The Write Advice 141: ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER

In the process of creating them [ie. his dozens of short stories], I have become aware of the many dangers that lurk behind the writer of fiction.  The worst of them are: 1) The idea that the writer must be a sociologist and a politician, adjusting himself to what are called social dialectics.  2) Greed for money and quick recognition.  3) Forced originality –– namely, the illusion that pretentious innovations in style, and playing with artificial symbols can express the basic and ever-changing nature of human relations, or reflect the combinations and complications of heredity and environment.  These verbal pitfalls of so-called 'experimental' writing have done damage even to genuine talent; they have destroyed much of modern poetry by making it obscure, esoteric, and charmless.  Imagination is one thing, and the distortion of what Spinoza called 'the order of things' is something else entirely.  Literature can very well describe the absurd, but it should never become absurd itself.
      Although the short story is not in vogue nowadays, I still believe that it constitutes the utmost challenge to the creative writer.  Unlike the novel, which can absorb and even forgive lengthy digressions, flashbacks, and loose construction, the short story must aim directly at its climax.  It must possess uninterrupted tension and suspense.  Also, brevity is its very essence.  The short story must have a definite plan; it cannot be what in literary jargon is called 'a slice of life.'  The masters of the short story, Chekhov, Maupassant, as well as the sublime scribe of the Joseph story in the Book of Genesis, knew exactly where they were going.  One can read them over and over again and never get bored.  Fiction in general should never become analytic.  As a matter of fact, the writer of fiction should not even try to dabble in psychology and its various 'isms.' Genuine literature informs while it entertains.  It manages to be both clear and profound.  It has the magical power of merging causality with purpose, doubt with faith, the passions of the flesh with the yearnings of the soul.  It is unique and general, national and universal, realistic and mystical.  While it tolerates commentary by others, it should never try to explain itself.  These obvious truths must be emphasized, because false criticism and pseudo-originality have created a state of literary amnesia in our generation.  The zeal for messages has made many writers forget that storytelling is the raison d'être of artistic prose.

Introduction to The Collected Stories (1982)


 

Use the link below to visit the website of Polish-born North American Yiddish writer ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER (1902–1991):

 

https://www.bashevissinger.com/

 

 

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