Customer Reviews

Isaac Bashevis Singer Boxed Set

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Singer is one of the greatest writers of stories the world has known. He came to the United States at the age of thirty- one and for the next approximately five decades created the bulk of his fiction. Singer wrote in Yiddish and the lion's share of his work is set in Eastern Europe in pre- War Poland.
This is what William Dereseiwicz has to say about this collection in his NYTimes Review."The sheer abundance of his production, along with that famous interest in sex, suggests a Jewish Boccaccio, and Singer is indeed Boccaccian in his exuberance, facility and invention. Rejecting modernism with its deliberate difficulties and programmatic experimentation, he remained faithful to the older pleasures of character and plot. Singer can get a story going in no time flat, conjure characters so vivid you feel as if they're sitting next to you, pour forth an endless supply of situations and surprises. Some of his stories are mere trifles (the third volume in particular contains a fair number of throwaways), but many more are enigmatic or mordant or sly, hauntingly strange or piercingly sad. Reading through the 2,500 pages of this collection, I found myself bored maybe twice."

My favorite Singer stories are included in this collection. "Short Friday" " Gimpel the Fool" " The Spinoza of Market Street" and " The Little Shoemakers"
This collection is a true treasure one 'American Library' is to be commended for putting out.

My brother had briefly met Singer in the 70's in New York city, so I had heard his name. I am a long time subscriber of the Library of America selection [...], who are great publishers. When I saw this selection, I jumped on it.

Singer is a story teller of epic proportions. Similar to what Joyce did with Dubliners, Singer takes you into a unique world in the first sentences of his stories and a journey thereafter. He is known as a Yiddish writer, but like Ulysses by Joyce, his theme and understanding are universal. This is a collection for everyone's library. You will get a lifetime of joy reading these stories of the many lives created by Mr. Singer.