Seeking The Absent Jewish Identity

Isaac Bashevis Singer,a famous contemporary Jewish-American writer, whose works often reflect the profound Jewish connotation in the process of traditional culture's interaction with modern culture. The integration of and the conflict between Jewish and American culture have always been through his works. Facing the impact of heterogeneous culture, Singer's identity consciousness has been in a contradictory state. On the one hand, he hopes to enter the mainstream society; on the other hand, he can not be free from the traditional influence. In this dilemma situation, he finally chose to return to the Jewish tradition. He holds that, only with Jewish belief, Jewry can find their way.This thesis is based on the analysis of Singer's works. With the beginning of exploring the identity consciousness, it explains the culture connotations of Jewish tradition in the following aspects: language, theme, characters , the comparison with other Jewish writer and comprehensive analysis. Chapter 1 mainly deals with the basic features of Jewish tradition culture and Singer's desire for seeking the absent Jewish identity. Chapter 2 , based on the understanding of Jewish background and writers, analyzes the Singer's works in many aspects including language, theme, and characters etc. Chapter 3 mainly shows Singer's characteristic Jewish significance in comparison with contemporary Jewish writers such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth.