A well-crafted anthology of musings from a giant of Jewish literature.
Stromberg offers newly translated essays by Nobel laurate Isaac Bashevis Singer that shed light on the Polish American author’s postwar transformation.
Singer’s novels, short stories, and essays not only garnered him the Nobel Prize for Literature, but also two National Book Awards, among a host of other accolades. He’s a leading figure in 20th century Yiddish literature, and his major works have been published in English translations, but not all of his mid-20th century musings. In this, the second volume of select Yiddish essays by Singer, translator and editor Stromberg focuses on a pivotal era of the writer’s intellectual development, from 1946 to 1955. Although The Family Moskat (1950) and other novels have driven much of the scholarly understanding of Singer during this period, Stromberg suggests that the writer’s lesser-known essays, published in the Yiddish newspaper Forverts under the pseudonym Yitskhok Varshavski, reveal a “total transformation,” as he questioned “everything he knew” about his Jewish faith and identity. This theme of “spiritual reappraisal” is seen throughout these essays, which blend an orthodox understanding of Jewish history and faith with frustration regarding contemporary Jewish movements and organizations, particularly among American Jews. Singer’s 1951 essay “What Is the Foundation of Jewish Culture?,” for example, highlights the growing number of people who “say they just happen to be Jewish” and “have the sense that being Jewish obliges them to nothing.” Another essay on Yiddish literature notes the dearth of writings on immigration, socialism, and other topics central to Jewish diasporic histories. “When Actions Achieve Nothing” offers a powerful reflection on the tension between religious systems that prioritize “the thought itself” and the more secularist prioritization of taking action.
Stromberg, a literary scholar who’s served as editor of the Isaac Bashevis Singer Literary Trust, has an intimate familiarity with the nuances of Singer’s idiosyncratic beliefs. The book’s introductory essay offers an astute survey of the author’s postwar changes, contextualizing this period by not only considering his seven decades of writing, but also by putting them in historical context. Singer’s inner tumult, Stromberg argues, paralleled the chaos of events in the world around him, from the Cold War and McCarthyism to the formation of Israel and post-Holocaust Zionism. Similarly, short editorial introductions place each essay in specific contexts within Singer’s life, such as his travels to Europe and Israel, and emphasizes their relevancy to 21st-century debates within Jewish communities. The translations themselves are accessible and admirably reflect Singer’s iconic style and vision of Jewish idealism. At the heart of this vision, reflected in both the author’s essays and Stromberg’s analysis, is the Yiddish language. Critiques of contemporary Jewish movements aside, Singer viewed Yiddish as both practically and spiritually important, hoping to “ensure not only that it will be possible to learn Yiddish but that people will want to learn it so they can gain access to its treasures.” By offering a glimpse of Singer’s own literary treasures, this volume usefully adds to readers’ understanding of a 20th-century icon.
A well-crafted anthology of musings from a giant of Jewish literature.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.
Avuncular observations on matters historical from the late popularizer of the past.
McCullough made a fine career of storytelling his way through past events and the great men (and occasional woman) of long-ago American history. In that regard, to say nothing of his eschewing modern technology in favor of the typewriter (“I love the way the bell rings every time I swing the carriage lever”), he might be thought of as belonging to a past age himself. In this set of occasional pieces, including various speeches and genial essays on what to read and how to write, he strikes a strong tone as an old-fashioned moralist: “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude,” he thunders. “It’s a form of ingratitude.” There are some charming reminiscences in here. One concerns cajoling his way into a meeting with Arthur Schlesinger in order to pitch a speech to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy: Where Richard Nixon “has no character and no convictions,” he opined, Kennedy “is appealing to our best instincts.” McCullough allows that it wasn’t the strongest of ideas, but Schlesinger told him to write up a speech anyway, and when it got to Kennedy, “he gave a speech in which there was one paragraph that had once sentence written by me.” Some of McCullough’s appreciations here are of writers who are not much read these days, such as Herman Wouk and Paul Horgan; a long piece concerns a president who’s been largely lost in the shuffle too, Harry Truman, whose decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan McCullough defends. At his best here, McCullough uses history as a way to orient thinking about the present, and with luck to good ends: “I am a short-range pessimist and a long-range optimist. I sincerely believe that we may be on the way to a very different and far better time.”
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781668098998
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
