Women In Isaac Bashevis Singer's Short Fiction

Isaac Bashevis Singer, a famous Jewish writer, is the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature for his"impassioned narratives, which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, bring universal human conditions to life."He is now considered almost unanimously as one of the best storytellers of the twentieth century.Singer has a great interest in the lives of ordinary men and women, and in his stories there are many women characters. Some critics feel that Singer is biased in the portrayal of women. Others simply contend that Singer is a misogynist. In this thesis, I take a look at some of Singer's best-known short stories included in such collections as Old Love and Other Stories, Short Friday and Other Stories, The Spinoza of Market Street and Other Stories, The Penguin Collected Stories of Issac Bashevis Singer, etc., and examine Singer's treatment of women characters. I am convinced through this study that Singer is by no means a misogynist, but a traditional humanist writer genuinely concerned with the well-being of both men and women. This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction to Singer's life and work, and some of the criticism about his writing in China and abroad. After that I discuss three different kinds of women characters, namely, the virtuous wives, the working women, and the rebellious (grand)daughters. In ChapterTwo, I discuss the three virtuous wives in"The Short Friday,""The Spinoza of Market Street,"and"Esther Kreindel the Second."Singer expresses his admiration for these women because they represent a traditional way of life that is lost forever. Chapter Three examines seven working women in"Taibele and Her Demon,""Yochna and Shmelke,""The Spinoza of Market Street,""The Washwoman,""Elka and Meir,"and"In the Poor House."They are mostly the disadvantaged, but their courage in the face of difficulties thrust upon them by the society and their honesty in their daily work make them extremely admirable people. In Chapter Four, I look at the three rebellious (grand)daughters in"Yentl the Yeshiva Boy,""The Dead Fiddler,"and"A Crown of Feathers."They are educated, beautiful, clever, and full of wisdom. They are progressive women struggling with the male dominated world that insists on seeing them as objects to male subjectivity. Although none of them ultimately finds a suitable outlet for their talent, Singer describes their rebellion against the Hassidic society in a way that makes them respectable. In depicting those women, Singer criticizes the Jewish community's inability to tolerate the needs of independent and ambitious women. This thesis argues in the Conclusion that Singer is not a misogynist. His work reflects the temper of his time and his community. The women characters in his works are neither angels nor demons; they are ordinary human beings with strengths and weaknesses. Through his stories, he presents before the readers a vivid picture of the life of Jewish women as they are.