论伯纳德·马拉默德与当代美国犹太文学运动

On Bernard Malamud and Contemporary American Jewish Literary Movement

第二次世界大战后 ,美国文坛涌现出了大批优秀的犹太作家。我们不能把如此众多、“共时”出现的犹太作家及其作品 ,简单地看成是一种“时尚”或巧合 ,而应看作是有其深刻文化背景的一种文学运动。当代美国犹太作家多以“苦难”为主题进行文学创作。犹太作家写犹太人受苦 ,其实是在说明犹太人是在为人类受苦 ,是历史的“替罪羊”。在这一方面 ,伯纳德·马拉默德做得最为出色。“受苦”这一主题 ,在他的作品中得到了不断地丰富和发展。马拉默德在教导美国犹太人如何在非犹太社会中生活、如何用犹太人所特有的坚忍的宗教信念来赎救自己的同时 ,还提出了赎救非犹太人的主张。他提出的弘扬“犹太性”

So many celebrated Jewish novelists have appeared in the American literary world since World War II. We are not supposed to consider this phenomenon as a fad or a coincidence. Instead, we should take it as a literary movement with profound culture background. The contemporary American Jewish novelists write with a theme of suffering. The Jewish people, scapegoats in history, in fact suffer for the whole human beings. Bemard Malamud does well in presenting this theme. The theme of suffering is continuously enriched and further developed in Malamud's fictions. While “teaching” his people how to live among the gentile and redeem themselves with Jewish beliefs, Malamud advocates to redeem the gentile. The Jewishnes that Malamud proclaims in his fictions has become the keynote of the American Jewish literary movement.