In the Footsteps of Yitskhok Bashevis and Isaac Bashevis Singer, with Jan Schwarz

The lecture is a personal account of Dr. Schwarz's decades long journey in the footsteps of Bashevis, the only Yiddish writer to receive the Nobel Laureate in literature. It will survey some of his most important works and the various stages of research about his biography and work. The lecture examines the early Yiddish work in interwar Warsaw, the English ‘second original’ in post-war New York and recent Bashevis publications. Dr. Schwarz's concluding remarks discusses how the current state of Bashevis research and publications relate to the broader context.

The event is free; donations welcome. Registration required to receive Zoom Link.

Dr. Jan Schwarz received his Cand. Mag in Scandinavian Studies and Comparative Literature from University of Copenhagen in 1983 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1997 in Yiddish and Comparative Literature. Since 2011, he has been Associate Professor of Yiddish Studies at Lund University, Sweden, the only such position in Scandinavia. Earlier, he held academic positions in Yiddish studies in the US: Senior Lecturer at University of Chicago, 2003–2011, Assistant professor at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1998–2002, adjunct at Northwestern University, 2003–2005 and University of Pennsylvania, 1994–1995. He is currently completing a project funded by the Swedish Research Council (2014–2016) and Riksbankens Jubeleumsfond, RJ Sabbatical (2022–2023): The Worlds of Isaac Bashevis Singer: Feuilletons, Translations, Life-Writing. He is the editor of the volume I.B.Singer, In the World of Chaos: Early Writings (forthcoming fall 2024).