The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer

First published:Der Kuntsnmakher fun Lublin, 1959 (English translation, 1960)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of plot: Late nineteenth century

Locale: Poland

Principal characters

• Yasha Mazur, a magician
• Esther Mazur, his wife
• Magda Zbarski, his assistant and mistress
• Zeftel Lekach, a deserted wife, also his mistress
• Emilia Chrabotzky, a widow whom Yasha loves

The Story:

At his home in Lublin, Yasha Mazur, a magician, gets out of bed and eats the breakfast that his wife, Esther, prepared. Again, he assures her that he has never been unfaithful, even on long trips such as that from which he had just returned. However, while he sits in a tavern drinking beer and discussing women, his thoughts turn to the woman with whom he is presently in love, Emilia Chrabotzky, who wants him to convert to Catholicism, marry her, and move to Italy. Yasha cannot get Emilia out of his mind, but he is reluctant to leave his childless wife, who has made Yasha the center of her life. Moreover, though, unlike his wife, he is careless in religious matters, Yasha is hesitant about rejecting his faith and his people.

Again, Yasha sets off on his travels. Near Piask, he spends the night with the unattractive Magda; her mother, Elzbieta Zbarski, who treats Yasha like a son-in-law; and Magda’s unsavory brother, Bolek, who hates Yasha. The next day, Yasha goes to Piask to visit yet another mistress, Zeftel Lekach, whose husband had disappeared after his escape from prison. Yasha spends the evening with a gang of thieves, his longtime friends, who are awed by his skills, especially his ability to pick locks, and once again urge him to join them and make a fortune.

While Yasha and Magda are on their way to Warsaw, a storm breaks, and they take refuge in a prayer house. Yasha again worries about abandoning his religion. In Warsaw, however, he has to deal with a more urgent matter: his performance schedule. As usual, he learns that he will be working for very low wages. Perhaps, he thinks, Emilia is right in thinking that he should go abroad.

When he sees the beautiful Emilia, Yasha cannot resist agreeing to her terms. He says he will become a Catholic, marry her, and take her to Italy, along with her consumptive daughter Halina and her servant, Yadwiga. Privately, however, he wonders where he will find the money. At a play with Emilia, Yasha becomes so depressed that he considers repenting, but the impulse passes. When Emilia again refuses to allow him into her bed, he becomes even more despondent.

Back at his own apartment, Yasha enjoys being coddled by Magda. Just as he sits down to dinner, however, Zeftel turns up at his door. Although Magda is furious, Yasha leaves to accompany Zeftel to the house where she is staying, fearing that the white slaver who had taken her in would take advantage of her. When he gets there, however, Yasha soon finds himself in a friendly conversation, and he spends most of the night with the white slaver and his female accomplice.

Suddenly recalling that Yadwiga had told him about a rich old man who kept his money in a safe in his apartment, Yasha steals the money he needs. However, he is unable to pick the lock and, when he jumps from the balcony of the apartment, he hurts his foot. Pursued by a watchman, he again takes refuge in a prayer house. This time, he joins in the prayers, convinced that he must return to God and Judaism.

Even though Yasha’s foot is now so bad that he fears he will not be able to perform his shows, he refuses to call a doctor. Instead, he limps off to tell Emilia that he has no money for the trip. Then, to Yasha’s horror, a police officer stops by to warn Emilia that the thief might have designs on her, since a notebook with her name in it had been left in the old man’s apartment. Certain that he will eventually be arrested, Yasha tells Emilia what he had done, but, to his amazement, she responds by rebuking him for bungling the job.

In despair, Yasha wanders into a synagogue where Lithuanian Jews are holding a service. If he were to return to Judaism, Yasha mused, he would not settle for a form so worldly. Only the strictest kind of observance could prevent him from sinning.

Back at his apartment, Yasha discovers that Magda hanged herself, but not before strangling the three animals that he used in his magic act. After Magda’s body is removed, Yasha cannot remain in his apartment, and he leaves for a hotel. However, because he did not bring his identification papers, he is turned away. Certainly, he thinks, Zeftel will help him out. At the white slaver’s house, however, Yasha receives his second shock of the night. Zeftel and the white slaver are in bed together. Yasha interprets this as a sign: God has left him nowhere to go but to God.

Three years later, Yasha the magician has become Reb Jacob the Penitent. He is back in Lublin, walled up in a tiny cell in the courtyard of his house. His foot has healed, but spiritually he is still in pain, every day remembering yet another sin for which he must be punished. Esther keeps begging him to come out, and strangers break into his meditations to ask for his prayers, to discuss theology, or just to mock him.

One day, an old friend visits with news of the world Yasha had left behind. Elzbieta is dead, Bolek is in prison, and Zeftel is married to the white slaver and running a brothel in Argentina. Irrationally, Yasha feels responsible for all of these disasters. In a long letter to him, however, Emilia says that she, not he, is to blame for their affair and assures him that she and her daughter are both well and happy. Although Emilia has remarried, she counts her days with Yasha as the happiest in her life. She insists that Yasha is basically a good, kind man and urges him not to be so hard on himself. Finally, Emilia says that she, her daughter, and even the professor think of Yasha with affection, and that, in Warsaw, he is widely admired once again.

Bibliography

Alexander, Edward. Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1980. Considers The Magician of Lublin as a novel marking a new direction for Singer. Instead of the Jewish community, his subject is the individual, in this case the artist, as he vacillates between freedom and faith.

Friedman, Lawrence S. Understanding Isaac Bashevis Singer. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. Discusses the theme of identity in The Magician of Lublin. A good starting point for the study of Singer.

Hadda, Janet. Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Focusing on both the forces of family and the social environment that influenced Singer, Hadda uncovers the public persona to reveal a more complex person than previously understood.

Lee, Grace Farrell. From Exile to Redemption: The Fiction of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987. A chronological study of Singer’s works, intended to show how his views altered with the years. A perceptive section on The Magician of Lublin focuses on symbolism in the novel.

Malin, Irving, ed. Critical Views of Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: New York University Press, 1969. Collection of essays offering numerous interpretations of Singer’s work. J. S. Wolkenfeld’s “Isaac Bashevis Singer: The Faith of His Devils and Magicians” compares the moral choices of several major characters, including Yasha, in The Magician of Lublin.

Noiville, Florence. Isaac B. Singer: A Life. Translated by Catherine Temerson. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. An informative biography written in concise, easy-to-read language. Noiville gleans information from interviews with Singer’s wife, son, friends, and colleagues, as well as his autobiography, In My Father’s Court. She focuses on Singer’s life struggles, his relationships with others, and the adversities he faced as a Jewish writer.

Qiao, Guo Qiang. The Jewishness of Isaac Bashevis Singer. New York: Peter Lang, 2003. Analyzes the theme of Jewishness in Singer’s work, finding a unique place for the writer within American Jewish literature. Focuses on his depiction of Jewish assimilation in both Poland and the United States, examines his narrative strategies, and compares Jewish identity and historical consciousness in works by Singer, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, and Philip Roth.

Ran-Moseley, Faye. “The Ethnic Fool and the Mad Magician: Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The Magician of Lublin.” In TheTragicomic Passion: A History and Analysis of Tragicomedy and Tragicomic Characterization in Drama, Film, and Literature. New York: Peter Lang, 1994. Focuses on the character of the fool in Singer’s novel and other works of twentieth century literature, film, and drama, analyzing how the fool reflects the tragicomic nature of these works.

Wolitz, Seth L., ed. The Hidden Isaac Bashevis Singer. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. A collection of essays, including discussions of Singer’s use of the Yiddish language and cultural experience, themes that persist throughout his writing, his interface with other times and cultures, his autobiographical work, and a translation of a previously unpublished “gangster” novel.