The Intellectual and Mystical Isaac Bashevis Singer

Max Weinreich Center Fellowship Lecture in Eastern European Jewish Literature The Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz Memorial Fellowship and the Vivian Lefsky Hort Memorial Fellowship Admission: Free

This talk explores Singer's philosophical and spiritual development through his unpublished essays, depicting a different image than is commonly recognized. Singer often presented himself as an age-old sage whose sharp humor suggested an underlying diabolical streak. His many essays, however, reveal that this public persona was developed along a series of clearly articulated beliefs regarding human life and society – and the artist's place among them. The talk discusses Singer as a moral thinker and social critic of his time and place, and demonstrates the extent to which his literary accomplishment was informed by an undiscussed critical approach that fused ethical thought into a personal philosophy of creativity. 

About the Speaker

David Stromberg is a literary scholar and translator. He completed his doctorate – Narrative Faith: Structural Complexity and Moral Vision – in the Department of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has since undertaken postdoctoral research at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. His scholarly articles have appeared or are forthcoming in Russian Review, French Forum, Comparative Literature Studies, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. His translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Partial Answers, and Asymptote. He is editing a collection of essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer and developing a research project on “Idiot Love,” dealing with concepts of intimacy in Plato, Dostoevsky, and Melanie Klein. He is the recipient of the YIVO Max Weinreich Center’s Fellowship in Eastern European Jewish Literature.