《山羊兹拉特及其他故事》中的犹太式幽默（英文）

摘 要

犹太民族是一个历经了无数磨难却在磨难中顽强地屹立不倒的一个民族。犹太式幽默是犹太人身上所具有的一种独特的幽默，正是这种幽默使他们在极其艰巨的困难中存活下来。辛格作为犹太人，他对犹太民族以及犹太文化有着深厚的情感，在《山羊兹拉特及其他故事》中很多故事都体现出这种幽默。此篇论文主要分析小说中的主题、人物、环境，然后进一步分析小说中的犹太式幽默。此文通过搜集有关艾萨克·巴什维斯·辛格、犹太式幽默以及《山羊兹拉特及其他故事》的相关文献资料,旨在促进大家对犹太文学和犹太文化的理解。

关键词：辛格；犹太民族；幽默

Jewish Humor in Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories

Abstract

The Jewish nation is a nation that has gone through countless hardships but is still tenaciousnowadays. Jewish humor is a kind of unique humor of Jewish people, which makes them survive in difficulties. As a Jew, Singer has deep feelings for the Jewish nation and Jewish culture, which is reflected in many stories in Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories. This paper mainly analyzes the theme, characters and environment of the stories, further analyzes Jewish humor. This paper aims topromotepeople’sunderstanding of Jewish literatureand culturethrough the collection ofliterature about Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jewish humor andZlateh the Goat and Other Stories.

Key words:Isaac Bashevis Singer; Jewishpeople; Humor

1.Introduction

1.1 Singer and his works

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) is a famous Jewish American writer and Nobel Prize winner, “a great novelist beyond time and space” and “Hawthorne in Yiddish”. He began to write at the age of 15, with high production and quality. In his whole life, he created 8 novels, 7 short stories, 11 children’s stories, 2 plays and 3 memoirs, totaling more than 30 works. His masterpieces include the Muscats, the Manor, Jimpel the Fool, Satan in Goray, etc.In terms of language use, Singer’s novels are simple and humorous. In addition to the language style, Singer’s novels also have their own writing features, which are story telling, trauma theme and thought-provoking ending. In terms of theme, believing in God is one of the themes in Singer’s works. From the perspective of characters, Singer’s works can be roughly divided into two categories: one is about the story of Polish Jews before World War II, and the other is about the experience of Jews in the United States. Singer describes the life of the Jewish nation in a realistic way, so that readers all over the world can understand an important trend and mainstream of American Literature in the 1960s and the 1970s Jewish literature. Moreover, Singer’s insistence on writing in Yiddish language saved a traditional civilization.

1.2 Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories

Zlateh the Goat and Other Storiesis Singer’s first and most important children’s book. The collection of short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, contains seven stories, namely, Fool’s Paradise, Grandmother’s Tale, The snow in Chelm, The Mixed-up Feetandthe Silly Bridegroom, The First Shlemier, The Devil’s Trick, Zlateh the Goat. The protagonists in the story are both the fool and the wise. They often bring happiness to the readers with their own shrewdness and occasional stupidity. There are not only the son of merchant who understand the meaning of life from the false death, but also the stupid but highly respected elders, a silly bridegroom who can screw up everything, a little boy who fights with the devil, and a considerate and brave goat. These stories are witty and very touching. Morris Sandak’s illustrations are so subtle that they complement the story. Five of the seven stories mention the Jewish festival of temple building. Because Singer himself is a Polish Jew, his story contains strong Jewish customs and habitson Eastern European areas.

2.Literature review

2.1 Research on Singer

Scholars’ research on Singer mainly focuses on four aspects: first, the debate on Singer’s “Jewishness”. Critics such as Irving Howe and Edward Alexander think Singeris a writer with “Jewishness”. The argument is that Singer’s works focus on Jewish traditional culture; however, critics such as Joseph C. Landis and MiltonHinders deny Singer’s “Judaism”(乔国强，2008：72). The argument is that there are too many descriptions of sex and ghost, which do not conform to the tradition of Jewish writers. The second is the study of the modernity of Singer’s works. Irving Howe, Eugene Gidhart and Richard Burgin respectively analyze the modernity of Singer’s works from three aspects: the content with expressionism described in Singer’s works; the irony and absurdity of writing style and narrative strategy. The third is the postmodern study of Singer’s works.Baker’s “Isaac Bashevis Singer’s misogyny” discusses Singer’s works from the perspective of feminist criticism, which shows his aversion to women（高璐，2013(32): 41-42）. Fourth, the study of Singer himself and his influence on his creation.“Isaac Bashevis Singer: a life story”, written by Jane Hardain 1997, comprehensively narrated the social and personal factors affecting Singer’s literary creation, and the profound analysis provided valuable information and help for the follow-up research.

After the 21st century, the domestic research on Singer has been in full bloom, and the quantity and quality of research have been greatly improved. Qiao Guoqiang(2008)points out that Singer is social in terms of Jewishness, and he thinks that the view that Singer’s works deviate from Yiddish’s literary tradition is not convincing.Yue Xin (2010) discusses the theme of Singer’s “the magician of Lublin”. By describing Yasha’s betrayal and conversion to Judaism and the loss and return of morality, he represents the process of Jews’ struggling to seek identity and survival balance in the collision of different faiths, traditions and cultures. Li Fangling (2017) analyzed the construction of narrative structure of Singer’s early short story Spinoza on the Market Street from three perspectives of space, plot and psychology, showing the remarkable characteristics of Singer’s novels focusing on story and plot.

2.2 Jewish Humor Research

Humor refers to the absurdityand surprise of something, which is implicit or memorable in the way of expression. There are many kinds of humor, including crosstalk, black humor, white humor, cold humor and so on.Chinese scholar Qiao Guoqiang categorizes Jewish humor into the following two kinds, one that Jewish humor is playful and cynical, for the Jews are regarded as “The Chosen People”while they are often bullied and oppressed in the long history; the other that Jewish humor is dyed with color of comedy, especially in Jewish daily talking and chatting.(乔国强，2008: 436)

Jewish humor is not Singer’s original creation, actually, it is based on Jewish culture. Because Jewish culture is a kind of suffering culture, which is formed by Jewish people in thousands of suffering and exiling. This kind of culture makes the Jewish people under the influence of it have a unique personality, that is, they are stupid and accustomed to ridicule.

There is both sympathy and ridicule, which is Singer’s humorous style in the story. It can make people laugh, uncomfortable, stuffy and irritable. It is a kind of suffering humor. Because the main characters of humor are mostly Jews, we can call it “Jewish Humor”.

There are many studies on Jewish humor at home and abroad. Nevo (1994) points out that in professional literature worldwide, the meaning of Jewish humor refers to humor originating in eastern Europe in the 19th century, where Jews lived in harsh conditions and faced real dangers to their lives.Pinsker says that “Jewish humor is often described as a ‘laughter through tears’”(Pinsker, 1991: 13) . As Wang Changguo said in his book The Jews Looking for God, “the optimistic, open-minded and suffering humor of the characters in Singer’s works are full of the tragic meaning of humorous personality” (王常国, 2011:65). Zhao ying (2014) discussed the Jewish humor of Malamud, penetrating life with tragedy and exploring life with comedy, which isan examination and reflection on the traditional Jewish culture, allowing people to appreciate the wisdom and thoughts of Jews in humor. Dan Ben, Zhang Juwen (2019) arguedthat the Jewish humor is a concept from a new perspective to build a kind of “mind-set” or “stereotypes”, there are two main causes of Jewish self-deprecating humor: Jewish thought of psychological uniqueness, social environment of the Jews. The uncertainty of identity in cultural duality and assimilation, as well as the education they received, became the source of self-mockery in Jewish humor.

2.3 On Singer’s Jewish Humor

Zhang Qinwen (2000) analyzed Singer’s “Jewish Humor” from Schlemil’s literary phenomenon, and pointed out that Singer’s narrative text completed the dialysis of his national ethics and cultural mentality as well as the tragic personality of his philosophy of life, and constituted a kind of ridicule beyond it; while the other topic significance and deep value of “Jewish Humor” reflected in the “kind of laugh at themselves” of modern humor spirit.

2.4 Humor research on Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories

Scholars mainly explore the theme of Singer’s novel Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, including She Yiling’s article “Rebuilding the Spiritual Soundation: The Analysis of the Theme of Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories” (2012), Liu Hongli’s article “From Crisis to Salvation:The theme of the Novel” (2011), etc.

But many of the storiesin this storycollection reflect Singer’s Jewish humor and express his self mockery. The suffering humor can be really felt by the readers between the lines. Therefore, the study of Jewish humor in Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories will help readers better understand Singer’s creation and emotions.R. Barbara Gitenstein argues that there is strong satirein Singer’s short stories, “It is the satire on the religious and scholarly tradition that affords Singer’s book its most striking humor”(Barbara, 1981: 109) .

3.Jewish humor in Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories

Singer’s characters are both wise and foolish. They can always bring happiness to readers with their own shrewdness and occasional foolishness. Singer’s focus has always been on the ordinary people in the Jewish community, which runs through Shlemiel’s image and embodies a Jewish humor aesthetic way. This article will analyzethe Jewish humor inZlateh the Goat and Other Storiesfrom four aspects: theme, characters, psychology and environment.

3.1 The Theme

In Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories, Levine had to sell their goat Zlateh to the butcher because of their livelihood. The protagonist of this novel, Aron, was a 12-year-old boy. He didn’t even know why he sent Zlateh to favel’s house. They met a snowstorm on their way. The snow was so fierce that Aron and Zlateh could only live by each other. They came to a hay hole. Aron had eaten all the food he had brought, so Zlateh gave Aron hermilk, and she let Aron lie beside her to keep warm. Even though the dark night was frightening, it was Zlateh’s presence that gave Aron hope. Finally, on the fourth day, when the snowstorm finally stopped, Aron’s family found Aron and Zlateh, andsawthey hugged each other tightly. After that, they no longer offered to sell Zlateh. Furthermore,if Aron’s mother made pancakes, he always had a share of Zlateh. Zlateh has becomeAron’s one family member and a friend. The novel shows that people and animals are equal, they trust each other, and the more important eternal theme is love. Love is a way to achieve spiritual self salvation, and the meaning of emotion is more importantthan the meaning of material interests; only by giving lovecan we gain love, andregain trust; only by abandoning the material desire to rebuild the spiritual foundation of the increasingly fallencan we get real salvation (刘红丽, 2011(12):36). It is impossible for people who have no deep understanding of life and no optimistic attitude towards life to have humor. In many people’seyes andcognition, animals can’t speak, and there is no emotion between peopleand animals. But through this kind of humor, we can understand the world more deeply, realizethe emotion between people and animals, moreover, people and animals can evenbecome friends or familymembers, for emotion is beyond language.

3.2 Characters

Singer has created many idiots in thisanthology ofchildren’s story, including the wise and the fool, the fool of the child and the fool of the adult. It is these seemingly ridiculous idiots that bring us reflection and Enlightenment on life. Through these idiots, we can better understand the use of Jewish humor in the novel. Singer focuses on happiness, even if the content of the article is essentially sad. These characters are funny, so they have sympathy and ridicule. Singer successfully uses Jewish humor with relaxed plots and exquisite writing skills to reveal the mood of optimism and hope in the pessimism of the little characters, so as to show a helpless and absurd world.

For example, Lemel, the silly bridegroom in Mixed-Up Feet and the Silly Bridegroom, is a character who doesn’t know how tobeflexible. Schmelka is the future father-in-law of the silly bridegroom. In order to give Lemel a gift to go back, the father-in-law gave him a little knife of mother of pearl, but because Lemel put the knife in the haystack of the carriage, he lost it. The second gift was a jar of refined chicken oil. This time Lemel put it in her pocket. At last, the jar broke and the chicken oil was sprinkled. Similarly, the third gift, a silver coin; the fourth gift, some hens’ new eggs; the fifth gift, a live duck; the sixth gift, a goldfish; whatever the gift is, it will be lost or killed by Lemel. So they went to consult the elder of the Chelm. The elder said that if the wedding was finished as soon as possible, Lemel would not have to send the gifts from one place to another, and those gifts would not suffer misfortune.

It seems that this matter has been solved. The silly bridegroom does not need to send one thing from one place to another after that, but the foolishness of the bridegroom has not changed because of the wedding. From the beginning to the end, this matter has not changed qualitatively. It can be imagined that after the wedding ceremony, Lemel will still lose or kill things and make a mess of things. At that time, the elders may come together to discuss a good way to solve the problem.

Although Lemel was stupid, no one blamed him, but only to find a new solution. This may be the deep emotional connection between Jews that Singer wants to convey to us. They help each other and love each other. From this we can see the brilliance of human nature of small people. This sincerity transcends suffering and the world.

The second special character is the first personto be called Schlemier, whose name comes from the Yiddish word “Schlemie”, to the effect that he is a clumsy person or a fool. In the long history, the Jewish people have experienced suffering, and they haveconstantlytoendure and accept the oppression of life, experiencing famine, becoming slaves, or being forced to flee because of civil strife, besides, poverty is one of the painful things that the Jews have experienced. Schlemier livesin the small town of Chelm and endured the pressure and ridicule of life. The novel tells the story of the protagonist’s wife who is afraid that hewill eat a jar of jam when she goes out, so she deceives the protagonist that jam is poisonous. The protagonist is scolded for not doing well what his wife told him to do when she went out. He thinks it’s meaningless to live like this, and then eats his wife’s jar of jam by mistake. The ending of the story is amusing, but here we can see the plight of living Jews in Singer’s works.As to this Sanford Pinsker points out that “a schlemiel is one who handles a situation in the worst possible manner or is dogged by an ill luck that is more or less due to his own ineptness.”(Pinsker, 1991: 2) However, we can see that in the story Schlemier has a good character that he is willing to shoulder responsibilities without complaining and he also wishes to do everything well.

In his dream, Schlemier dreamed that he was the richest man in Chelm . He could eat pancakes with jam every day. He won the game and became famous. Then all the people rushed to make him king. When he woke up, he was scolded for his mistakes. Every suffering Jew, likeSchlemier , was eager to be liberated and free and led an ideal life.

This kind of tragic and funny sense is closely combined, which gives birth to Jewish humor. The painful memory and strong desire for real solution make people think deeply. When we look back on their suffering and this history, we seem to understand them and sympathize with them. Patience and self-mockery can exist simultaneously, because they are born with a kind of optimism. The protagonist Schlemier thought it was meaningless to live, but when he learned that the jam he had eaten was not poison, he cried happily again. He could live again. Besides, neighbors sent a new jam, and they had a happy Shura temple festival. Optimism is not only a characteristic of Schlemier, but also of the Jewish people. No matter how much suffering they face, they firmly believe in all the bad luck wouldpassand face life with a smile. It is this optimistic spirit that makes them continue to face life after self mockery.

3.3 Environment

There are two novels about snow, which plays an important role in promoting the development of the story. The frequent occurrence of snowstorms in the novel is intended to make up for the difficulties and sufferings of these little characters. Snow is specially mentioned in the novel Snow in Chelm.In the story,Singer describes as following:

Once, on a Hanukkah night, the snow fell all evening. It covered all of Chelm like a silver tablecloth. The moon shone; the stars twinkled; the snow shimmered like pearls and diamond.（P30）

Here, through the description of the environment, we can see that it is precisely because the storm is so fiercethatthe moon will be more dazzling and the stars are more sparkling. However,the fools of Chelm are very happy because they think there is silver and gold in the snow, so they can rely on the snow to become rich people. It’s so funny and ironic. Ironic humor is shown here vividly. In fact, that’s because they are enjoying themselves. Since life is so difficult, they should give themselves a little hope and their own nation a little hope.

In Zlateh the Goat, it is mentioned that the roads from the country to the town are usually covered with snow during the annual Temple repair Festival. On the way to the butcher’s house where Aaron sent the Zlateh the goat, they met with a big snowstorm:

In his twelve years Aaron has experiencedall kinds of weather, but he had never experienced a snow like this one. It was so dense it shut out the light of the day. In a short time their path was completely covered. The wind became as cold as ice.（P89）

It means that it snows every year before and after the temple building Festival, and people in the small town gotused to the weather.However, the snow here is not only serious, but also lasts for a long time. Next is the description of the time duration,

The snow fell for three days, though after the first day it was not as thick ans the wind quieted down. Some times Aaron felt that there may have been a summer, that the snow had always fallen, ever since he could remember.（P89）

It snowed for three days and three nights in a row. At this time, Aron and Zlateh the goat were very helpless. They did not know when the snow would stop, and when they could see the hope of life. So Aron’s dreams are only in winter. He is just eager for the snow to stop and spring to come.The environment is so bad, but people’s wishes are simple,

As for Aaron’s dreams, there were all about warm weather. He dreamed of green fields, three covered with blossom, clear brooks, and singing birds.（P89）

Throughout, snow implies the suffering that comes to the Jews. In the severe winter, every Jew yearns for warmth, and even more eager to get out of the suffering.

3.4 Psychology

Psychological description is a description of people’s ideas, feelings, emotions, associations and inner world around objective things in a certain environment. It is an important means to shape the image and character of people. Through the description of the psychological world of the characters, the writer expresses the rich and complex thoughts and feelings of the characters, so as to portray the distinctive characters and reveal the theme of the times more profoundly. (Zhang&Liu, 2002: 2) Jewish humor doesn’t have to use words directly to explain humor, but through the ideas of the characters, inner activities, characters’psychology and so on to show a funny story.

Besides, characters’ psychology is an important factor to reveal the subjective motivation of characters.The fool Atzel inFool’s Paradise is a good example. Atzel thinkshe is dead, because he often hearshis nanny talk about the stories in heaven. Nanny saysthat there isno need to work, no need to study; he can sleep in, eat delicious beef and whale meat, and drink wine. Atzel is a lazy man, so he always yearns to die. “Why don’t you bury me? You see, I’m a dead man. I can’t go to heaven. It’s all up to you.”So the family hasto go to invite Dr. Yates . The doctor listensto Atzel’s illness and comesup with a good plan. He says, “why do you want to leave the dead at home?” At that time, Atzelsayshappily, “you see, I’m right?” Atzel thinksthat he isgoing to live in the heaven he imagined. He isso happy and danced. The doctor arrangesa heaven like place for Acer. Acer eatsthe same things every day except eating and sleeping. In heaven, there is no day or night. On the eighth day, Atzel istired of this kind of life, and he suddenly misseswhat he haslearned. He saysto his servant, “I see now that life is not as bad as I thought it would be.” “I would rather cut wood and carry stones than sit here. How far is this day? “ Atzel has regretted that he hates life in heaven. He sayshe willrather commit suicide if he wantsto stay here forever. After hearing this, Dr. joz deliberately says, “a dead man can’t commit suicide.”At last, Atzel knowsthat heisstill alive. He isecstatic. “Am I still alive?” “I don’t know. Life is so beautiful.” He shouts. Later, Archerisno longer a slacker, and becomesthe most hardworking local businessman.

This story satirizes the people who are lazy and enjoy themselves. From wanting to go to heaven at the beginning to complaining about the tiredness of heaven behind, this process has joy and loss, and also makes us see a little lazy person from then on to make up his mind to become diligent. In this short clip, Atzel’s inner world changes rapidly. People’s psychological activities are silent language, which can not be directly reflected as people’s appearance, language and action, so it is the most difficult to be understood by people, but psychological activities can most profoundly reveal the inner world of the characters, reflect the personality characteristics and ideological quality of the characters. Normal people don’t want to die, but fools want to die quickly. In fact,they just want to live a comfortable and leisurely life like us. As the novel ends, no one knows what life in heaven looks like. But Atzel has learned to use his diligence to get what he wants. Maybe death is scary for us, and we know we have not finished responsibilities. But for people of faith, they believe that death is just a phase of life and are no longer afraid of it (程芳萍，2016（33）12: 176). So although they were poor, but they loved life. The same is true for the positive and optimistic Jews. Even though life is not easy, they have to work hard to live the life they dream of. This is the reason why the Jewish people can go through the vicissitudes of lifeandsurvive.

4.Conclusion

Singer’s Jewish humor embodies the spirit of mutual assistance and the spirit of bravely facing hardships and setbacks. Despite their difficulties, they love life and are full of hope. As Singer grew up in Eastern Europe, he was influenced by the Hasidic doctrine.According to Hasidism, telling and listening to stories about Hasidism is itself an activity of Hasidism.The people arefull of superstitious thoughts such as ghosts and gods, whichis fully reflected in Singer’s humorous stories.

It’s easy to find a kind of humor in the language of the Jews by analyzing it carefully. There are problems in the communication between the speaker and the hearer. The hearer often obeys the hearer. Most of the time, people do nottry to understand the internal essence, but just do it according to other people’s literal consciousness. However, if humansfollow the instructions rigidly and don’t know how tobe flexible, we will make a lot of mistakes.

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