| This thesis aims to analyze the identification puzzlement and the spiritual crisis in Yasha, the protagonist in The Magician of Lublin by Issac Bashevis Singer. Though a talented middle-aged Jewish magician, he enjoys no satisfaction of achievement nor belongingness to any community. He gets lost in the secular world, and gets severely deprived of mental easiness and peace. He is always wandering in search of absolute freedom and meaning of existence, but his trials make him suffer more. He hopes to recreate his identity, but only to find it even more diminished. All these above-mentioned problems lead to his spiritual crisis.In this thesis, many analytical means have been employed to reveal how and why the identification puzzlement and spiritual crisis emerges and how it develops, expands and finally gets solved. Based on close reading, the paper thoroughly reveals that Yasha is bound to return, to his homeland, to his wife, to his religion, and to Jewish culture, which shows Singer's faith in God and the power of faith and religion.However, identification puzzlement and spiritual crisis is suffered not only by Yasha, by Jewish people, but also by people of all races, and in all places. In our time, it is obvious that spiritual problcms disturb people ever more seriously: the call of spiritual tranquility is eagerly and widely made. Now, the issue of identification puzzlement and spiritual crisis has become a major theme in both literature and philosophy study.Through Yasha, we see what causes the identification puzzlement and spiritual crisis, what motivates him to get on the horn of the dilemma and how he gets off. Through Yasha's journey of spiritual search, this analysis tries to provide a map for the understanding of identification puzzlement, spiritual crisis and the reconstruction of spiritual tranquility, which is not for Yasha's exclusive usc, for exclusive Jewish use, but for the general value both in theoretical and practical meaning. |
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