Israel Joshua Singer
Israel Joshua Singer was a prominent Yiddish writer born on November 30, 1893, in Biłgoraj, Poland. He initially pursued Talmudic studies but shifted his focus toward journalism, eventually becoming a representative for the Jewish Daily Forward in Warsaw before emigrating to the United States in 1934. His literary career gained traction with his first volume of stories, Perl, un andere dertseylungen, which enjoyed significant success in Europe. Singer is best known for three major novels: Yoshe Kalb, The Brothers Ashkenazi, and East of Eden.
The Brothers Ashkenazi explores the dynamics of an industrial Polish town in the 19th century through the lives of twin brothers, while East of Eden delves into the struggles of a dispossessed family, reflecting on themes such as hope and disillusionment. Yoshe Kalb, often considered his most acclaimed work, examines the dual nature of a homeless wanderer and inspired a successful stage adaptation by the renowned Yiddish actor Maurice Schwartz. Despite his popularity during his lifetime, Singer's legacy has often been eclipsed by that of his younger brother, Isaac Bashevis Singer, who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Israel Joshua Singer
Writer
- Born: November 30, 1893
- Birthplace: Biłgoraj, Poland, Russian Empire (now in Poland)
- Died: February 10, 1944
- Place of death: New York, New York
Polish-born American novelist
Identity: Jewish
Biography
Israel Joshua Singer, Yiddish writer, was born on November 30, 1893, in Biłgoraj, Poland. The son of a rabbi, he studied the Talmud as a boy, but at seventeen he developed more worldly interests that led him finally to newspaper work. In 1922 he became the Warsaw representative of the Jewish Daily Forward. The paper sent him to Russia in 1926 and made him an editor when he emigrated to the United States in 1934.
Perl, un andere dertseylungen, his first volume of stories, was highly successful in Europe, and it was followed by more stories and a book about Russia, but Singer’s reputation rests on three novels: Yoshe Kalb, published in English first as The Sinner and reissued as Yoshe Kalb in 1965; The Brothers Ashkenazi, translated in 1936 and sent through eleven editions before 1939; and East of Eden, translated in 1939. The Brothers Ashkenazi shows the social, economic, and political forces that affect an industrial town in Poland in the course of the nineteenth century and focuses on the contrasting fortunes of twin brothers. The more somber East of Eden traces the desperate careers of the members of a poor, dispossessed family and particularly of the son who turns hopefully to communism, only to be bitterly disillusioned. Often hailed as Singer’s greatest work, Yoshe Kalb treats a homeless wanderer who appears to have two distinctly different personalities. Maurice Schwartz, the great Yiddish actor, wrote and starred in a stage version of the novel. In terms of critical reception and audience reaction, the play was one of the most successful Yiddish dramas ever produced.
Until his death, I. J. Singer was one of the most popular Yiddish writers in America, but after his death, he was overshadowed by his younger brother, Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978.
Bibliography
Landis, Joseph C. “The Brothers Singer: Faith and Doubt.” In Blood Brothers: Siblings as Writers, edited by Norman Kiell. New York: International Universities Press, 1983. Examines autobiographical writing of the two brothers to contrast the ways in which their loss of faith affected them.
Madison, Charles A. Yiddish Literature: Its Scope and Major Writers. New York: F. Ungar, 1968. Madison briefly traces Singer’s movement from the Orthodoxy of his childhood toward the secularism of his adult years at the same time that he places him in the context of Yiddish literature and Yiddish authors.
Norich, Anita. The Homeless Imagination in the Fiction of Israel Joshua Singer. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. Treats the cultural tensions that Norich feels inform Singer’s works, placing him in the contexts of Yiddish and American literature and culture.
Novak, Estelle Gergoren, and Maximilian E. Novak. “Savinkov: History, Revolution, and the Alienated Hero.” Yiddish 8, no. 2 (1992). Treats one of Singer’s plays as Singer’s reaction to the way in which he felt the Russian Revolution failed to connect its ideals and its methods.
Sinclair, Clive. The Brothers Singer. New York: Schocken Books, 1983. Examines the lives of Israel Joshua Singer and his brother Isaac Bashevis Singer.