“I wanted to write stories like the ones I read in the Book of Genesis, every one of them more interesting than any of the secular novels which my brother smuggled into the house. I would say that although I became disappointed in many beliefs, whether religious or scientific, I was never disenchanted in the wondrous art of these stories. Many years later I read Tolstoy’s work, and this great master maintained that the story of Joseph was the best he had ever read and that it could serve as an example of the art of storytelling, where every word, every sentence must be planned to delight the reader and stir his imagination. I lived these tales.”—Isaac Bashevis Singer, “Genesis,” in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible, edited by David Rosenberg (1987)
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Quote of the Day (Isaac Bashevis Singer, on “Genesis” as Storytelling)
“I wanted to write stories like the ones I read in the Book of Genesis, every one of them more interesting than any of the secular novels which my brother smuggled into the house. I would say that although I became disappointed in many beliefs, whether religious or scientific, I was never disenchanted in the wondrous art of these stories. Many years later I read Tolstoy’s work, and this great master maintained that the story of Joseph was the best he had ever read and that it could serve as an example of the art of storytelling, where every word, every sentence must be planned to delight the reader and stir his imagination. I lived these tales.”—Isaac Bashevis Singer, “Genesis,” in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible, edited by David Rosenberg (1987)
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