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spenkevich 's review for:
The Collected Stories
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
‘If you believe in God, then He exists.’
This sentiment best surmises the questions and crises of faith presented in the Nobel winning body of work from Isaac Bashevis Singer. The Polish born author came to the United States on the brink of WWII and left an honorable mark on Jewish literature, winning two National Book Awards, one for his memoirs and one for [b:A Crown of Feathers|310214|A Crown of Feathers Stories|Isaac Bashevis Singer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312016209l/310214._SY75_.jpg|3152000] (which he shared with [a:Thomas Pynchon|235|Thomas Pynchon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1626381765p2/235.jpg] for [b:Gravity's Rainbow|415|Gravity's Rainbow|Thomas Pynchon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657594227l/415._SY75_.jpg|866393]), as well as the Nobel in 1978. While having written With a wide variety of stories, funny, sad, and occasionally outright depressing, Singer explores the strength of faith when faced with adversity, be it folktale demons or holocaust horrors, and illustrates the challenge of believing in a God who is ‘eternally silent’.
Singer personally selected the 47 stories presented in this collection, selected from a deep pool of seven story collections. He writes that this was a difficult process because he loves them all (okay, actually what he said hasn't aged well but he wrote he felt ‘like some Oriental father with a harem full of women and children, I cherish them all’). However, this offers a good overview of his work since it contains the pieces he feels best represents himself. The stories range in form and content, yet the message of faith resonates through all of them in various forms. The earlier stories read like folktales that reminded me very much of the Ukrainian Tales of [a:Nikolai Gogol|232932|Nikolai Gogol|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1655634538p2/232932.jpg], presenting small Jewish villages in the backcountry of Poland assailed by demons and black magic (the satanic orgy in The Gentleman from Cracow is unforgettable). While it is frightening to read evil beings stalkings the earth with ragged claws and hoofs hellbent on seducings Rabbi’s away from their studies or women into their beds, the most chilling creatures are revealed to be those of human flesh of his later stories. Singer shows that man can be the epitome of evil, even through simple, seemingly harmless ways, not just the big obvious ones like the holocaust stories, and this often touches upon ideas similar to [a:Hannah Arendt|12806|Hannah Arendt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1608634661p2/12806.jpg]'s ideas on the 'banality of evil.'
Through each tale, we watch evil descend upon the poor Jewish souls of the cities and villages but even when the monsters take everything away, the people stand firm and cannot be stripped of their faith. Their faith is often shaken, ridiculed and lost, but the Void these characters face when they are stripped of their faith is far more frightening than the evils that beleaguer them. Singer produces a chilling litany of ways one can feel lost in the world to the point where they question the existence of a God, a being who is always silent and remains on the sidelines despite even the most desperate pleading. While the opinions of a deity morph through the timeline of his writing, Singer never denounces his God and this is a key to him.
Singer sparked plenty of controversy within both literary and religious circles with stories embracing queer and trans characters, which is great. While, sure, a lot of this doesn't hold up to modern discourse, but Singer handles these stories with respect, a broad love and open mind and this led him to be a recipient of such high honors at a time when queer voices were often suppressed. Singer writes what he believes, never panders, and makes no excuses. In his ‘Author’s Note’ to this collection, he writes how he has recognized and avoided the dangers of writing fiction:
He enters into a longer discussion on the pitfalls of what he considers ‘experimental’ literature, arguing that ‘literature can very well describe the absurd, but it should never become absurd itself’. Which like, okay I guess but I sort of love those, but Singer felt it important to keep the 'old truths' in fiction and worried that by becoming absurd itself, it would dilute the importance of a message. Take that as you will I guess. These are very moving stories and it is a fun variety of fiction from a powerful and honorable voice.
4/5
This sentiment best surmises the questions and crises of faith presented in the Nobel winning body of work from Isaac Bashevis Singer. The Polish born author came to the United States on the brink of WWII and left an honorable mark on Jewish literature, winning two National Book Awards, one for his memoirs and one for [b:A Crown of Feathers|310214|A Crown of Feathers Stories|Isaac Bashevis Singer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312016209l/310214._SY75_.jpg|3152000] (which he shared with [a:Thomas Pynchon|235|Thomas Pynchon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1626381765p2/235.jpg] for [b:Gravity's Rainbow|415|Gravity's Rainbow|Thomas Pynchon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657594227l/415._SY75_.jpg|866393]), as well as the Nobel in 1978. While having written With a wide variety of stories, funny, sad, and occasionally outright depressing, Singer explores the strength of faith when faced with adversity, be it folktale demons or holocaust horrors, and illustrates the challenge of believing in a God who is ‘eternally silent’.
Singer personally selected the 47 stories presented in this collection, selected from a deep pool of seven story collections. He writes that this was a difficult process because he loves them all (okay, actually what he said hasn't aged well but he wrote he felt ‘like some Oriental father with a harem full of women and children, I cherish them all’). However, this offers a good overview of his work since it contains the pieces he feels best represents himself. The stories range in form and content, yet the message of faith resonates through all of them in various forms. The earlier stories read like folktales that reminded me very much of the Ukrainian Tales of [a:Nikolai Gogol|232932|Nikolai Gogol|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1655634538p2/232932.jpg], presenting small Jewish villages in the backcountry of Poland assailed by demons and black magic (the satanic orgy in The Gentleman from Cracow is unforgettable). While it is frightening to read evil beings stalkings the earth with ragged claws and hoofs hellbent on seducings Rabbi’s away from their studies or women into their beds, the most chilling creatures are revealed to be those of human flesh of his later stories. Singer shows that man can be the epitome of evil, even through simple, seemingly harmless ways, not just the big obvious ones like the holocaust stories, and this often touches upon ideas similar to [a:Hannah Arendt|12806|Hannah Arendt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1608634661p2/12806.jpg]'s ideas on the 'banality of evil.'
Through each tale, we watch evil descend upon the poor Jewish souls of the cities and villages but even when the monsters take everything away, the people stand firm and cannot be stripped of their faith. Their faith is often shaken, ridiculed and lost, but the Void these characters face when they are stripped of their faith is far more frightening than the evils that beleaguer them. Singer produces a chilling litany of ways one can feel lost in the world to the point where they question the existence of a God, a being who is always silent and remains on the sidelines despite even the most desperate pleading. While the opinions of a deity morph through the timeline of his writing, Singer never denounces his God and this is a key to him.
Singer sparked plenty of controversy within both literary and religious circles with stories embracing queer and trans characters, which is great. While, sure, a lot of this doesn't hold up to modern discourse, but Singer handles these stories with respect, a broad love and open mind and this led him to be a recipient of such high honors at a time when queer voices were often suppressed. Singer writes what he believes, never panders, and makes no excuses. In his ‘Author’s Note’ to this collection, he writes how he has recognized and avoided the dangers of writing fiction:
’1. The idea that the writer must be a sociologist and a politician, adjusting himself to what are called social dialectics.
2.Greed for money and quick recognition.
3. Forced originality – namely, the illusion that pretentious rhetoric, precious innovations in style, and playing with artificial symbols can express the basic and ever-changing nature of human relations, or reflect the combinations and complications of heredity and environment…’
He enters into a longer discussion on the pitfalls of what he considers ‘experimental’ literature, arguing that ‘literature can very well describe the absurd, but it should never become absurd itself’. Which like, okay I guess but I sort of love those, but Singer felt it important to keep the 'old truths' in fiction and worried that by becoming absurd itself, it would dilute the importance of a message. Take that as you will I guess. These are very moving stories and it is a fun variety of fiction from a powerful and honorable voice.
4/5