I.J. Singer was born in 1893 in Bilgoraj, Poland, where he received a traditional Jewish education before his family moved to Warsaw. There he studied painting and worked as a proofreader. He briefly moved to Moscow, where he was inspired by Soviet Yiddish writing. Disappointment with the political climate led Singer to return to Warsaw. He joined the Yiddish avant-garde movement, Di Khalyastre, and contributed to their journals. His writing caught the attention of Abraham Cahan, the editor of the Forverts. Singer became a correspondent for the Forverts, and travelled extensively on behalf of the paper before he settled in the United States. His mature family sagas ( The Brothers Ashkenazi and The Family Carnovsky) were both written in the United States, as was another novel, Khaver Nakhmen. A fuller biography, written by Anita Norich, is available from the YIVO Encyclopedia. Sullo sfondo seguiamo l’evoluzione della guerra in cui, vinti o vincitori, si trovano uniti dal comune elemento della rabbia, che viene abilmente diretta da coloro che sarebbero stati i veri responsabili, e che avrebbero dovuto pagare per questo, verso gli ebrei che diventano il capro espiatorio perfetto per tutti e in qualsiasi situazione, con la devastazione dei pogrom, soprattutto quando questi permettono di portar via le ricchezze accumulate.

Most of the novel takes place in the Polish city of Łódź, mostly among the large Jewish community that lived there before World War II. It follows the changes from the 19th century through the insurrection of 1905 and ends just after World War I. The main character is Max Ashkenazi, who moves away from his Hasidic Jewish upbringing and becomes a successful industrialist. In the process he destroys all his personal relationships. The upheaval of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the creation of the Second Polish Republic ruin him financially. Max is consumed by a desire to be more successful than his fraternal twin Jacob. In the last years of his life, Max realizes he was always driven by greed and does his best to restore the family relationships he lost. At the contrary, Israel Joshua Singer (formerly a journalist) was very aware of the importance of politics and economics - intertwined with history and religion - in shaping the mentality of his characters. This is a historical novel about Jews in Poland, the Industrial Revolution, and the beginnings of Communism. Moreover, it is a story about a man doing what he does best and chasing false idols, ideologies, and glory; Max longs to be called the King of Łódź, and his figure is partly modeled on Izrael Poznański. [2] See also [ edit ]un libro fondamentale per chi vuole comprendere lo chassidismo, il mondo ebraico che parlava yiddish, affascinante e suggestivo, i rapporti tra uomini e donne, i riti, le tradizioni. Ma i fratelli Ashkenazi parla anche del fiorire dell’industria tessile nella cittadina di Lodz, degli ebrei che prima diventano vitali per l’economia del paese e poi sono perseguitati nei pogrom, della Polonia eternamente in balia dei paesi limitrofi, del capitalismo e dei moti di preparazione alla rivoluzione della classe operaia.

Israel Joshua Singer’s literary reputation has been split by language and time. Before World War II, and for a generation of Yiddish speakers, Israel Joshua Singer was the Singer: I.J. was the brilliant one, the cutting-edge modernist, the unquestioned master of the Yiddish family saga. His novels chronicled the industrialization of Poland while also transforming the historical Hasidic court into a makeshift home for a Jewish courtly romance. Since the 1960s, however, he has been, in Irving Howe’s phrase, “The Other Singer,” in relation to his Nobel Prize-winning brother, Isaac Bashevis Singer. (A third Singer, their sister, Esther Kreitman, later joined the pair when she, belatedly, began to receive recognition for her inventive writing.) Though his fame has waned, and his reputation has faded, I.J.’s books retain their unquestioned brilliance. The Brothers Ashkenazi is a prime example of this fact—every new edition leads a contemporary audience to discover the work. Overview and Journalism Partiamo negli anni in cui la rivoluzione industriale portava al fiorire delle fabbriche tessili e ne seguiamo l’evoluzione con i telai a vapore che vanno a soppiantare i metodi produttivi obsoleti, guardando da spettatori ciò che questo comportava per le famiglie di operai, costretti a turni sfiancanti ma comunque sempre più poveri e affamati perché non adeguatamente ricompensati, e gli effetti della miseria in cui erano costretti a vivere. L’autore, nonostante fosse egli stesso un ebreo, non risparmiò comunque critiche ai suoi correligionari. Si ha quindi un quadro imparziale delle vicende. Well, first and foremost by being more modern and less tied to the traditional Jewish canons and models than his younger brother. Even though he was born in Poland and spent most of his life in the US, Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote in Yiddish, his mother tongue. He died at the impressive age of 88 and gained all the honours and the fame he deserved.Forse qui si può interpretare la fine di qualcuno dei personaggi come una fine dignitosa e che gli guadagni quel rispetto che, a causa di certe scelte, nel corso della vita fino a quel momento poteva essergli mancato.

Here is where things get a little complicated, so I'll quote Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, who has been studying the Singer brothers. Here is an excerpt from her 2011 article that describes the relationship between the two authors:

I've never been to Lodz but I knew something about its sudden growth largely due to a now bygone textile industry. You can sense that Israel Singer was a pragmatic man also from his deep understanding of commerce, economics and politics. And as an experienced journalist, he was. I think it's almost impossible to write at this level without infusing your work with your own emotional and ideological bias, and Israel Singer did that as well, of course. However, what allowed him to write without a specific political bias here (that would have given his novel a different bent) is that his heart was fully with the Jewish people, and for anything else it was pretty much out of the way. Sono i tessitori che, attirati dai benefici governativi volti a sviluppare il territorio, accorrono per aprire le fabbriche tessili. Ma si parla anche dei primi movimenti comunisti e le lotte della classe operaia, della rivoluzione russa del 1905 e la divisione tra bolscevichi e gli altri movimenti liberali, del desiderio della Polonia per l’indipendenza, il crescente odio nei confronti degli ebrei, i pogrom e la fuga degli ebrei verso altri paesi, tra cui la Palestina. Dieci giorni fa ripongo il libro della Segal nello scaffale e subito di fianco c'è Singer. Siccome la sera prima avevo giusto rivisto – per la milionesima volta – Schindler's List, decido che è proprio quello di cui ho voglia: non tanto, o comunque non soltanto, leggere delle persecuzioni nei confronti degli ebrei nell'Europa orientale, ma leggere qualcosa ambientato un passo prima, un attimo prima che tutto inizi a precipitare (laddove "attimo" è da intendersi nel significato dal punto di vista della Storia, direi un "attimo" quasi geologico): sbirciare nella vita di quelle famiglie, nelle loro tradizioni e nei loro borghesi e a volte lussuosi appartamenti, prima che ne venissero scacciate con la forza e scaraventate nel ghetto, e quelle case dalle ampie stanze perfettamente arredate venissero occupate dagli ufficiali delle SS oppure da personaggi senza scrupoli come inizialmente era lo stesso Schindler (e qui si veda la scena con Liam Neeson che si corica vestito nel letto e dice "non poteva andare meglio").

A footnote to the story: This news article explores Jewish revival in the small town of Bilgoraj, where Singer and his siblings were born (and includes a photo of the replica of the wooden synagogue of Wolpa, Poland, being built in Bilgoraj—the wooden synagogue of Wolpa was also one of the key inspirations for the Yiddish Book Center's building). This is the novel that surpasses everything that Isaac Bashevis Singer has ever written and - what's more - it does it fourteen years earlier than I.B's masterpiece entitled 'The Family Moskat', a book that I love to the bone. Singer wrote The Brothers Ashkenazi in a style reminiscent a 19th century novel. The depth of detail into the novel's events, the number of events covered over the roughly hundred years of the story and the cradle to grave stories of so many characters make you think of War and Peace or a slum ridden, Jewish, Middlemarch. Where it does not compare to 19th century fiction is in Singer's clear eyed vision. There is no sentimentality in this novel. All of the drama, humor and surprises come from mercilessly honest storytelling.The Brothers Ashkenazi is a historical novel that provides a literary rendering of the industrial revolution, political upheavals, and social conflicts in the Polish city of Lodz in a time spanning from the second half of the 19th century through to the first quarter of the 20th century. The story is told from the perspective of the Jewish community by following the life stories of two brothers, Max and Jacob. Israel Joshua Singer’s Yiddish books are available through our Digital Library. Di Brider Ashkenazi was published in three volumes: one, two, three.