In this masterly collection of stories, Isaac Bashevis Singer once again weaves bewitching fables from seemingly ordinary lives, showing us with subtlety and compassion humanity at its most mundane and mysterious. From modern apartments in Miami to nineteenth-century Polish villages, from bravery in wartime Warsaw to a different kind of courage in Lisbon, these tales span the world and the range of human life.
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In this masterly collection of stories, Isaac Bashevis Singer once again weaves bewitching fables from seemingly ordinary lives, showing us with subtlety and compassion humanity at its most mundane and mysterious. From modern apartments in Miami to nineteenth-century Polish villages, from bravery in wartime Warsaw to a different kind of courage in Lisbon, these tales span the world and the range of human life.
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Add this copy of Passions to cart. $2.00, good condition, Sold by Poquette's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dewitt, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1980 by Fawcett.
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Add this copy of Passions to cart. $3.49, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Add this copy of Passions to cart. $3.49, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
The mysteries of religion and faith and of human sexuality are universal. Isaac Bashevis Singer explores these passions in his own unique voice in this 1975 collection of stories. Singer (1902 -- 1991) grew up in Poland the son of a deeply Orthodox and learned Rabbi in an Orthodox Jewish home. He emigrated to the United States in 1935. He wrote in Yiddish but in his later years helped supervise the translation of his works into English, which he regarded as his second original language. A highly successful writer in America, Singer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.
The twenty stories in "Passions" originally were published in magazines. They are set primarily both in pre-WW II Poland and in the United States, largely in New York City, but some stories are set elsewhere. In a brief Author's Note, Singer offers insight into the themes and passions of the collection. He wrote: "I deal with unique characters in unique circumstances, a group of people who are still a riddle to the world and often to themselves -- the Jews of Eastern Europe, specifically the Yiddish-speaking Jews who perished in Poland and those who emigrated to the U.S.A." The more he thought about this group, the more he was "baffled by the richness of their individuality" and, including himself in the group, "by my own whims and passions". Singer concluded with a strongly religious statement: "While I hope and pray for the redemption and the resurrection, I dare to say that, for me, these people are all living right now. In literature, as in our dreams, death does not exist."
Many of the stories in "Passions" have a strongly autobiographical cast and often involve a Singer-like character interaction with others and sharing their stories. Some of the stories in this collection are extended while others, less effectively, are in the nature of brief vignettes. The force of religion seems to me to become stronger in Singer's later works. He was deeply influenced by the God and religious beliefs of his youth although he was not a practicing or believing Jew. The title story of this collection, tells three inter-related tales of Polish Jews each of whom goes to extraordinary lengths in the pursuit of religious faith. The story ends with the teller of the tale realizing: "Everything can become a passion, even serving God." Another story with a strongly religious tone, "The Tutor in the Village" explores the tension between faith and modernity and concludes with the suggestion: "The gates of repentance are always open".
Most of the stories combine the search for meaning and for a religious life with Singer's equally strong passion for sexuality. The struggle for sexuality is part of the struggle for God and in Singer's stories it takes place in both the Old World and the New. Sex and religion also are combined with supernaturalism, the world of dybuuks, imps, witches, and spirits. Several of the stories explore love and sexuality at an advancing age, almost always with a religious overtone. These stories include "Hanka", "Old Love", "Sam Palka and David Vishkover" and "The New Year Party", among others. Stories including "The Witch" and "A Tale of Two Sisters" offer mystical explorations of the search for love and passion. The stories in the collection share a commonality of themes through their varied settings. They are thoughtful and enjoyable to read and the religious sense becomes stronger while there is also a falling off in energy and variety from some of Singer's earlier stories.
I have been moved reading Singer again, after an absence of many years. This collection of "Passions" is available in the second volume of Singer's stories, "Collected Stories: A Friend of Kafka to Passions", published by the Library of America.
