（英语语言文学专业论文）雅夏寻找自我的朝圣历程—评辛格著作《卢布林的魔术师》中的回归主题.pdf

iii 雅夏寻找自我的朝圣历程 评辛格著作卢布林的魔术师中的回归主题 雅夏寻找自我的朝圣历程 评辛格著作卢布林的魔术师中的回归主题 研究生：陈振华 导师：邱仪、陆小虹 副教授 专业：英语语言文学 研究方向：英美文学 年级：2004 级 摘要 摘要 艾萨克 巴什维斯 辛格是当代最有影响力的意第绪语作家，也是 20 世纪美国最杰出的 犹太作家之一。悠久而深厚的犹太文化和传统为辛格提供了丰富的创作源泉和灵感。文学来 源于生活，并且反映社会生活。他的作品深深地扎根于波兰犹太人的文化和传统，体现了其 深厚的犹太情结。文学是人类的记忆。辛格用一种几乎消亡的语言意第绪语，描绘了一个 逝去的东欧犹太人的世界，表达了他对犹太回归的呼唤。这种回归主题在辛格的著作卢布 林的魔术师中得到了最好的体现。 卢布林的魔术师发表于 1960 年的美国，而小说却以 19 世纪末的波兰为创作背景。 尽管那时的辛格已经非常精通英语，但他仍坚持用意第绪语来写作。漫长的时间和空间距离 仍割不断辛格深深的犹太情结，小说体现了鲜明的犹太回归主题。这一独特的主题主要表现 在三个方面：犹太身份的回归，犹太教的回归和传统道德的回归。 卢布林的魔术师主要 讲述了一个浪子回头的故事。然而，主人公雅夏的回归并不是一蹴而就的，而是经历了从身 份迷失、流浪地找寻、信仰的迷惘到皈依上帝找到自我的漫长历程。雅夏的回归也绝不是一 时冲动，他骨子里的犹太性驱使他不自觉地三进犹太会堂，一步步向犹太团体靠近。经过一 系列的波折和斗争，雅夏最终回归自我，在上帝的怀抱中找到心灵的归宿。 雅夏的经历绝不仅仅是他的个人命运，它反映了一个民族在放弃自己的传统，向另一种 文化寻求依附的痛苦历程，以及在此过程中的矛盾心态。雅夏的身份危机和信仰迷惘不仅折 射了犹太民族的艰难经历， 同时也反映了人类的普遍处境。 作为一个具有强烈责任感的作家， 辛格时刻关注现代人的精神危机和生存困境。在这部小说中，他为人们指明了一条出路：回 归之路。辛格认为，真正的救赎在于回归传统宗教和人本信仰。雅夏通过信仰和身份回归找 到了其心灵的宁静，这给那些与其有相似境遇的人以巨大的精神鼓舞和启示。 辛格是一位伟大的犹太作家，他坚信文学能够为人们带来新的视野和见解，使人们有力 量来对抗空虚和孤独。辛格用他自己的方式来求解时间和空间之谜，试图为人类痛苦寻找到 一个答案，使我们在残酷和不义的现实中找到爱的意义。 卢布林的魔术师中的回归主题 不仅反映了作者对犹太文化的肯定和珍视， 而且体现了他对人类普遍困境的深切关注。 因此， 回归主题具有深远的现实意义。 关键词：辛格， 回归主题， 犹太情结， 身份， 信仰 关键词：辛格， 回归主题， 犹太情结， 身份， 信仰 iv yashas pilgrimage of searching for self-identity on the return theme in singers masterpiece the magician of lublin postgraduate: chen zhen-hua supervisors: qiu yi it also reflects a nations agonizing process of giving up their own tradition and turning to another culture for attachment, and the conflicting mentality during that process. the protagonists identity crisis and spiritual puzzlement not only reflects the sufferings of the jewish nation, but also reveals the common conditions of human kind. as a writer with strong social responsibility, singer constantly concerns about modern peoples spiritual crisis and existential predicament. in the novel, he points out a way out for people, the way of return. singer regards that real redemption lies in the return to religious tradition and v humanistic belief. through the return of faith and identity, yasha finally finds his spiritual peace. it gives enormous spiritual encouragement and revelation to people who have the same experiences. singer is a great jewish writer with a firm belief in literatures power of bringing new horizons and new perspectives for human beings to resist nothingness and isolation. in his own way, singer tries to solve the riddle of time and change, to find an answer to suffering and to reveal love in the very abyss of cruelty and injustice. the return theme of the magician of lublin not only reflects the writers appraisal and treasure of the jewish culture, but also shows his sincere consideration for the common predicament of human beings. therefore, it has a far-reaching profound meaning. key words: singer, the return theme, jewish complex, identity, faith 论文独创性声明论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研究工作及取得的成果。 除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含其他个人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成 果。对本文的研究作出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担本声 明的法律责任。 研究生签名： 日期： 论文使用授权声明论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。广西师范大学、中国科学技 术信息研究所、清华大学论文合作部，有权保留本人所送交学位论文的复印件和电子文档， 可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容相一 致。除在保密期内的保密论文外，允许论文被查阅和借阅，可以公布（包括刊登）论文的全 部或部分内容。论文的公布（包括刊登）授权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名： 日期： 导 师签名： 日期： 1 introduction isaac bashevis singer (1904-1991), a prolific and versatile writer, is widely considered the foremost contemporary yiddish writer and one of the most outstanding american jewish novelists in the 20th century. in 1978, singer received the nobel prize for literature “for his impassioned narrative art, which with roots in a polish-jewish cultural tradition brings universal human conditions to life.” 1 this honor is the highest evaluation of his great literary achievement. singer was born in a pious orthodox hasidic family on july 14th, 1904, in radzymina small town near warsaw. his grandfather and father were rabbis. since young, he received a regular education and was expected to become a rabbi when he grew up. however, singer was more interested in secular literature, and loved to read the works of such worldly famous writers as nikolei gogol, edgar allen poe, friodor dostoyevski, leo tolstoy and hoffman etc. thus, he didnt live up to his parents expectation. under the influence of his elder brother israel joshua (1893-1944), an excellent yiddish journalists and writer, singer dropped the religious study and became a secular writer. he remarked that he would not become a rabbi because he had doubts about its tradition and dogma, not about god. after graduation from college in 1923, singer began his career as an author by writing stories in hebrew, which he later abandoned it when he found this ancient tongue confining and adopted yiddish, a dying but common language of ordinary jewish people in their daily life. he then created almost all his works only with yiddish. up to now, singer has been the only contemporary yiddish writer to achieve international recognition. in his nobel prize speech, singer said the high honor bestowed upon him by the swedish academy was recognition of yiddish language, a language being dying out. it was singer who has carried forward this cultural legacy and has revealed the treasure of yiddish to the eyes of the world. in 1935, under the pressure of anti-semite of fascists and having foreseen a fatal disaster of the jewish nation, singer fled to america with the help of his brother joshua. in america, he worked for one yiddish newspaper called the jewish daily forward, and devoted to the creation of literary works that reflected the jewish social life. his early life experience in poland served as rich source materials and inspirations for his literary creation. singer is a master storyteller, a very prolific writer. his works include 8 long novels, 7 short stories, 11 childrens stories, 3 memoirs, 2 dramas and others. his masterpieces include the family moskat, satan in goray, the slave, the magician of lublin, gimpel the fool, and other stories, enemies: a love story, etc. his novels and stories frequently set in the polish jewish shtetls (jewish towns or villages of eastern europe) or ghettos, reminding readers of the unmistakable historic core of the jewish experience. singers works are generally considered to possess a strong sense of jewishness, and meanwhile 2 display his sincere consideration for human existence. the regular jewish education he had received since young and the unforgettable life experience in his homeland greatly influenced his literary creation. thats why his works always reflect a kind of nostalgic passion for his jewish past in poland. on the one hand, as a jewish american writer, his depiction of the old east european jewish world seems incompatible with american culture and life. on the other hand, as an immigrant writer, in fact, singer never ceases to concern about the destiny of the american jewish immigrants. he is clearly aware of peoples sense of loss and contradiction during the long process of giving up their own tradition and turning to another dominant culture. singer portrays vividly in his works the conflicts between tradition and modernity, and the struggle between preservation and renewal, as well as the restless psychology along with them. singer attempts to find a way towards spiritual peace for his readers. he explores in his works the reason for peoples predicament, and in his own way he tries to solve the problem of peoples conflicts and to find an answer to all sufferings. he suggests in his works that return is a good way out. only by return could peoples mind be quieted. the return theme reveals singers positive attitude towards a solution to the predicaments of human existence. singers call for return to jewishness gets its most thorough embodiment in the magician of lubin. the novel, published in 1960, is one of the most representative long novels of singer. it sets in the end of the 19th century in poland, depicting a story of the protagonists pilgrimage of searching for self-identity. yasha mazur is a jewish magician. he is born in a pious jewish family, and luckily has a faithful wife named esther. but he is in nature a restless and dissolute man, who frequently cuts himself away from the jewish community and hopelessly tries to join the mainstream of christian bourgeoisie world abroad. his boldest ambition is to elope with one of his mistressesemilia and to obtain fame as well as success as an artist. indulged in endless lust and ambition, yasha even risks stealing money from an old gentleman zarusk. but he fails. whats worse, he injures his feet when jumping from the owners balcony. the failure is a turning point of the whole story, which is a foreshadowing of yashas return. it alarms him that god has thwarted him from falling into the abyss of crime and evil. in fact, it is yashas inner jewishness that prevents him from going too far away from his jewish root and faith. singer meticulously makes his protagonist visit the synagogue for three times, and each time accelerates the process from abandonment to return. finally, yasha imprisons himself in the cell to practice self-redemption and returns to the embrace of god. yashas pilgrimage of return is by no means a merely individual fate; it actually reveals singers deep concern for the predicament of jewish people and the whole human beings. thus the return theme in this novel has a profound meaning. 3 this thesis is mainly on the return theme and its significant meaning in singers masterpiece the magician of lublin. singer is a great jewish writer who has a strong passion for the jewish nation. his works recreate a world of the old east european jewish nation and reflect a distinctive theme of return to jewishness. the magician of lublin embodies this theme in three aspects: its theme, setting and language. above all, the return theme has got the most thorough reflection in yashas pilgrimage of finding his self-identity. firstly, the lost of identity. painstakingly trying to shake off the jewish identity and join another, yasha ends up finding himself a stranger drifting beyond all communities. secondly, searching as a wandering artist. to enjoy absolute freedom from the bound and limitations of the society, yasha yearns for shaking off his humble identity as a jew and searching for a new life and identity as an artist. thirdly, the puzzlement and regression of faith. yasha is at first an unbeliever, but the remaining jewishness calls him back to his root and faith. on his way of searching, he has continually visited the synagogue for three times, which accelerates his regression. each visit makes him feel closer with his jewish fellows and community. fourthly, finding his self-identity through penitence. this part is to display the long, complicated process of yashas pilgrimage journey of return. from his abandoning the jewish identity, and the vain searching for absolute freedom to his returning to the embrace of god as a penitent. yasha finally regains his self-identity as a jew through penitence in a cell. return is the only way out for him to get the spiritual quietness. in a word, the return theme in the magician of lublin endows profound meanings. its return theme not only reflects singers passion for jewish culture and tradition, but also shows his consideration for the predicament of jewish nation and the human beings. yashas return is actually singers exploration of a possible solution to the dilemma of human existence. 4 chapter one: singers return to jewishness theme and its embodiment in the magician of lublin. 1.1 singers passion for jewishness and the return theme in his works in the 20th centurys american literature, jewish writers play an important role. especially after world war ii, a group of outstanding writers, such as saul bellow, isaac bashevis singer, joseph heller, bernard malamud, philp roth etc. appeared in america. they have produced a great number of masterpieces with distinguishing features of jewish culture, making jewish writing an important stream in american literature. what urges them to achieve so much success in literature? on the one hand, america provides a free and relaxed social environment for them; on the other hand, the profound jewish culture inspires their creation of literary works. although they are far away from east europe, or israel, they couldnt forget their jewish root. how to carry on and forward the jewish culture becomes the nuclear theme of jewish literature. jewish writers consciously or unconsciously take into their works the jewish elements and all kinds of resources from the jewish culture, and make those serve as a general concern for the existence of human life. singer is just one of the best writers among them. however, singer distinguishes himself from the other jewish american novelists who have retained their imaginative access to the immigrant experience. instead of portraying american jewish immigrants who run out of the ghetto (jewish quarter of a town), cut off their jewish roots and have been assimilated into the american mainstream, “singer has kept the old central european sense of man as the pitifully minor participant in a process governed by irresistible historic, religious, economic and political forces-against which hell be doing well just to keep his head above water.”2 in his works, singer reveals truthfully and earnestly the past jewish world, expressing a strong passion for jewishness. singers commitment to the jewish past is attributed a lot to his hard life experience. having experienced the two world wars, singer saw with his own eyes the miserable sufferings of jewish people. especially during the world war ii, jewish people had suffered the bitterest persecution and disaster since they left egypt 2000 years ago. though he luckily escaped nazi germanys cruel massacre, his family members in warsaw didnt elude that disaster. although singer had immigrated to america since 1935, he never forgot his root in poland as a jew. deep in his heart, singer cherished profound passion for the heavy jewish history and suffering people. thereupon, he resorted to the literary creation. singer regards literature as the memory of human being, and a writer must has his root. his literary works circumscribe the polish jewry between mid-seventeenth century and the beginning 5 of the world war ii, evoking a past rich in the sufferings, joy, sounds and shapes of jewish exiles last four centuries. from the cruelty of the cossacks massacre to jews in the 17th century (seen in stan in gray and the slave) to great catastrophe before the world war ii (seen in the family moskat, shosha), singer recalls in grief and indignation of the miserable history of jewish people. he recreates in his works a world of east european jewish nation. this world has gone forever, and was destroyed by the most terrible of all scourges that has afflicted the jews and other people in poland. but it comes to life in singers works. its environment and its centuries-old traditions have set their stamp on singer as a jew and a writer, and provide ever-vivid subjects for his literary inspiration and creation. deeply rooted in the orthodox jewish culture, “singer uses all the old jewish capital of folklore, popular speech and legendry, yet from within this tradition itself is able to duplicate a good deal of the conscious absurdity, the sauciness, and the abandon of modern art-without for a moment losing his obvious personal commitment to the immemorial jewish vision of the world.” 3 therefore, singer is imbued with old-world jewish habits of thought more thoroughly than his american counterparts. singer attempts an imaginative recreation of the social and religious milieu of polish jewry of the previous centuries. his creative imagination leads itself to be unique writing sources that will define his achievement of contemporary jewish-american fiction. in modern american jewish literature, no one else has originated so completely from orthodox jewish tradition, and no one else has turned this tradition into truthfulness of literary creation. literature comes from life, and reflects life. singers literary creation couldnt be separated from his jewish life experience. singer was born in a pious orthodox jewish family. he spent his childhood and youth in an environment full of jewish tradition and judaism. his father and grandfather were rabbis, pious to hasidism. when singer was four years old, his family moved to warsaw, where singer received a basic jewish education preparing him to become a rabbi. he was first sent to cheddars (religious primary schools), and then to warsaw theology institute to learn talmud (the collection of jewish laws), torah (narrowly, pentateuch; but by extension all jewish teaching), old testament, hebrew and yiddish etc. thus singer got a deep and thorough knowledge of jewish culture and religion. the jewish community he lived in left a deep impression in his mind, and reappeared vividly in his works. singers works display deep-rootedness in the polish shtetl (jewish town or village of eastern europe), in jewish folklore, in hasidic religious ritual, and in jewish history. the polish landscape offers plenty of varieties and a cast of caricatures so fascinating in the singers gallery. just as edwin gittleman commented in 1980, “ in a profound sense, all that is distinctive and valuable about singer, all that so justly merits his having been honored as a nobel laureate in 1978, is irrelevant to his acquired citizenship and to his forty-five year residence in america. as a writer, 6 functionally considered, h