Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1988

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

English

Major Professor

William H. Shurr

Committee Members

Allison R. Ensor, Charles J. Maland, W. Lee Humphreys

Abstract

Throughout his prolific career, Malaraud wrote obsessively about one basic, pervasive symbol common to the modern sensibility: the prison. The typical Malamudian character exists in physical, spiritual, or psychic confinement. His dream and obsession is to be free, to escape from the prison. From an early story entitled "The Prison" (1953) to The Fixer (1966), which is set almost entirely in a prison, to his last published novel, God's Grace (1982), depicting a man held captive and eventually killed by the apes he saves, the theme of imprisoned man has been a persistent thread running throughout Malamud's work. From hesitant and ambiguous conclusions about man's ability to achieve reconciliation and freedom, Malamud will conclude with a belief that man can triumph, regardless of cost, that freedom and reconciliation are possible if man is strong enough to struggle ceaselessly toward those goals.

But man cannot engage in the battle alone. Malamud's stories are full of paired participants in life's drama. Usually a young man becomes paired with an old man, who either helps the young man or hinders him. These two link up and make connections that are vitally important to the welfare of each participant. On such a heightened level of interaction, the two fall into the roles of father and son. Through the Jungian processes of integration and individuation, the son works at ways of incorporating what the father represents in order for the son to achieve psychic liberation. In doing so, however, the son must balance the drive for complete liberation with the corresponding drive toward social responsibility and bonding. Within the uneasy balance, goodness and healthy human beings are formed.

Focusing on Malamud's three collections of short stories. The Magic Barrel (1958), Idiots First (1963), and Rembrandt's Hat (1972), this study explores the interaction between symbolic fathers and sons and the ways in which this interaction affects the conditions of imprisonment in which so many of Malamud's characters find themselves.

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