T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

violence and murder. Bigger is the germ of the black militantwriters of the 1960's and Mukherjee follows the tradition ofRichard Wright in expressing her coloured identity throughresorting to anger and violence in her novels. While Biggervents his anger and fury at each and everything that he comesacross, Mukherjee directs her attack on whites and white-oriented blacks with restraint and discretionIn contrast, Malamud provides a melody in a different keyIn that he tries to resolve the contradictions of lifeusing a dralectic which lends a positive approach towards life.In his first two novels,byNatural and The Assistant he hascaptured the sad dilemma of the Jew and White alike (withoutlapsing lnto the bltter hatred and vlolence of Richard Wright).Bernard Malamud shares Bellow's affirmative vislon, Roth'spsychological and moral concerns, and Salinger's quest formeaningful human relationship. Unlike Bellow, Malamud agreesthat Jewlshness has been a source of his moral and imaginativesustenance. He Proclaims:I am an American, I'm a Jew, and I write for allmen, .. I write about Jews, when I write about Jews,because they set my imagination going. I Knowsomething about their history, the quality of theirexperience and belief, and of their literaturethough not as much as I would like. Like manywriters I'm influenced especially by the Bible,both Testaments. I respond in particular to the EastEuropean immigrants of my father's and mother'sgeneration. (Stern 1975,56)