An Inventory of Her Collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Shub, Elizabeth
Title:
Elizabeth Shub Collection of Isaac Bashevis
Singer Papers
Dates:
1967-1985, nd
Extent:
3 boxes, 1 galley file (1.26 linear feet)
Abstract:
Editor and translator Elizabeth Shub worked
with Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer to translate his works into English. Manuscripts
in the Shub papers include the translator’s working drafts for two novels, several
children's stories, some short stories, and one essay by Singer.
Editor and translator Elizabeth “Libby” Shub was born in Vilno, Poland, the daughter
of
Samuel and Bessie Charney. In 1919, her family moved to the United States, where they
settled in New York and her father, writing as Shmuel Niger, worked as a literary
critic for
the Yiddish newspaper The Day. Because her parents ran a literary salon in
their home, Shub was exposed to Yiddish literature and writers from an early age.
She met
author Isaac Bashevis Singer when her father invited him to dinner at their house
soon after
Singer’s arrival in the United States in 1935, and they developed a lasting friendship.
In 1965, after her marriage to Boris Shub ended in divorce, Elizabeth Shub began working
as
a reader in the children’s department at Harper & Row Publishers and soon became an
associate editor there. She later worked at Charles Scribner’s Sons (1966-68) and
Macmillan
Publishing Company (1968-75), also as an associate editor of children’s books. She
became
senior editor at Greenwillow Books in 1975 and retired from that position in 1996.
It was Shub who suggested to Singer that he write a children’s book. He agreed to
write one
if she would translate it from Yiddish to English; the result was Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories (1966), which won a Newbery Honor
Book award, as did another collaboration, When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other
Stories (1968). Although she is known primarily as a translator of Singer’s
stories for children, Shub also translated some of his short stories for adults, as
well as
his novels The Estate (1970) and Enemies: A Love Story (1972). In addition to works by Singer, Shub
translated other folk tales and children’s stories. Her translations of Theodor Fontane’s
Sir Ribbeck of Ribbeck of Havelland and About Wise Men and Simpletons: Twelve Tales from Grimm won American
Library Association Notable Book awards in 1969 and 1971. Shub also wrote several
original
books for children, including The White Stallion (1982). She
died in New York City on June 18, 2004, at the age of 89.
Scope and Contents
Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer worked closely with his translators, particularly
with
Elizabeth Shub, who could read Yiddish, unlike many of his other translators.
Manuscripts in the Shub papers include the translator’s working drafts of Singer’s
novels
The Estate and Enemies: A Love Story, which
Shub also edited, as well as his children’s stories Alone in the Wild Forest, Elijah the Slave, The Fools of Chelm and Their
History, The Topsy-Turvy Emperor of China, Why Noah Chose the Dove, and The Wicked City. Two of Singer’s short stories for adults, "A Friend of Kafka" and "Powers," are also present, as are a collection of short stories,
The Image and Other Stories, and an essay on Hasidism.
Most of the manuscripts are typescripts with handwritten corrections by both Shub
and
Singer, showing the collaborative nature of the translations. "Alone in the Wild Forest" is also represented by corrected Yiddish
galley proofs and clippings from its serialization in the Jewish Daily Forward. The Image and Other Stories is present only as a corrected
typesetting copy. Dorothea Straus’s translation of "Powers" was published in Harper’s Magazine, and tearsheets from that periodical have
handwritten revisions by Shub.
Related Material
Additional Shub-Singer materials are housed in the Center’s Isaac Bashevis Singer
archive.
Index Terms
People
Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- . Translations
into English.
