Homeland Consciousness Reflected In I.B. Singer's 1960-70s Novels

Isaac Bashevis Singer(1904-1991),as the best contemporary storyteller,is the only contemporary Jewish writer who insists on writing in Jewish national language-Yiddish.Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978 "for his impassioned narrative art which,with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition,brings universal human conditions to life".Singer's literary career can be described as writing as a Jew,writing on Jews and writing for Jews.Singer's ability to exploit the universal values in Jewish cultural tradition makes him break out of the confines of a narrow Yiddish literary circle to universal recognition.At present,domestic and overseas critics mainly focus on the elements of morality,faith,identity and trauma in his novels.Homeland,as a recurring theme in Singer's works,has not been focused on in academic papers.Singer's novels can be classified into two categories.One is about the loss of homeland caused by the holocaust and the subsequent exile.Hitler's carnage destroyed the Eastern European Jewish community,and also brought huge psychological trauma to Jews.It is worth noting that it is just for the reason of a coherent Jewish community that the Jewish people could succeed in leading a pious and traditional life for almost eight hundred years in Eastern Europe,despite frequent massacres and persecutions.These novels are about the broken life of refugees and survivors,and are always set in America.The other is about traditional Eastern European Jewish life which was threatened by the advance of the Enlightenment in the nineteenth and the first quarter of twentieth centuries.During this period,many Jews deprived themselves of Jewishness and embraced a secular life.In these novels,Singer inclines to depict those characters that are lured by worldly pleasures and slide into the abyss of moral degeneration and identity crisis.They eventually regain their Jewish faith and embrace Jewish cultural tradition at the end of story,which can be regarded as their shared way of pursuing a homeland.These characters are also widely known as "penitents" in the study of Singer's works.The thesis employs Mike Crang's Cultural Geography(1998),Ha Jin's understandings about homeland reflected in his book The Writer as Migrant(2008),eco-criticism and other relevant literary thoughts to explore Singer's homeland consciousness by focusing on the loss and pursuit of homeland in his 1960-70s novels with the combination of theories and texts.The novel of Enemies,A Love Story fits into the first category.It perfectly shows the theme of the loss of homeland as a classic holocaust novel.Shosha and The Magician of Lublin belong to the second category.They are all set in pre-holocaust Poland.The protagonists in the two novels,after a lot of doubts and struggles,finally return to Jewish cultural tradition.The reason why the three novels in 1960-70s are selected to explore Singer's homeland consciousness lies in the particularity of this period.During the 1950s,the United States was still in a period of political stability and economic growth.However,American society has entered a period of turmoil since the 1960s.A lot of significant events influenced the development of American society and history,such as the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.The turbulent external environment makes Singer pay more attention on humankind and homeland issues.This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One is introduction.In this chapter,a brief introduction to Isaac Bashevis Singer and his three novels in 1960-70s will be given.Then the literature review of Singer and Singer's works at home and abroad is presented.Finally,the major theories and literary thoughts applied in this thesis are briefly introduced and explained.Besides,thesis statement will also be given.Chapter Two lays emphasis on the theme of the loss of homeland in the novel of Enemies,A Love Story.The situation of homelessness is explained from three aspects:geographical,social and psychological.The loss of Jewish community and the doubt on God are the most important reasons.Chapter Three focuses on the theme of the pursuit of homeland in Shosha and The Magician of Lublin.The protagonists Aaron and Yasha all choose to embrace Jewish cultural tradition and Jewish faith to achieve homeland arrival.Chapter Four summarizes and further explores Singer's homeland consciousness by reviewing the loss and pursuit of homeland which is discussed in Chapter Two and Chapter Three.Deeply rooted in"salvation complex," Singer's homeland consciousness will be summed up as the worry about the forthcoming dangers for the Jewish people and his own attachment to Jewish cultural tradition.The forthcoming dangers consist of the danger of anti-Semitism,the danger of assimilation and the danger of losing faith.Chapter Five is conclusion,the aim of which is to emphasize that Singer's unique homeland consciousness is closely connected to his strong concern for the Jewish nation.In addition,a grasp of Singer's homeland consciousness also helps to understand his other works.