1978, was the greatest Yiddish writer of the 20th century, a profoundly important voice in world literature, and an invaluable witness to the vanishing culture of Eastern European Jews. He was also a consummate storyteller. In such classic short stories as "Gimpel the Fool," "Short Friday," and "Yentl," and such acclaimed novels as The Family Moskat and Enemies, A Love Story, Singer combined a subtle psychological insight, deep sympathy for the eccentricities of Jewish folk custom, and an unerring feel for the heroism of everyday life. In doing so, he brought before the English-speaking world the vibrant milieu of pre-Holocaust Polish Jewry and provided an insight into human character and culture unsurpassed in our time. In Isaac Bashevis Singer, Janet Hadda brings her dual expertise--as a practicing psychoanalyst and a Yiddish literary scholar--to this illuminating study of Singer's life and work. Drawing on extensive interviews with his wife, his translators, and fellow writers, and using original Yiddish sources, Hadda traces Singer's remarkable trajectory from the grinding poverty of Bilgoray, Poland, to his early struggles and paralyzing self-doubts as a lonely immigrant in New York in the 1930s, and finally to his rise to the pinnacle of literary fame. Hadda views Singer's personal life through the lens of his troubled relationships with his brilliant family. She discusses for the first time the critical role his sister and brother--both literary figures in their own right--played in his emotional and intellectual development. We see, for example, the close resemblance between his epileptic sister and the demonically possessed heroine of Satan in Goray, and learn how Singer's admiration for and competition with his brother, Israel Joshua, both spurred and inhibited his own artistic growth. Hadda also explores how opposing parental forces--his effeminate rabbi father and masculine rationalist mother--bequeathed to Singer a set of contradictions and a loneliness that would haunt his entire life. Despite his famous memoir, In My Father's Court, which idealizes his parents, Hadda shows a childhood that left him deeply neglected and from which he turned to fiction for escape and compensation. His sense of isolation intensified in adulthood with the knowledge that the Yiddish-speaking audience for whom he wrote and whose world provided the foundation for his work was disappearing. Debilitating depression, epic womanizing, estrangement from his brother, sister, and son all contributed to a private personality far different from the simple, grandfatherly self his readers perceived. Indeed, vast discrepancies existed between his public, private, and several literary personas. The naive voice of Jewish folk culture was also a sophisticated artist, an acerbic critic and, in the view of some (most notably, Saul Bellow), a calculating careerist. Hadda's account gives us, in the end, an enormously complicated man profoundly afflicted by the contradictions of his historical circumstance and personal suffering who was yet able to transform his burdens into a marvelously compassionate literature. Compellingly written, filled with vivid detail, telling anecdote, and a wealth of fresh insight, Isaac Bashevis Singer reveals the complex array of historical, familial, cultural, and artistic forces that shaped one of this century's most eminent literary figures., Isaac Bashevis Singer, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1978, was the greatest Yiddish writer of the 20th century, a profoundly important voice in world literature, and an invaluable witness to the vanishing culture of Eastern European Jews. He was also a consummate storyteller. In such classic short stories as "Gimpel the Fool," "Short Friday," and "Yentl," and such acclaimed novels as The Family Moskat and Enemies, A Love Story , Singer combined a subtle psychological insight, deep sympathy for the eccentricities of Jewish folk custom, and an unerring feel for the heroism of everyday life. In doing so, he brought before the English-speaking world the vibrant milieu of pre-Holocaust Polish Jewry and provided an insight into human character and culture unsurpassed in our time. In Isaac Bashevis Singer , Janet Hadda brings her dual expertise--as a practicing psychoanalyst and a Yiddish literary scholar--to this illuminating study of Singer's life and work. Drawing on extensive interviews with his wife, his translators, and fellow writers, and using original Yiddish sources, Hadda traces Singer's remarkable trajectory from the grinding poverty of Bilgoray, Poland, to his early struggles and paralyzing self-doubts as a lonely immigrant in New York in the 1930s, and finally to his rise to the pinnacle of literary fame. Hadda views Singer's personal life through the lens of his troubled relationships with his brilliant family. She discusses for the first time the critical role his sister and brother--both literary figures in their own right--played in his emotional and intellectual development. We see, for example, the close resemblance between his epileptic sister and the demonically possessed heroine of Satan in Goray , and learn how Singer's admiration for and competition with his brother, Israel Joshua, both spurred and inhibited his own artistic growth. Hadda also explores how opposing parental forces--his effeminate rabbi father and masculine rationalist mother--bequeathed to Singer a set of contradictions and a loneliness that would haunt his entire life. Despite his famous memoir, In My Father's Court , which idealizes his parents, Hadda shows a childhood that left him deeply neglected and from which he turned to fiction for escape and compensation. His sense of isolation intensified in adulthood with the knowledge that the Yiddish-speaking audience for whom he wrote and whose world provided the foundation for his work was disappearing. Debilitating depression, epic womanizing, estrangement from his brother, sister, and son all contributed to a private personality far different from the simple, grandfatherly self his readers perceived. Indeed, vast discrepancies existed between his public, private, and several literary personas. The naive voice of Jewish folk culture was also a sophisticated artist, an acerbic critic and, in the view of some (most notably, Saul Bellow), a calculating careerist. Hadda's account gives us, in the end, an enormously complicated man profoundly afflicted by the contradictions of his historical circumstance and personal suffering who was yet able to transform his burdens into a marvelously compassionate literature. Compellingly written, filled with vivid detail, telling anecdote, and a wealth of fresh insight, Isaac Bashevis Singer reveals the complex array of historical, familial, cultural, and artistic forces that shaped one of this century's most eminent literary figures.

LC Classification NumberPJ5129.S49Z695 1997