First published in 1957 by Noonday Press, Isaac Bashevis Singer’s first collection of stories, Gimpel the Fool, is a landmark work that has attracted international acclaim. The title story follows the exploits of Gimpel, an ingenuous baker who is universally deceived but who declines to retaliate against his tormentors. Gimpel and the protagonists of the other stories all inhabit the distinctive pre-World War II shtetls of Poland and, beyond that, the larger world created by Singer’s unforgettable prose. Praise:

These stories are a unique blend of lyric mysticism and earthy realism in characters that are universal human symbols of the worldly and the supernatural. Fantasy is Singer’s surest guide to truth in literature. - Anzia Yezierska, The New York Times Review of Books

Extraordinarily beautiful… It’s the integrity of the human imagination that Singer conveys so beautifully. - Alfred Kazin, The New Leader

Singer is a genius. He has total command of his imagined world. - Irving Howe, The New Republic

A peerless storyteller, Singer restores the sheer enchantment with story, with outcome, with what-happens-next that has been denied most readers since their adolescence. - David Boroff, Saturday Review