Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer
| Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Amram Nowak |
| Produced by | Kirk Simon |
| Narrated by | Judd Hirsch |
| Cinematography | Jerry Pantzer Greg Andrake Kirk Simon |
| Edited by | Riva Freifeld |
|
Release date
|
September 28, 1986 |
|
Running time
|
58 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Isaac in America: A Journey With Isaac Bashevis Singer is a 1986 documentary made by director Amram Nowak and producer Kirk Simon.
The documentary Isaac in America: A Journey With Isaac Bashevis Singer presents a unique and close characterization of the celebrated writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. It was filmed only a few years before he died, and depicts the author looking back on his professional and life experiences. Singer is best known for his Yiddish stories, which have a universal appeal. He went on to win a Nobel Prize in literature.
From the documentary the viewer is able to see that Singer's personality matches his unconventional and unique written works. His office is filled with diplomas and awards, but Singer is well aware that the events of his life could have turned out in a very different manner. Born in 1902 in a small, Yiddish-speaking town not far from Warsaw, he escaped Nazi occupation by fleeing to the United States of America and settling in New York City. There is a possibility that he could have starved if the Yiddish newspaper The Jewish Daily The Forward had not acknowledged the promising writer’s talent and printed his stories frequently. Isaac in America focuses on the Nobel Prize winner during the final years of his existence.
Singer spent the majority of his life in America, yet he and his work were strongly affected by his birthplace. Despite venturing off to different locations, his work and experiences were measured against the backdrop of his hometown. The people Singer associated with and desired to write about were entirely Old World Yiddish speakers, people filled with fear and inquisitiveness about the supernatural. As Singer discusses in the film, he could not have written about Texan cowboys because he had no knowledge how they operated or their vernacular. Saul Bellow and many other contemporary Jewish writers saw themselves as American writers who happened to be Jewish, conversely Singer viewed himself as a Jewish writer — one whose roots were demolished by the Holocaust, but could live on forever through his writings. Isaac in America provides the observer an additional layer of admiration to Singer’s writing by exploring its memoir-like themes and displaying the writer’s personal understanding of his pieces. The story “A Day at Coney Island,” for example, was crafted upon Singer’s first summer in America.
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