Deviation And Salvation: The Magician Of Lublin In Light Of Ethical Criticism

Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978, is a well-known Jewish American writer and the most influential Yiddish writer in the 20 th century. Throughout his life, Singer endeavored to explore the core issue and the existential situation of the Jews. Published in 1960, The Magician of Lublin, which portrays a unique figure of the Jewish magician Yasha and presents his ethical salvation process, fully embodies Singer’s writing style and thoughts. Most studies on the novel concentrate on the themes and characterization. This thesis employs Ethical Literary Criticism to study the novel’s ethical line in the plot so as to reveal its ethical connotation.Based on the guidelines of Ethical Literary Criticism, this thesis analyzes the whole process of Yasha’s ethical deviation to ethical salvation as an ethical line. It mainly covers Yasha’s struggle in three-dimensional ethical environments, his loss of ethical identity and his final awakening to ethical consciousness. Besides, the ethical knots, which hinder Yasha’s salvation are also analyzed. All the factors such as Yasha’s desire for women, his ambition for success and his skepticism to God directly lead him to the irrational ethical choices and get severe punishments. Through Yasha, Singer delivers his ethical view that the Jews who disobey ethical norms will definitely be punished by God and only by adhering to the traditional ethical norms can one get real inner-peace. Hopefully, this study can help readers better understand Singer’s ethical pursuits and the novel’s spiritual revelation.