Singer plays a unique role in Jewish American literature. He immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1935, when he was in his early thirties, and continued to write in Yiddish, his native tongue. Although he would become an American citizen and live in the United States for the remainder of his long life,…
Tag: Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Son From America – Historical Setting
East European Jewry During the nineteenth century, the number of Jews relative to the non-Jewish population in Poland rose steadily, from 8.7 percent in 1816 to 13.5 percent in 1865 and 14 percent in 1897. This growth was in spite of extensive Jewish emigration and was due to a lower death rate among Jews compared…
The Son From America – Literary Devices
Nature Symbolism Berl and Berlcha live simply, guided by their religious faith. They also live close to nature and in harmony with it. Human and natural worlds interpenetrate, almost like paradise described in the book of Genesis in the Bible, before the fall of man. In the winter, the chickens and the goat live inside…
The Son From America – Themes
Materialism From a modern perspective, Berl and Berlcha do not possess much. They have enough to eat, and they have a roof over their heads, but that is about all. They are poor. They have no luxuries. The only extras they make sure they have are the candles needed for the Sabbath, but they regard…
The Son From America – Characters
Berl Berl is a man in his eighties, married to Berlcha. Berl is Jewish, and he used to live in Russia but was driven from that country by persecution. He settled with his wife in a small village in Poland, where they keep a goat, a cow, and chickens and a small field. Berl walks…
The Son From America – Summary
‘‘The Son from America’’ is set in Lentshin, a small Jewish village in Poland in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. In Lentshin live old Berl, a man in his eighties, and his wife, Berlcha. Berl was driven from Russia by the persecution of Jews there, and he and his wife settled in Poland….
The Spinoza of Market Street – Analysis
Critic Lawrence Alexander has pointed out that Isaac Bashevis Singer “almost always writes as a Jew, to Jews, for Jews: and yet he is heard by everybody.” Other critics have concurred that it is through Singer’s very specific focus on the vanished world of Chassidic Jewry in the shtetls (small Eastern European Jewish communities) of…
The Spinoza of Market Street – Setting
Spinoza The protagonist of this story has devoted his life to the study of the Dutch-Jewish philosopher, Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677), particularly his major work, Ethics. Although Spinoza finished writing Ethics in 1675, it was never published during his lifetime, in part due to its controversial nature and the censure of religious authorities. Spinoza is…
The Spinoza of Market Street – Literary Devices
Translation from Yiddish Throughout his life, Singer wrote almost exclusively in Yiddish. As Yiddish is still spoken by only a relatively small number of people, most readers are acquainted with his work in translation. Later in his life, as he became more comfortable with his own command of English, Singer often translated his Yiddish stories…
The Spinoza of Market Street – Themes
Philosophy versus Religion A central theme of this story is the conflict between the ideas put forth in modern philosophy (such as that of Spinoza), and the ancient beliefs held by Orthodox Chassidic Judaism. The protagonist, who considers himself a Jew, is alienated from the Jewish community of the shtetl in which he lives due…