In My Father's Court

by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Book Overview

Like Isaac Bashevis Singer's fiction, this poignant memoir of his childhood in the household and rabbinical court of his father is full of spirits and demons, washerwomen and rabbis, beggars and rich men. This rememberance of Singer's pious father, his rational yet adoring mother, and the never-ending parade of humanity that marched through their home is a portrait of a magnificent writer's childhood self and of the world, now gone, that formed him...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374505926
• ISBN13: 9780374505929
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

My Grandfather Made Me Read This

So of course I told him to jump in the lake. Why read something like this written in a dead language about a world swept away by war and slaughter. Ugh. Of course, shortly after the old man died, I picked up Father's Court and breathed in every word as though it were oxygen and Singer was offering new life. So what are you going to do?

A moving memoir

Isaac Singer in this work tells the story of his childhood war. He focuses on the court of his father, on the many characters who came to receive his father's help. He gives a loving portrait of his parents and his childhood world. This work may not be on the level of Singer's greatest stories but it does have the vitality and the emotional richness which characterize Singer's work. And it should be of special interest to anyone who wishes to know more about this great writer.

A book full of loving details

Observing through the eyes of a young child we are led through life in the jewish community of Warshaw. Many different figures appear in the house of the boy's father, the rabbi, to ask for his advice and judgement, decisions in religious or worldly matters. Behind all that we feel the deep love of the author, not only for the chracters depicted in the many stories, but for all human beings. It is one of the books that, despite telling stories of times past, makes us aware of ourselves and our own existence, our desires and weaknesses alike.

Life with Father

I am a big fan of I. B. Singer's. To me, he is the greatest short story writer of the 20th Century. His stories often tell the tale of the Jewish communities in Poland in the 100 years prior to WWII. As a result of Hitler's demonic policies, it is a society, a culture, that no longer exists. Singer's short stories are a master study of individuals; their eccentricities and struggles in that society. He has written of the present and he has written some excellent novels and novellas but his best work is in the Jewish communities in Poland. In this autobiographical work, Singer gives us some more insights into that world through the eyes of a young boy observing his Rabbi father. We start out with a number of recollections of individuals and their problems that were brought before his father. These would easily fit within the short story motif that Singer excels in. As the book get a bit past the midway point, the autobiographical nature comes to the fore-front and we eventually follow Isaac B in his early development into a young man. This is interesting and very helpful to the student of Singer. Its' shortcoming results from Singer's practice of keeping his own character, whenever present, in the background or as the story-teller. When, in the final chapters, he is the main character, the quality of writing seems to drop a notch and suddenly, the book comes to an end. First time readers of Singer might do better to start with one of his collections of short stories or, ironicaly, the sequel to this book, "More from My Father's Court". Singer is always great but he is usually greater that he was in this book.