MEDIA CONTACT: Terri Berns
561-297-1164, tberns@fau.edu

FAU Libraries Present Centennial Exhibition Of Nobel Prize Winning Writer Isaac Bashevis Singer

Exhibition Includes Recently Uncovered Personal Documents and Memorabilia from the FAU Libraries Singer Special Collection, Combined with "Becoming an American Writer: The Life and Works of Isaac Bashevis Singer," from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

BOCA RATON, FL (August 20, 2004) - Florida Atlantic University's Molly S. Fraiberg Judaica Collection, FAU Libraries, hosts "The Isaac Bashevis Singer Centennial," a yearlong celebration of the Nobel Prize winning American - Yiddish writer and his work. The exhibit is directed by The Library of America and supported by a generous grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities. The official Singer Centennial exhibition, "Becoming an American Writer: The Life and Works of Isaac Bashevis Singer," will be presented from Tuesday, September 7 through Saturday, October 2 in FAU's Ritter Art Gallery, Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road.

The exhibition opens on Tuesday, September 7 with a special reception from 6 - 8 p.m. As part of the Singer Centennial Celebration, varieties of multifaceted programs are planned for the public and FAU students that will explore Singer and the immigrant experience. These will include multiple lectures and a musical presentation with commentary. Events are free and open to the public, with limited seating for all special programs.

"Becoming an American Writer: The Life and Works of Isaac Bashevis Singer" is the official centennial traveling exhibit of materials from the Singer Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin. The exhibition explores Singer's life story through a collection of rarely seen photos, documents and personal effects. In collaboration with the Ransom Center's exhibit, FAU's presentation will be unlike any other shown around the country because of the extensive materials added from the FAU Libraries Singer Collection.

"We are pleased to have been chosen as a venue for this important exhibit and to be able to augment it with a variety of unique and impressive items from the FAU Libraries Singer Collection, which have never been exhibited before and are not included in the national tour," said Dr. William Miller, director of FAU Libraries. "Those interested in Singer will be richly rewarded for attending the exhibit and the related programs."

Rare artifacts from his Manhattan and Surfside apartments will be included from the FAU Libraries Singer Collection such as his writing desk and chair, library furniture, hat and cane, personal diaries in Yiddish and English, rare books, photographs, papers and personal letters from women admirers from three continents and four different cities.
"While the University Galleries primarily present art exhibitions, we also take pride in occasionally showing quality exhibitions from other disciplines like this marvelous historical celebration of the Isaac Bashevis Singer Centennial," said W. Rod Faulds, director of University Galleries at FAU. "Singer's experience as a stranger in a strange land and his amazing history as an immigrant, is embodied and portrayed in this highly informative and truly inspirational exhibition."

The seventh American and sole Yiddish writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States in 1935. In New York City, Singer, helped by his accomplished older brother, writer I. J. Singer, got his start in America by writing articles for The Jewish Daily Forward. Often hailed as the quintessential American immigrant writer, Singer made the difficult transition from writing in Yiddish for a narrow Jewish audience in pre-war Europe to authoring works recognized for their excellence the world over. Drawing from East European Jewish folk memory and mystical tradition, his writing merged Old World demons and modern apartments, the faith of the European shtetl and the worldliness of postwar America.

"Steeped in the heady supernatural world of the 19th century Jewish village, filled with dreamy Talmudists and otherworldly Kabbalists, Singer's writing expresses the social and intellectual tensions of the 20th century. His Work reflects the impact of everything from communism to feminism on traditional Jewish sensibilities," said Dr. Henry Abramson, FAU University Library scholar of Judaica and associate professor of history and Judaic studies. "In this manner, Singer's writing typifies and encapsulates the immigrant experience."

Singer first captured the attention of mainstream American critics and readers when Saul Bellow translated Gimpel the Fool in 1953. In the following years, his fiction would appear in such popular magazines as Harper's, The New Yorker and Playboy and in a series of novels and remarkable story collections. As Singer became a well-known public figure - the living embodiment, for many American readers, of a vanished culture - his work was adapted for the screen as feature films: the story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy and his novel Enemies: A Love Story. In his later years, he also turned to children's books, such as the Newberry Award-winning Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

Lectures in the Ritter Gallery will include: "Singer in the Shtetl, the Shtetl in Singer: Eastern European Influences on the Work of the Quintessential American Immigrant Writer," a lecture by Professor Henry Abramson, to be presented in the Ritter Art Gallery on Wednesday, September 22 at 7 p.m. A special lecture for FAU students, "The Language is Dead, the People are Destroyed, the Author is Deceased, but the Literature and the Passion Lives," presented by Rivka Spiro, MA Columbia University, editor, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Society, will be presented in the Ritter Art Gallery on Monday, September 27 at noon.

"The Music of Singer's New York" explores the New York immigrant experience with the traditional Klezmer Music of that period. A musical presentation with commentary by Maestro Aaron Kula, FAU University Libraries resident scholar in music, and members of The Klezmer Company ensemble will occur in the Ritter Art Gallery on Tuesday, September 28 at 7 p.m.

FAU's Ritter Art Gallery is located at 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton. A free parking pass and directions to the Ritter Art Gallery are available at the information booth at the main entrance. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 1- 4 p.m. and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.. Please RSVP to: Special Collections FAU Library, POB 3092, Boca Raton, FL 33431. For additional information, e-mail: lysca@fau.edu, call 561-297-2116 or visit www.fau.edu/library or www.fau.edu/galleries.

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