A Look Back
Malin, Irving
A Look Back In My Father's Court, by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 307 pp. $5.50. Reviewed by Irving Malin A lthough it is possible to dismiss these memoirs as exotic or...
...They place their faith in "idols...
...The Will" gives us a man who lives for his last testament...
...Reviewed by Irving Malin A lthough it is possible to dismiss these memoirs as exotic or old-fashioned—they describe "simple" people who long to ride on trains, to see cellars inhabited by demons, or to study Talmud day and night—we cannot easily do so...
...Because "the salesman" in one story believes that he shares in eternal life, he tries to sell his share...
...Although many find comfort and meaning in orthodox belief—as does Singer's bookish, otherworldly father—several embrace low religion...
...I am dissatisfied when Singer attempts to convince us of peaceful existence...
...Singer does not explore the causes of this obsession, but he does suggest that it is, in effect, the search for a definite, perfect world—one without the petty fluctuations of daily life...
...They desperately seek signs, omens, and portents, not even realizing that they do...
...He salutes Reb Asher, the dairyman, who allows him as a youth to ride a horse...
...It is ironic that these memoirs end with the word "love," for they follow the course (and victory...
...They are remarkably "modern...
...Perhaps Singer himself knows this: Although he celebrates the court of his father—and, by implication, justice, family closeness, and good will—he realizes that it is "out of this world...
...although Singer's father is not tempted to buy, he is unlike other citizens who eagerly clutch at the "holy" merchandise...
...The line between high and low faith—between religion and lunacy?—is thin in this story...
...of hatred...
...Singer is much better when he dwells on his youthful "fear and trembling" than on his spontaneous joys...
...He sells eternity...
...But he remains unconvincing ; he is out-of-place and shadowy...
...Other people in these memoirs resemble him...
...It becomes his identity...
...Indeed, the tension between the law-abiding court and the criminal world —that tension never openly admitted by Singer in his "author's note"—rescues these memoirs and makes them live for us...
...They capture our interest because they reflect those absurdities, uncertainties, and insanities which plague us...
...This wise, kind man is "worshipped"—perhaps he can fight the evil of the salesman and the assorted heretics...
...The man with the will—is he not like the "mad scientist" who wants to · fix living things forever...
...He delights in changing it, specifying different floral arrangements and body-purifications...
Vol. 30 • August 1966 • No. 8
