Evelyn Girón de Vásquez
blog.
Entry: The Day I Got lost By Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Author’s Biography
Isaac Isaac Bashevis Singer, short story novelist,
He was born in an orthodox Jewish family, he also was well versed in Jewish
prayers, Hebrew and Torah and Talmud. Polish and was born November 21st. 1,902. He died on July 24th 1,991 at the age of 88
years old.
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 good God. He avoided 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. (Skepticism)
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.
His
sister Hende Esther, thirteen years his senior, enjoyed telling him love
stories. Most important to his literary growth was his brother, Israel Joshua
Singer, who also became an important author; for many years Singer was better
known as Israel’s brother than as a writer himself.
When Singer was four, the family moved to 10
Krochmalna Street, Warsaw, which serves as the setting for Shosha and
some of Singer’s best short fiction. In 1917 he and his mother left the Polish
capital for Bigoraj to escape the hunger and disease caused by World War I.
During the four years he remained in the hamlet, he observed the rural Jewish
life that later played so large a role in his writing.
After a brief attempt at rabbinical training
at the Tachkemoni Seminary, Warsaw (1921-1922), he returned to Bigoraj, then
went to Dzikow, where his father was serving as rabbi. In this village he found
the Hasidic tales of Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav. One may regard Singer’s fiction
as the inverse of Rabbi Nachman’s: Both are haunted by the supernatural, but
while Rabbi Nachman’s always have a happy ending directed by God.
Historical
background
During World War
II the atmosphere existed a resplendent Europe, where industrial revolution
began, the arts would shine, the great thinkers like Sigmud Freud, the
discovery of the light, the night life, the cinema. etc.
But this Europe
was so happy, it was only for a small part of the population, because it
existed the reality that children from the age of 5 worked like adults, and
worked about 12 to 14 hours a day, they were small adults exploited labor.
This is where
Isaac Berhevis writes about this 60-year-old man who gets lost on his birthday.
At some point this Professor Schlemiel felt alone, without any friend could
help him, until a dog is found to speak, perhaps at that time was the company
of many who suffered the loss of loved ones in the first and second world war.
Expectations/Predictions
about the text
When I started reading, I
thought that this Character, Mr. Shlemiel could not be found, that maybe he would never return
home, I think that something very serious would happen to him, I thought that
the person was a very impulsive person, and that he would be involved in so
many problems to get his home. I figured that whenever I forgot something, I
could not even remember the phone numbers of my friends or family too.
Suddenly I thought about
his children or his wife, they could be very worried.
Analysis or
Connection between literary work and historical background:
In my modest opinion, I
think Isaac Bashevis Singer writes during the first and second world war, in a
context that really is a crisis for the whole world, especially for people like
him, who were from Polish origin, and who was taught since he was a child, about the Judaism.
The belief of God from the
first years of his life, and the reality that unfortunately he lived, causes
him to become an unbeliever, because of the crude reality in which the society was
involved.
"The day I got
lost," describes someone lost, hoping to be found. I imagine that when he
finds the dog, he feels empathy for him, because he believes that, like the dog
without a master, he does not have anyone to protect him.
The character of Mr. Shlemiel, didn’t ask God to
help him. This shows the lack of faith he had. Also, another aspect that calls
my attention is that the story develops in New York, as I understand he moves
to the United States, that's why he was Polish-American. So that´s why he knows
both cultures.
In short, his
imagination wraps up the reader to imagine that this could happen to the reader
as well. All of us once have ever
lost, that feeling is desolation, and sadness, however the character takes it
as if it were something that must happen, simply let it happen.
As it unfortunately happened
to many Jews.
Literary
movement (that the author belongs or represents and what that movement is)
What I Investigate is that he belongs Yiddish literary movement which culminated
in the period from 1864 to 1939, inspired by modernization and then severely
diminished by the Holocaust. It arose in Europe out
of a tradition that gave precedence to
Hebrew prayers, commentaries, and scripture.
Because few women learned Hebrew, their literacy was in Yiddish, and they
became the primary audience for some forms of Yiddish literature.
According to the year in
which the history was written, which was in the years of 1,974 was influenced
by the "Avant garde". Or in Spanish “Vanguardismo”. because among the characteristics that
investigate are that the narrator is limited for the reader to complete. The
inner world of the characters highlights, the disappearance of the anecdote,
the abandonment of old themes, meaningless and unanswered, social awareness,
narrow taste between environment and character tastes.
I am not sure if this
Reading could be also Realism because it
develops in the XIX century and writers use it as a literary technique to describe story elements, such as setting,
characters, themes, etc. without using elaborate imagery or figurative
languages. Through realism, writers explain
things without decorative language.
Country:
New York, U.S.A.
Genre / Type:
Short
story Nonfiction.
Did you
confirm your predictions?
No, I didn´t, because For a moment I thought it might be
that the taxi driver would come back for him. I think he was very anxious and not
to be able to return home, however, He handle the situation well until someone
came to pick him up.
Were they
correct?
No at all. for a moment I
thought that no one would help him, it seemed that he was so clueless, that it
might be Alzhaimer he had.
Were they
wrong?
Yes, because it was not what I had thought. It has a happy end, and I thought was a drama.
How?
I thought it was going to end badly,
but in the end, someone finds him and could help to get him home.
Why?
Probably the author,
writing in this type of literary current, tries to give society a new
experience. In which not everything ends badly, as usually happens to everyone
in that time of crisis.
This picture shows the cover page of the books . We are talking about a Chapter Reading which is fragment
of a Book Called: The Autobiography of
Professor Schlemiel.
Chapter 4. “The Day I Got Lost” How it says there
Elizabeth Schub encourages him to write stories for children, this story
appears the first time in “Puffins Annual” in 1,975 , this information I found
in the page Number 169, from This book Called American Short Story. Now you can find it in other selection of
stories and in different books. Like the
ones we have above. You can find it
reprinted in the collection title “Stories for children” reprinted in 1,984.
References
