Modern Man Caught in between the Sacred and the Profaned: A Study of Modern Man’s Existence through Singer’s Works
Abstract: The thesis is mainly a study of modern man’s existence through analyzing American Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel The Family Moskat and short story “Gimpel the Fool.” The tension of his works is often built up through conflicts of dualities: physical passion and spiritual aspiration, good and evil, the sacred and the profane, etc. Since the dichotomy of passion and morality frequents most of Singer’s works, it is advisable to study modern man’s existence through Singer’s most favored topic—love and sex, which he took as the best means to access human nature. The thesis will also contrast Singer’s own experience to explore the ambiguity of his work, which may better our understanding of his treatment of human existence.
Key Words: existence, Jewishness, conflicts of dualities, ambiguity
[1] Golden Morris, “Dr. Feschelson’s Miracleuality and Vision in Singer’s Fiction.” pp26-43. from Marcia Allentuck ed. The Achivement of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969.
[2] Grace Farrell, ed. Critical Essays on Isaac Bashevis Singer. Prentice Hall International: London, 1996. P4.
[3] 同上,第18页。
[4]同上第19页。
[5] Isaac Bashevis Singer and Richard Burgin, Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985, p33.
[6] 利奥·拜克, 《犹太教的本质》,付永军 于健译,济南:山东大学出版社,2004年版,第30页。
[7] 转引自 顾晓鸣 《犹太—充满“悖论”的文化》。杭州:浙江人民出版社,1990年版,第143页。
[8] Lawrence S. Friedman, Understanding Isaac Bashevis Singer. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1988, p 83.
[9] 辛格小说里的主人公总是有逃避问题的倾向,辛格本人也有这样的性格特点。他来到美国后,一直保持着息事宁人的态度。在街道上走路,路遇事故发生,他总是拔腿就溜,从没想过要帮助别人。有一次他去芝加哥女友家,发现女友赤身裸体浑身血污躺在床上。他二话不说就逃跑了。既没想到要进行抢救,也没想去报警。事后才知道,女友并没有遇害,她身上的血污是落日照在身上的颜色。为了自我保护,辛格的谨小慎微赶走了残阳如血的浪漫。Dovorah Telushkin, Master of Dreams: A Memoir of Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: William Morrow and Company, INC., 1997, p76.
[10] Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Family Moskat. A. H. Gross trans. New York: Penguin Books, 1950, p387.
[11] 斯宾诺莎 《伦理学》,贺麟译。北京:商务印书馆,1983年版, 第183页。
[12] 同上,第187页。
[13] 同上,第217页。
[14] Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Family Moskat. A. H. Gross trans. New York: Penguin Books, 1950, p567.
[15]同上,第606页。
[16] 辛格本人相信上帝,但是他的信仰带着疑惑。他认为“宗教不是一件简单的事,爱情也不是。你可能会爱一个女人,却还会背叛她。”(Isaac Bashevis Singer and Richard Burgin, Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985, p103.)在对待爱情和宗教方面他作品中的人物常常有他自己的影子。
[17] Isaac Bashevis Singer. “Gimpel the Fool” from An Isaac Bashevis Singer Reader. Saul Bellow trans. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982, p7.
[18] 同上,第11页。
[19] Paul N. Siegel, “Gimpel and the Archetype of the Wise Fool” from Marcia Allentuck ed. The Achievement of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969, p167.
[20] Isaac Bashevis Singer. “Gimpel the Fool” from An Isaac Bashevis Singer Reader. Saul Bellow trans. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982, p14.
[21] 转引自 亚伯拉罕·科恩 《大众塔木德》,盖逊译,济南:山东大学出版社,1998年版,第104页。
[22]Isaac Bashevis Singer. “Gimpel the Fool” from An Isaac Bashevis Singer Reader. Saul Bellow trans. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982, p19.
[23] Sanford Pinsker, The Schlemiel as Metaphor. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991, p58.
[24]亚伯拉罕·海舍尔 《觅人的上帝》,郭鹏 吴正选 译。济南:山东大学出版社,2005年版,第352页。
[25]转引自Kathleen Wilson ed., Short Stories for Students, Vol. 2, New York: Gale Research, 1997, p91. 所转引的是Judy Sobeloff文字。
[26] Isaac Bashevis Singer and Richard Burgin, Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985, p40.
[27] Dovorah Telushkin, Master of Dreams: A Memoir of Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: William Morrow and Company, INC., 1997, p137.
[28] Isaac Bashevis Singer and Richard Burgin, Conversations with Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985, p6.
[29] 同上,第8页。
[30] 同上,第84页。