A Thematic Interpretation Of Trauma In The Magician Of Lublin

Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Noble Prize Winner in literature in 1978, is one of the most distinguished American Jewish writers of the twentieth century. His unique life experience as a Jew in both Polish ghetto and America gave him endless motivation for writing. Under the urge of strong Ethnic-Anxiety Complex, Singer observed his People’s traumas from ancient civilization to modern times through literary creation,and devoted all his efforts to testify the right prescription for recovery. Among various traumas, the loss of faith was the most fatal one for people.The Magician of Lublin is acknowledged as Singer’s best short story concerning the traumatic theme of faith crisis. The novel depicted a Jewish magician being trapped into spiritual crisis struggled between ration and lust. Meanwhile, the protagonist—Yasha is no longer merely an individual, but a spokesman of the traumatized Jewish People and the lost modern people. In this sense, his experience is endowed with more universal meanings. Consequently, this thesis aims to explore the traumatic theme conveyed in the novel on both individual and collective levels. The thesis mainly consists of six parts: the introduction, the literature review, three chapters and conclusion.The introduction goes through the Singer’s life experience, the novel’s plot, the framework and the significance of the thesis briefly. Later, the literature review discusses the previous studies on the novel, the development of the traumatic theory and the theoretical basis of this thesis. These two parts lay a solid foundation for the further analysis.In the body part, the thesis firstly explores the causes of traumas. The protagonist,Yasha’s encounter is the point to dig out the traumatic events since it is his experience that pushes the plot forward. An unhappy childhood, the anti-Semitism bred by Christianity world and the collapse of traditional faith system constitute the core traumatic events that give rise to Yasha’s faith crisis. A deceased mother is the first blow that darkens his childhood. The other two events, besides the part they played in Yasha’s individual trauma, bear much wider meanings, which build a suspension for the following chapter.Singer held faith crisis as the most evident spiritual feature of modern people. On this basis, the chapter of traumatic symptom intends to illustrate the manifestation offaith crisis on both individual and collective levels. First, as a representative victim undergoing individual trauma, Yasha’s faith crisis is mainly displayed by deformed belief in love, basic relationship, in reality and in religion, in accordance with with the traumatic symptom of intrusion, evasion, and identity and existential crisis. Actually,Yasha merely functions as a mirror to symbolize the Jewish People in plight and the chaotic modern society. Therefore, the thesis goes on with the symptoms of collective traumas. Being caught up in the faith crisis, the Jewish People is at the threat of losing their spiritual traits. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In the chaotic world screaming materialism, wars, and science, the modern people are all at a loss. To take writer’s writing purpose into account, the collective trauma is of top priority.To solve such dilemma, Singer pointed at the end of the story that returns to faith is the best prescription for recovery, which happens to coincide with Herman’s recovery strategy. Due to their limitation, Magda, Zeftel and Emilia did not fulfill the task of self-rescue. Instead, they ended in tragedies of suicide, degeneration and remarry. On the contrary, Yasha took the consequence, faced new life bravely and returned to Jewish community, geting cured gradually. By comparison, the thesis confirms Singer’s proposition about healing trauma, which echoes the novel’s theme.Last, the conclusion part summarized the main points of the thesis. At the same time, it also indicates the defects.Combining traumatic theory with close reading, this thesis intends to develop a new angle to interpret The Magician of Lublin. While at the same time, it expects to arouse the public’s attention to the suffering Jewish People and lost human’s self-rescue.