Isaac Bashevis Singer Biography

Born in an orthodox Jewish family, Singer was well versed in Jewish prayers, Hebrew, and Torah & Talmud, the Jewish scriptures, but his perception of Judaism was unconventional and intricate. The Holocaust death of fellow Jews, the death of his elder brother due to thrombosis, and the death of his younger brother while he was deported to Southern Kazakhstan made Singer question the existence of a sympathetic God. He avoided conventional religious services, yet he could not keep himself away from his roots and his belief in the monotheistic God. He gradually developed his own view of religion and philosophy, which he called ‘private mysticism’. Majority of his novels and short stories portray the conflict between convention and modern ideas, faith and mysticism, and liberalization and nihilism. Though his stories are set in Jewish background, they have a common message for the entire mankind. His works deal with the autocracy of power, passion, obsession, and struggle between preservation of tradition and replenishment. Most of his works are written in the nineteenth century parable style, but he gave them a modern touch by relating events and people belonging to his era. His novels, “The Manor,” “The Estate,” and “The Family Moskat” are often related to be written in the style of Thomas Mann's novel, “Buddenbrooks”. Most of his works have been translated into English.