The Bright Streets of Surfside: The Memoir of a Friendship with Isaac Bashevis Singer

Goran (Mrs. Beautiful) and the late Singer, winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature, taught creative writing classes together at the University of Miami from 1978 to 1988. Goran also served, for a time, as the translator of Singer's Yiddish stories. Although they began as friends, Singer's apparent lack of teaching ability and bizarre classroom behavior (he once barked like a dog when a student was reading her story) alienated Goran, who was pressured by the university to retain the star writer on staff. According to Goran, Singer was verbally abusive to his wife, hated other writers (Saul Bellow and Irving Howe in particular) and disliked women in general. Aging and paranoid, Singer became convinced that Goran was his enemy. Perhaps out of retaliation, this memoir presents a portrait that some Singer devotees will consider cruel; still others will find it convincing. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)