T 1290.pdf - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

to the backgrould by other gentlle and domlnatlng lmmigrantgroups. The sudden emergence of the Jewlsh-Amerlcan author hasoccured at preclsely the moment when few condltlons need botherhlm. Raclal amlty 1s no longer the myth whlch so many Jewlshwrlters yearned for In the past. Havlng won hls long strugglefor a place In soclety, the Jew 1s free as any man to wrrte asan American, and not as a rnlnority flgure. Perplexlngly, oneflnds that the best of Malamud's novels and storles, wllfullycultivate attitudes and backgrounds which are speclflcallyJewlsh. Moreover, these are exactly the works whlch haverecelved the largest share of crltlcal and popular acclalm. Inthe company of Slnger and Babel, Malamud the Jewlsh wrlter hascome lnto prornlnence when he has seernlngly disappeared as aseparate entlty.Ironically, the theme and trappings of hls formerailenatLon have hecome the lndlspensable features of thatpromlnence The Irony 1s compounded when one recalls that inthe past, ailenaxion bas the single most lrnportant lngredlentIn denylng the Jew an essential volce In hls adopted country.The greatness of any writer Ls perhaps ldentlflable by what hedoes, not let hlmself or hls readers forget about humanexistence. Wrltlng about man and hls survlval, the Jewlshwrlter has In the maln devoted hlmself to forwarding thatposslblllty of an end to the torments of allenatlon whlch