Date of Award
10-8-1972
Degree Type
Master's Essay - Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Joseph Schwartz
Abstract
In an interview he granted The Saturday Review1 to accompany their review of The Fixer , Bernard Malamud made this statement about his work: "As a writer I want uncertainty. Its part of life. I want something the reader is uncertain about . It is this uncertainty that produces drama . Keep the reader surprised. This is enormously important to me . A good writer is an imaginative writer." In dramatizinq the case of Mendel Beiliss, a Jew accused of ritual murder in Kiev in 1911, Malamud has created the title character of Jakov Bok, the fixer, a man whose r ole in the novel is delineated by an author who very evidently believes in uncertainty . Bok functions to represent a multitude of figures, from Job, Hosea , and Christ to Spinoza , a philosopher who claimed the first three men to be fictions.
Recommended Citation
Raymann, Lawrence, "Ultimi Barbarorum An Examination of the Roles Of Nicholas and Jakov in the Fixer, And Some Conclusions About The Conclusion." (1972). Master's Essays (1922 - ). 2690.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/essays/2690