First published 1990
In one tale, a yeshiva student abandons his wife and transforms his life completely, adopting women's clothing and marrying a man. His deserted wife tracks him down and discovers his new identity, confronting the elaborate deception he has constructed. In the title story, Methuselah approaches his thousandth year of life at age 969, but the centuries have taken their toll on the biblical patriarch. His body and mind no longer serve him as they once did, and he grapples with the weight of nearly a millennium of existence. These twenty stories from the Nobel Prize winner explore characters caught between tradition and transgression, faith and doubt, in worlds where the sacred and profane collide. Singer's characters wrestle with desires that pull them away from expected paths, whether through forbidden relationships, spiritual crises, or the simple burden of living too long.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, jewish
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: forbidden-relationships, spiritual-crises
Setting: Methuselah
Period: 969
248 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: death