Book Review: Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer
By Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler
“A Yiddish writer in America is an unseen entity, almost a ghost.” So begins the introduction to the new collection of essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer, compiled and edited by David Stromberg. Singer is, of course, best known as a storyteller, but this new collection aims to expose readers to Singer’s worldview through a different lens than devotees may be familiar with. Though Singer virtually defined Yiddish American literature of the twentieth century, he was, as this collection reveals, a thinker as well as a writer — and a proud one at that.
Most of the essays in the collection are previously unpublished in English, and some have previously been unpublished in any capacity. In the preface, Stromberg notes that “ … It is possible … to read these texts not quite as translations, but as original works produced through a process that included a first draft in Yiddish, translation into English, and English-language revisions made into final works … In this sense, this book is more than a collection of Singer’s translated articles. It is a cohesive work, expressed in Singer’s own voice.” Stromberg has curated this collection in service of expressing what he terms “a central element of Singer’s intellectual foundation — a testament to the spirit of his artistic vision.” For a lay reader, particularly one familiar only with Singer’s fiction, the collection reads a wide-ranging and accessible walk through Singer’s mind.