Literature Entropy | 24 Feb 2010
Why do I Write
Literature Nobel laureate Isacc Bashevis Singer -(1902 -1991) was a Polish-born Jewish American author noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement. Singer wrote autobiographical and fantasy tales for children which are deeply rooted in the lost cultural tradition of his native Poland. The stories he wrote of his childhood with exuberant and timeless tales are among the world’s great folk literature.
Read Isaac Bashevis Singer’s heart warming speech at the Nobel Banquet, Dec- 1978
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness’s, Ladies and Gentlemen,
People ask me often, ‘Why do you write in a dying language ?’ And I want to explain it in a few words.
Firstly, I like to write ghost stories and nothing fits a ghost better than a dying language. The deader the language the more alive is the ghost. Ghosts love Yiddish and as far as I know, they all speak it.
Secondly, not only do I believe in ghosts, but also in resurrection. I am sure that millions of Yiddish speaking corpses will rise from their graves one day and their first question will be: “Is there any new Yiddish book to read ?” For them Yiddish will not be dead.
Thirdly, for 2000 years Hebrew was considered a dead language. Suddenly it became strangely alive. What happened to Hebrew may also happen to Yiddish one day, (although I haven’t the slightest idea how this miracle can take place.)
There is still a fourth minor reason for not forsaking Yiddish and this is: Yiddish may be a dying language but it is the only language I know well. Yiddish is my mother language and a mother is never really dead.
Ladies and Gentlemen: There are five hundred reasons why I began to write for children, but to save time I will mention only ten of them.
1) Children read books, not reviews. They don’t give a hoot about the critics.
2) Children don’t read to find their identity.
3) They don’t read to free themselves of guilt, to quench the thirst for rebellion, or to get rid of alienation.
4) They have no use for psychology.
5) They detest sociology.
6) They don’t try to understand Kafka or Finnegans Wake.
7) They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.
They love interesting stories, not commentary, guides, or footnotes.
9) When a book is boring, they yawn openly, without any shame or fear of authority.
10) They don’t expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity.Young as they are, they know that it is not in his power. Only the adults have such childish illusions.
on 26 Feb 2010 at 4:03 am 1.Sonya Rose said …
That’s really good. It’s so true. I was just telling someone online the other day …. how my mother prays for peace every Christmas when we go around the table … offering our prayers. It’s an illusion, too: The only peace we may find truly is within.
Thank you once again. You always posts such great reads. I find them all so enjoyable.
on 10 Mar 2010 at 1:21 pm 2.Michele Roohani said …
I loved this speech and especially these reasons he writes for children:
6) They don’t try to understand Kafka or Finnegans Wake.
7) They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.
9) When a book is boring, they yawn openly, without any shame or fear of authority.