I. B. Singer Analyzes His Novels

"When people ask me what elements are used in my writing, it's like asking a chicken what chemicals it used in laying an egg," Isaac Bashevis Singer, the noted Yiddish author of The Magician of Lublin and A Day of Pleasure, told an audience of 600 in Lowell Lecture Hall last night.

Singer, beaming shyly at his delighted audience, read from his short stories, expounded on "What Makes a Jewish Writer," and regarded his listeners with dozens of his wry anecdotes.

Informative

Singer insisted that talented writers are always informative. "They show things in a new light, from a new point of view," he said.

However, no one creates in a "social vacuum," he said. The writer "must have roots in his milieu," while maintaining a certain distance between himself and his heritage; he must be "an insider and an outsider, a child of his people and a step-child also."