Struggle Between Tradition And Modernity

Isaac Bashevis Singer was a writer who had a distinctive individuality and a different style in his literary creation which was different from other Jewish writers in America. He made great contributions to guarantee a Jewish traditional culture. He thought deeply and persisted in seeking to maintain the spirit of Jewish traditional culture that is further embodied in his novel ShoSha. Shosha is Singer’s masterpiece in which he made every effort to write as his only excellent created novel. Of his ten full-length novels written during his lifetime, Shosha is the only one that uses the first person narration. We must remember how cruel the irony was whereby Yiddish literature, in the person of Singer, should have received the high honor of a Nobel Prize in1978for literature that was "full of passionate narrative art" and "which also reflects the common situation of modern humans". Shosha successfully embodies "The Jewish writers’spirit of writing about Jewish people". Because this novel takes Singer’s own life experiences in Poland before World War II as the basic subject matter, his experiences intensives the generalized creation purpose and artistic features, which makes this later work especially noticeable with a stronger sense of Jewishness.In order to reveal Singer’s persistent quest of Jewish people, he emphasizes the mental problems that seeking a national destiny brings into the lives. The author of this thesis tries to accentuate the main character’s mental process of deviation and return using Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis and Jurgen Moltmann’s theology of hope. This is characterized by a series of confusion and suspicion arising in the novel. However, they hope for miracles that will ensure a better future and also a resurrection of a national spirit. This is the news they have to wait for and search for. Thus, Singer became a fierce catcher of Jewish traditional culture.This thesis consists of five parts:Chapter one reviews Isaac Bashevis Singer’s life and literary career including the main content of Shosha. A brief introduction of background of the Jewish traditional culture and a literature review will be listed. Chapter Two of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of theories, including the theory of Freud’s psychoanalysis and the influence of it. The writer will then expound the "Hope" regarding Jurgen Moltmann’s theology of hope. Part three and part four are the main bodies of the thesis. Part three mainly analyses the main character Aaron’s harsh journey in search of his identity and his Jewish traditional culture where he deviated from that culture and then his return to embracing his Jewish culture. This section also gives some analysis on self-seeking, the construction of cultural identity, the contradictory state of psychology, and the searchiag for the meaning of existence and the nature of life. Moreover, there is the obvious analysis based on the influence of the male character, Aaron, as seen through Shosha who represents a symbolic meaning of Jewish traditional culture. Chapter four emphatically analyzes the reasons of the main character’s deviation and return. The last part is the conclusion, as the thesis concludes that Shosha to a certain extent reveals Singer’s own hard course of deviation and return as to his traditional Jewish belief.The past and tradition are forever their spiritual support on the course of Singer and the characters in Shosha. This novel is an interpretation of Aaron’s deep love for Shosha which symbolizes Aaron’s eternal impulse in Jewish world with earnest hope, which finally strengthens his determination to returning Jewish identity. It also reflected the actual Jewish nation’s nationalistic psychology and national characteristics under the unique social situation during the World War II.