Universal Predicaments

Malamud reveals the predicaments of modern people's existence in Dubin's Lives through his portrayal of Dubin's sufferings in ordinary days. The thesis will rely on textual analysis with recourse to Bakhtinian dialogue theory. The dialogues of various forms result in new meanings and the everlasting charm of Dubin's Lives.The first chapter gives a full explanation of the predicaments in the novel, especially Dubin's own dilemma; from his muddled life, including complicated interactive relationships, his mid-life crisis and writer's block, to the spiritual conflicts. On one hand, he is used to the stable and ordered life he lead with his wife; on the other hand, he yearns to the passionate life. Dubin and his wife Fanny got married just in hope to change the situation twenty years ago, due to the lack of"spontaneous love", they all feel lost of the now seemly peaceful life which is needed for Dubin's work. The appearance of Fanny not only brings passion to Dubin but also rocks his life. He wants to be responsible and loyal to his wife Kitty while he also yearns for the youth beauty of his lover Fanny; he then is troubled and struggle in his mind. Besides these sufferings, during the writing process, he was influenced by the world view of Lawrence—the sexuality freedom; Dubin's self become divided. All these sufferings consequently result in his internal dialogues.The second chapter deals with the dialogical features in the novel and makes deep analysis of the implications of dialogues. Bakhtin says,"to be means to communicate dialogically."And this novel on a whole is a great dialogue. So this chapter makes a detailed discussion of macro-dialogue and micro-dialogue between characters, from the different kinds of dialogic relationships to detailed interpretation of the dialogues of characters. Through the analysis, the existence of the dialogue and its function could be explained. The thesis also makes a detailed discussion of the micro-dialogue, that is, the double-voice discourse, and the influence of this discourse. The third chapter analyzes the open ending of the text and the unfinalized self of Dubin, whether better or still a mess, Dubin's future life is unknown to us, however, his predicament continues. This predicament and suffering is universal concerning united themes of Malamud's novels.