The washsoman (Isaac Bashevis Singer)

The washwoman

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Author´s biography

Personal information

Name: Isaac Bashevis Singer

Birthdate: November 21st, 1902
                        Radzym, Poland

Nationality: American

Mother tongue: Yiddish

Death cause: Stroke

Death date: July 24th, 1991
                   Miami, Florida
                  United States of America

He was groomed for Hasidim, attending a Warsaw seminary, after completing his seminary studies he decided on a writing career. 

He worked as a journalist for the Yiddish press in various parts of Poland. Emigrating to the United States in 1935, Singer became a reporter for the Daily Forward in New York City America's largest Yiddish newspaper.

Although he personally adapted to his new country, his early literary efforts display nostalgia for the "old country"; the subjects seem part of a distant past remembered from vivid tales of Polish storytellers.

Singer was a member of the I.L Peretz Writers Union and a fellow of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America and from the American Institute of Arts and Sciences. 

Singer, whose writings have been translated from Yiddish into Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Norwegian and Finnish, stands as a  legend of the Yiddish writers of our time.
                          

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Though not primarily nostalgic, singer´s work hearkened back to a former time. The setting for much of his work was his native Poland, and the writing addressed existential and spiritual questions through folk tales and parables.

His own experiences as a Jewish in Poland, and his experiences as an immigrant, as its roots and beliefs, gave him enough material to write the stories.

His desire that the stories and traditions of his people were not lost and to leave a moral teaching are noticed in his writings. 

These works caught the attention of a number of American writers including Saul Bellow and Irving Howe, who were greatly responsible for not only translating Singer´s work but championing it as well. Throughout the 1960´s Singer continued to write on questions of personal morality.

EXPECTATIONS / PREDICTIONS about the text 

I think the story is about a poor lady, who works for living washing other clothes. It should be a hard story about her money problems for a house, food, clothes, and health. Maybe she is an immigrant, so part of her problems should be the culture, language, traditions, and religion.

ANALYSIS OR CONNECTION BETWEEN LITERARY WORK AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

His living in Europe before and during the Second World War, his movement to the United States and being an immigrant had marked him and his works. His own experiences and those of his neighbors in a strange territory and his desire not to forget his ancestry are reflected in his works.

For the washwoman, he used his knowledge of social classes, which at that time was very marked. The high social class had many comforts and low-class poverty.

He emphasizes in its story the empathy felt by those who do not work to see how far the effort can go if there are will and commitment.

LITERARY MOVEMENT 





Singer was a leader in the Yiddish literary movement. His stories often centered upon Jews, but he also created characters and stories that dealt with homosexuality and transgender issues.

He uses a realistic narrative interwoven with social dynamics that are vividly evoked. 

Singer pays attention to the plot and the inner world of the characters, highlighting the tribulations and weaknesses.

Historically, realism as a dominant literary convention emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century.

As a protest against the falseness and sentimentality evident in romantic fiction.

This literary realist era can be seen as the natural development of an age forced to acknowledge a number of new "realities".

COUNTRY

His natal country was Leoncin, Warsaw, Poland; he emigrated to Radzym. Because of the war, the family moved to Bilgoraj, but he returned to Warsaw. Before the German Invasion, he emigrated to the United States. At last, he settled in New York City. After his second marriage, he lived on Manhattan´s Upper West Side. That is why he wrote most of his books and stories in the United States, without losing his Yiddish ascendancy.

GENRE / TYPE

Singer had many literary influences, besides the religious texts he studied. He grew with a rich array of Jewish folktales and Yiddish detective-stories. 

He read Russian and studied many philosophers. Another important strand of his art is intrafamilial strife.

Singer genres were short stories and novellas. 

"The washwoman" is a non-fiction narrative story.

Did you confirm your predictions? 

Yes, my predictions were confirmed partly, it is a poor lady with a lot of problems. I couldn´t imagine her age or that there was a rich son who was ashamed of his hard worker mother. 

I am really amazed at how strength people could be if they want. 

References:
Nobelprize.org
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1978/singer-facts.html

Encyclopedia.com
http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/hebrew-literature-biographies/isaac-bashevis-singer