Travel and Metamorphosis in I.B. Singer's Fiction

Abstract

This paper shows the surprising and imaginative way in which Yiddish American writer Isaac Bashevis Singer conveyed the experience of travelling from the Old World to the New one and the following exile adventure. We see how he described the transition between two cultures and man’s metamorphosis in that process – an experience of passing, conflicts and transformation which is at the very heart of American culture as a whole. In 1945, ten years after his arrival in the US, Singer published a short story, “Die kleyne shusterleck” (“The Little Shoemakers”), about the crossing from the Old World to the New one, where for the first time he dealt with the American experience from the point of view of a refugee. This work, which was a real turning point in Singer’s writing career, is at the centre of this article.