Journey to My Father, Isaac Bashevis Singer

In this frank memoir, Zamir, an Israeli writer, describes his ambivalent relationship with his father, acclaimed Yiddish novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer (Enemies, A Love Story). Singer (1904-1991) left his wife and their five-year-old son in Poland when he immigrated to the U.S. in 1935, then reneged on his promise to send for them, subsequently divorcing Zamir's mother to marry his second wife, Alma. After a separation of 20 years, Zamir traveled to New York for a cool reunion with Singer, who did not think to provide his penniless son with money to travel around the city. Eventually their relationship became friendlier, and Zamir translated his father's works into Hebrew. Brilliant and self-centered, Singer acknowledged that he was a neglectful father and an unrepentant womanizer. Despite differences in politics and religion, Zamir came to love Singer and here provides a moving account of the time they spent together in Stockholm when Singer won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)