"Gimpel the Fool" and Other Stories [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Isaac Bashevis Singer (Author), Theodore Bikel (Narrator)

Book Description

When Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1979, the Swedish Academy praised his "impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life." But Singer himself says, "I never sit down to write to make a better world. I consider myself an entertainer." These four stories -- "Gimpel the Fool", "Esther Kreindel the Second", "The Spinoza of Market Street", and "The Black Wedding" -- are infused with Singer's wit and imagination, wisdom and humor. Theodore Bikel reads these wise and funny tales in classic Yiddish storyteller cadence, injecting special warmth and resonance into Singer's "inspired madness." 2 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Theodore Bikel gives a real folksy flavor to Nobel Prize-winner Isaac Bashevis Singer's 'Gimpel the Fool' and Other Stories. Bikel takes the listener into the life of the Polish Jew and creates a sense of wonder in a culture that seems incredibly foreign to the American way of life..." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 26, 1990

"Theodore Bikel is a natural choice for reading these four strong selections...Singer is lyrical, supple, assured, and continually surprising. This is traditional storytelling at its finest on audio." -- Kliatt, September 1991

Language Notes

Text: English, Yiddish (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audio Partners (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886901294
• ISBN-13: 978-0886901295
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,490,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Singer, Isaac Bashevis

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two of the greatest stories of all time, February 1, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories (Hardcover)

This book of four stories contains two that I consider among the best Singer ever wrote, and among the best of all time, 'Gimpel the Fool' and ' The Spinoza of Market Street'. Gimpel is the eternal innocent, the good person who life and its cruelty continually mock and humiliate without ever managing to destroy his goodness and faith. He is the 'fool' who in his goodness and faith is holier than us all. A Jewish Quixote but one without heroic pretensions one instead filled with kindness and love even when he is being laughed at and made a fool of.
'The Spinoza of Market Street' is the story of an impossible love. It is the story of redemption and rebirth of body and soul through human kindness and caring. It is the story of an old philosopher lost in his dreams of Spinoza who is nursed back into life as man by a caring lonely unattractive woman. It is story of hope and of the redemption of the human soul.
How beautiful and deep these two great stories, how they give food and hope for body and soul.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GIMPEL THE FOOL, April 28, 2000

By 

kay (north carolina, united states) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "Gimpel the Fool" and Other Stories (Audio Cassette)

I enjoyed reading Gimpel the Fool. it made it possible relate to some of the jewish traditions as well as human nature that still is transpiring today. honesty versus dishonesty. isaac bshevis singer is a great writer. plain language and easy to interpret makes it more inspiring to continue to read his stories without putting it aside for later reading. well done indeed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most beautiful stories ever written, June 19, 2007

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gimpel the Fool: And Other Stories (Paperback)

This book contains Saul Bellow's translation of 'Gimpel the Fool'. This is the translation and the story which made Singer famous in America. It is a masterwork.
Singer is for me the greatest of all storywriters. I feel a special love for the Jewish world of characters he so wonderfully creates. The title- story 'Gimpel' is the story of a baker's assistant, an innocent slow- minded person of faith who though he is endlessly used and exploited by others continues to have trust and faith. He is deceived into marriage, and deceived repeatedly by his wife, knocked on the head everywhere, and yet his innocence, his trust do not abandon him. His holy love has a beauty about it which deeply moves to sympathy , to laughter and to tears.
Reading this story will I believe make most readers feel more deeply human , and make them sense more strongly the paradoxical beauty and greatness of life.