SOURCE: Evanier, David. “Parables that Surprise.” New Leader 71, no. 11 (27 June 1988): 20-21.

In the following review of The Death of Methuselah, and Other Stories, Evanier maintains that the stories of this collection are not as strong as Singer's earlier stories.

Saul Bellow, an early translator of Isaac Bashevis Singer, has written of the short story in general that it “should be interesting, highly interesting, as interesting as possible—inexplicably absorbing.” By this measure, Singer always comes through for the reader. But Bellow also wrote: “For there is power in a story. It testifies to the worth, the significance of an individual. For a short while all the strength and all the radiance of the world are brought to bear upon a few human figures.” By these higher criteria, I am less sure.

That is not to suggest The Death of Methuselah is a disappointing collection. Although Singer does not...