JEWISH/CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM in BERNARD MALAMUD's NOVEL GOD's GRACE

JEWISH/CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM IN BERNARD MALAMUD'S NOVEL GOD's GRACE

Pirjo Ahokas

University of Turku

I All the protagonists from Roy Hobbs in Ma- lamud's first novel The Natural (1952) to Calvin Besides being one of the major American Cohn in his last completed novel God's Grace authors of the postwar period, Bernard Mala- (1982)4 are concerned with the search both for a mud is also one of the leading representatives of new identity and for individual and social re- contemporary Jewish-American fiction. Born a sponsibility. Moreover, the changes within and second-generation New York Jew, he belongs to between Malamud's novels are always related to the newly incorporated group of ethnic writers the oscillations and shifting tensions between of Jewish descent who, in Leslie Fiedler's oft- these two major themes. Much of the success in quoted words, discovered "their much vaunted the author's best work stems from his ability to alienation to be their passport into the heart of reconcile the moral imperatives of man's obli- Gentile American culture."' Sustained by the gation to his fellow man with the identity theme, two traditions, Malamud's fiction both tran- which in the course of his own development as a scends the author's own ethnic and cultural ori- writer, becomes an increasingly conscious paral- gin and yet remains distinct from classic Ameri- lel to his own search for an authentic artistic self. can literature. In many ways, his situation — The ethnic aspects of Malamud's fiction are even today — illustrates a tendency which Isaac subordinated to his two major themes and they Rosenfeld calls "the outsider's paradox."' By usually provide vital links between them. The virtue of standing a little aside, Malamud — like author always develops the themes of individual several other prominent Jewish-American writers and social responsibility with the help of an who have risen to a central position in American underlying moral construct which links spiritual literature since World War II — has become a growth, the precondition of a positive new ident- perfect insider who enjoys the critical advantage ity, to productive suffering. Malamud's work is which, according to Rosenfeld, allows minority also characterized by a strong and consistent authors "to observe much that is hidden to the tendency to connect human suffering with Jew- more accustomed native eye."3 ishness. Thus, the assimilation and integration More daring and more innovative than most of the positive value of productive suffering into of the major American writers of the immediate a fictional hero's psyche ultimately leads to the post-war generation, Malamud has been open to internalization of the Jewish code of Mensch- influences and challenges that have made his ca- lichkeit, the Jewish ethic concerned with mutual reer exceptionally varied and intriguing. Despite responsibility. the different degrees of formal experimentation As Josephine Zadovsky Knopp points out, and some audacious changes in subject matter, Malamud has stressed the importance of the the thematic continuity of Malamud's novels has Menschlichkeit code to the creative writer as remained largely unbroken. The author's focus well.' In one of his earliest public statements the is always on the protagonists, who serve as the author said: "The purpose of the writer... is to emotional and rhetorical constructs that Mala- keep civilization from destroying itself."6 Al- mud uses as the vehicles of his repeated attempts though all fiction by Malamud is consistent with to reconcile self and society. his intensely humanistic assumptions, the words

84 gain new urgency when they are looked at in the characterized by such a high degree of zany hu- light of God's Grace, a complex fantasy about a mour that many readers may find the novel hard single human survivor and his animal compan- to take. ions set in the near future after a nuclear war in One way to look at the book and its plot is to which the easily identifiable "Djanks and classify it as a Robinson Crusoe story. Mala- Druzhkies" have killed themselves. mud's palaeontologist is saved from the nuclear ca- Meant as a prophetic warning by the author,7 tastrophe because he happens to be observing the the book describes the protagonist's attempts to sea floor in a submersile when the destruction appease God so that He would renew His coven- takes place. Together with the tame chimp that ant. After having recovered from radiation ill- he finds in the oceanography vessel Cohn is ness Cohn, a former palaeontologist, begins to ex- beached on an uninhabited island, and — like plore the possibility of establishing a good so- Defoe's practical hero and his numerous literary ciety based on equality and mutual respect to- followers — he soon enough learns how to culti- gether with the surviving apes that inhabit a vate and enjoy the fruitfulness of the new en- tropical island incidentally discovered by the vironment. Faithful to his symbolical first name shipwrecked protagonist. Inspired by his initial Malamud's protagonist even shares some of his success among the collaborative animals Cohn devout predecessor's religiosity. The great and makes grandiose plans for a totally new age, but decisive difference, however, lies in the fact that his ruin is precipitated by the hubris and utter in contrast to the traditional Robinson figures lack of self-knowledge that undermine the best of Malamud's shipwrecked hero is fully aware that his intentions. his stay on the island can come to an end any The novel is filled with literary references and time. biblical symbolism that mainly draws on Genesis Malamud's narrative style also limits the use- and on the apocalyptic tradition fused with el- fulness of this line of comparison. Instead of ements of Messianism. In the followings pages, I only painstakingly striving after the minuteness shall briefly discuss the genre problem of God's of realistic verisimilitude God's Grace at times Grace by outlining some of its background in even parodies Defoe's conscientious devotion to contemporary American fiction and then ana- details and presents itself as a tragicomedy that lyse the meaning and effect of Malamud's use of challenges the wildest imaginings. The most dar- Jewish/Christian symbolism in the shaping of ing creation in the author's cast of actors in the central themes of the novel. In some of his Cohn's personal divine comedy in reverse is the earlier work Malamud uses Christian symbolism Master of the Universe, the invisible Lord, "light to enhance the valuable aspects of the Jewish from which voice extruded; no sign of God- inheritance. Even if the author's skilful inter- crown, silverbeard, peering eye" (GG 6). In the twining of the different strands of biblical sym- opening chapter that Robert Alter calls "a bra- bolism in God's Grace hints at the familiar poten- vura performance"8 the short-tempered Lord tial for Jewish-Christian symbiosis, the novel as addresses Cohn through a crack in a bulbous a whole is marked by deep scepticism. Malamud black cloud saying that He has lost His patience, comments on the thoughts of Cohn on learning because mankind, after receiving the gift of life, that Buz, an experimental chimpanzee capable has destroyed the world and then themselves. of human speech, has been Christianized: "He Since Cohn's survival is only an oversight, his thought that if one of them was Christian and reprieve will not last long: the other a Jew, Cohn's Island would never be Paradise" (GG54). Yet because of my error, I will grant you time to compose yourself, make your peace. Therefore live quick- ly — a few breaths and go your way. Beyond that lies II nothing for you. These are my words. (GG 6)

When God's Grace was published, it received Placing the book in the American tradition very mixed reviews and the novel is likely to seems to provide a more useful way of ap- remain one of Malamud's most controversial proaching Malamud's central themes and the books. Part of the audience's puzzlement derives religious symbolism that shapes them in God's from the fact that with its grotesque characters Grace. There are at least two major literary con- and strange events God's Grace seems to defy texts that make the novel appear more engaging. definition. The first chapters in particular are Alan Lelchuk writes in his review:

85 There are in this novel moments of lucid beauty be- The naming issue has further consequences. side moments of harrowing blackness — Eden and Apoc- Emulating Cohn Buz goes ahead and names the alypse between two covers.' five new chimpanzees that he encounters in the island garden of Eden. He calls a brutal chim- To my mind much of the vitality of God's panzee who tries to pretend to be a big and Grace that culminates in a new version of the strong gorilla Esau. Like his namesake in the biblical Akedah derives from its bold combina- legends of the Jews, the hedonistic chimp places tion of the old myth of the American as a new the earthly life of material pleasures above every- Adam with the American preoccupation with thing else and persists in pursuing his evil in- the apocalypse. clinations in spite of Cohn's attempts to incul- The Adamic ideal that reflects the American cate in him the rudiments of responsible behav- faith in progress in the New World emerged as a iour. The name given by Buz is also a bad omen leading national myth from the 1820's onwards. for Saul of Tarsus: together with his twin brother It optimistically stressed a divinely granted sec- Luke he becomes one of Esau's most faithful ond chance for mankind, which, naturally, elic- supporters and a hater of Cohn. ited counter arguments and stimulated a con- Malamud also uses the story of Creation that tinuing dialogue in American literature. 10 Even Cohn teaches to Buz to prefigure the future in today's American fiction there is discernible events in God's Grace. On the Edenic island the evidence of the ongoing, energizing influence of role of Eve is played by a nubile female chim- the Adamic tradition. panzee Mary Madelyn who becomes romanti- The myth of the American Adam is one of cally involved with Cohn. Soon enough the the most significant narrative patterns to play a Satan-like Esau's jealousy of the protagonist's constitutive role in the text that extends from undeserved luck is challenged by Buz's resent- The Natural to God's Grace. With the exception ment to the extent that Cohn cannot help com- of A New Life, Malamud scholarship with its paring the adolescent chimpanzee whose hungry emphasis on the author's employment of Jewish eyes follow him and the island's only female to materials, has so far by and large overlooked the the serpent lurking in the original paradise. importance of this hero type in the author's Needless to say, sexual rivalry undermines the novelistic output. Yet the fictional use of the new Adam's and Eve's bliss. American myth both links Malamud to the He- Suspended between the Day of Devastation brew tradition and allows him to question some and the wilful sacrifice of the last remaining hu- basic assumptions of the American tradition to man being, God's Grace incorporates a number which, as a second generation American Jew, he of Judaeo-Christian apocalyptic elements in the is a newcomer. This double perspective colours main body of its narrative structure. Although Cohn's self-ironical monologue in the beginning Robert Alter claims that the novel that deals of God's Grace: with the moral opposition between good and evil moves "into an entirely new mode of post- "Do you see yourself as Adam?" apocalyptic fantasy,' the apocalyptic under- — If the job is open. (GG 12) pinnings of God's Grace suggest that with cer- tain reservations it can also be classified as a Cohn's readiness to take on the Adamic role representative of apocalyptic fiction. For in- is indicated by his eagerness to name his compan- stance, John R. May in his book Toward A New ions. A telling difference, however, sets him Earth: Apocalypse in the American Novel uses the apart from the first man in the Bible: instead of symbolism of catastrophe, judgment and re- calmly accepting the "fitting name, one that newal, the three constitutive elements of tradi- went harmoniously with the self he presented" tional apocalypse, as the basis of his study. (GG 21) Buz, the first animal to be named, vio- Furthermore, May states that he considers a lently disagrees with Cohn's choice and protests novel apocalyptic if it contains at least the speci- against his thinking that he has the right to de- fic symbolism of catastrophe and judgment.12 By cide about how to call others. Maybe it is one of this definition, God's Grace qualifies as apoc- the first signs of Cohn's increasing self- alyptic on much better grounds than many deception that while he emphasizes the value of contemporary 'apocalyptic' novels or than some naming Buz after one of the descendants of Na- books included in May's own analysis. hor, the brother of Abraham the Patriarch, he Instead of grappling with the vagueness of forgets to mention that the name means "con- the various apocalyptic definitions offered by tempt" in Hebrew. 86 American literary scholars who strive after maxi- thinking the Puritans' heritage of perfectibility mum inclusiveness,i3 it is ultimately more illumi- joins hands in a very peculiar way with the idea nating to look at God's Grace in conjunction of eternal progress toward a new, harmonious with some other novels that draw on apocalypse. order in Jewish Messianism. Although Mala- I will return later in this paper to Isaac Bashe- mud's hero, a former rabbinic student, claims to vis Singer's Satan in Goray, which appeared as have lost his interest in religion, he has main- his first book in the United States in 1943. More tained "a more than ordinary interest in God recent works that combine an apocalyptic im- Himself ' (GG 56). Even after the judgment in pulse with Jewish concerns include novels like the beginning of the book he keeps constantly E.L. Doctorow's Book of Daniel (1971) and Wil- looking for signs of His change of mind, and liam Styron's Sophie's Choice (1979). Mala- soon enough it turns out that Cohn's-apparently mud's deliberate mingling of the terrifying with madcap activities among the resourceful apes the comic, however, sets him far apart from are partially caused by his wish to avert the im- Doctorow's and Styron's more conventional pending doom. treatment of recognizable apocalyptic sym- In his description of God's and Cohn's rela- bolism. tionship, Malamud invokes the ancient Jewish. In his seminal article "Days of Wrath and tradition of a partnership between God and man Laughter," R.W.B. Lewis isolates the genre of in which man is given the opportunity for auton- comical apocalypse in 19th century American omy. Appealing to this pact the only human fiction and discusses the common characteristics survivor — who appears in turn as a mock of some of its most representative descendants in Noah, a Job, a Moses, a Joshua, an Abraham and the contemporary era that has experienced an Isaac — exercises his right to argue with Him World War II and the universal threat of the and criticizes Him for being unjust. The greatest atom bomb. According to Lewis who regards subject of controversy in the novel is the ques- the American-Jewish author Nathanael West as tion about man's imperfect nature. Cohn refuses an important shaper and transmitter of the to understand why man was not created to be earlier tradition, it is the pervading sense of the godlike: absurd that distinguishes the apocalyptic novels of the 1950's and '60 from their predecessors.14 "In other words," Cohn desperately ran on, "why In spite of the obvious differences between God's should the Lord's imperfect creation have spoiled His Grace and the more postmodernistic novels by originally extraordinary idea? Why hadn't He created "comic apocalyptic" authors like John Barth, man equal to whom He had imagined?" (GG 135) Joseph Heller, and Thomas Pynchon, Mala- mud's fable-like work is informed by a similar In the ensuing scene between God and Cohn, spirit of the preposterous. Moreover, the absurd Malamud depicts with ironic bemusement the qualities of God's Grace are enhanced by the awesome consequences of Cohn's interference writer's use of biblical parodies, the comic strip with the Lord's intention. Irony indeed — to and science fiction, all of which belong to the quote Ihab Hassan — continues to be "the key standard materials of new experimental litera- to Malamud's attitude toward man, to his esti- ture. The affinities are strengthened by shared mate of him"16 throughout the bizarre central motivation. In Lewis's estimation, the vision of action of God's Grace. contemporary fictional apocalypses is generated Left alone with his fellow survivors on the by a genuine apprehension of catastrophe. Thus island Cohn begins to teach the chimpanzees "the sense of the comic is at once the symptom with the aim of inspiring a strong community and the executive agency" of a humane imagin- feeling in them. According to Joseph C. Landis the ative sensibility "rooted not quite in hope but in code of Menschlichkeit that is rooted in Jewish a hope about hope.'15 Like Malamud in God's Law reflects a view of Messianic redemption as Grace, the absurdists then are reasserting the "a hope for an earthly paradise of love and learn- human, giving it one more chance. ing, and a Utopian vision of a region of social justice and decency..."" Undoubtedly the idea of actively developing a similarly ideal society III looms as the highest goal of Cohn's pedagogical task. Therefore the topics of his lectures at the As the symbolism of Calvin Cohn's name shows, foot of the schooltree that he establishes for the he is an acculturated American Jew, in whose animals not only include the origin of species,

87 selected periods in human history and the prin- Third and Fifth Book of Moses. A new epoch is ciples of American democracy, but above all, he ushered in when he starts a family with Mary tries to enlighten his pupils about human values Madelyn. From now on Cohn concentrates all and their significance in daily life. At the heart his eschatological hopes on primate evolution, of the lessons lies a Jewish ethic defined by Mor- and as a consequence of his freedom from the ris Bober in Malamud's novel The Assistant as old restrictions he actively plans his own role in follows: "to do what is right, to be honest, to be it. The author's description of Cohn's ration- good. This means to other people" (A 99). True alization provides grim comedy centred on the to the meaning of his "priestly" surname Cohn plan to develop man-apes. Like the radical Sab- also talks about God and provides his com- batians, who leaving the old Torah behind felt panions with samples of Jewish worship: he plays duty-bound to acts of redemption through sin, a record of his cantor-father praying and ar- Malamud's father to-be makes believe: ranges a seder for them. However, it is evident that Cohn's good works do not spring from a ...He himself, possibly, had inspired the revolution- good heart only. Having internalized God's ary impulse in Cohn's head — (His vessel) — that he disapproval he silently hopes that the good so- mate with a lady ape; despite which act He would omit ciety for the benefit of which he is toiling might cursing, and thereafter killing the innocent "beast," such be the answer to his expectations. primeval punishment null and void in these ineluctably It is difficult to say exactly at which point the post-Torah times?..." (GG 166) activities on the island begin to remind one of the Jewish Messianic movements that Gershom Thematically it is a short step from these inci- Scholem, for example, describes in some of the dents to Cohn's idea to compose the Seven Ad- essays in his collection The Messianic Idea in Ju- monitions. Although he tries to convince himself daism. The schooltree clearly bears a resem- that he is not rewriting the commandments, the blance to its counterpart in the midst of the pri- similarities are striking: Cohn bakes each letter mal garden. It symbolizes the Tree of Knowl- in clay and sets the Admonitions up on the face edge of Good and Evil even in the light of of an escarpment for all to see. Cohn's teaching about the separation between In his novel Satan in Goray, Singer relates the permitted and the forbidden. Gradually, the how the tormented inhabitants of a poor differentiations, however, begin to recede and seventeenth-century village in Poland become the messianic symbolism of the purely positive, infected by the messianic fervour. After the ar- redemptive Tree of Life makes itself felt in God's rival of two disciples of Sabbatai Zevi, the Grace_ Messianic pretender, they choose one of them The first hints of the utopian elements in for their leader and begin to live in the happy Cohn's thinking centre around the possibility of anticipation of leaving the life in the village be- the future good society producing a descendant, hind and flying off on a cloud to the Land of "some chimpy Father Abraham" (GG 128) who Jerusalem. Like Goray under Reb Gedaliya, the might be well-pleasing to the Lord. Malamud Sabbatian leader, the tropical island prospers makes the idea seem like a passing whim until once Cohn gives the Admonitions. The chimpan- Cohn's affection for the feminist girl chimpanzees begin to call themselves "men" and they zee grows so strong that he decides to sew a vote Cohn "teacher-for-life and honorary chim- "bridal gown" of white canvas for her. The panzee" (GG 173). Cohn's happiness is in- scene is surrounded by some of the most touch- creased by Mary Madelyn's pregnancy. In Sin- ing and baffling passages that transfer the action ger's book Rechele, a feeble-minded woman onto a totally new level. whose prophetic powers her lover exploits, is The 'radical' sectarians of the Sabbatian impregnated by her vision of Satan. Mary Made- messianic movement that rose in the 1660's and lyn, for her part, gives birth to a perfect persisted for over a century and a half developed chimpanzee-human baby girl. Called Rebekah a strange doctrine of the holiness of sin that ac- after the ship that saved Cohn and Islanda after cording to their beliefs was connected with the island that guarantees everybody's survival higher principles revealed only to them. Cohn's the daughter is associated with redemption. In thoughts suggest the Sabbatians' determination her father's imagination, she will not only be the to transgress biblical prohibitions when after ark that will carry the community into a better much hesitation he makes up his mind to violate future but she seems to be destined for even ancient commandments written down in the higher things. Thanks to her extraordinary ac-

complishments the little Rebekkah suggests view of life" (GG 18). The ominious symbol con- some of the beliefs held by the Sabbatian Frank- nected with Dr. Bünder is the "fine, exquisitely ists. Drawing on the expansion of the Kabba- sharp, French saber from the Franco-Prussian lah of the concept of the Shekhinah the sect held War" (GG 42) that Cohn saves from his cabin. that one of the three human forms in which the A little later when the protagonist begins to Godhead incarnates will be female.18 The idea of teach religion, it turns out that ironically enough the supremely gifted daughter as a symbolical the chimpanzee has already been converted to female Messiah is reinforced by her sacrificial his first adoptive father's version of Catholicism. death. Buz's instinctive bonding with the aggressive The period of rejoicing is equally short-lived Esau also comes between him and Cohn. It is in Goray and on Cohn's Island. With great skill based on their shared conviction "that the true Malamud allows the line of division that separ- purpose of life was to have as much fun as one ates Cohn's privileged family from the rest to could" (GG 86). The racial conflict on the island grow almost imperceptibly. The chimpanzees' is connected with the young chimpanzees' hun- teacher is actually the last one to notice that it is ger for amusement but slyly Esau also exploits he who began to set up the first social barriers in the theory of the survival of the fittest as his the new paradise. Although he finds the island justification for harassing others. In God's Grace together with Buz, he — true to the Orwellian as in some other works, Malamud combines dictum that some are more equal than others racism with religious prejudices. "I will break —names it "Cohn's Island." Characteristically, every Jewbone in your head" (GG 201) Esau Cohn's initial assumption of leadership is based threatens Cohn who accuses him of wanton on his innate sense of men's superiority to the murder. apes. The heavy gate that he begins to construct The formation of the different factions in as soon as the first native chimpanzees show up God's Grace parallels the process of group disin- epitomizes all the invisible barriers. The chim- tegration in Goray. In Singer's book the stand panzees again treat the other animals as if they were upon Sabbatianism effectively divides the Jew- unconsciously imitating and magnifying Cohn's ish villagers into two conflicting camps, and shortcomings. One of the key characters in later on the internal doctrinal disputes further God's Grace is George, a big peace-loving black divide the faithful Sabbatians. In the fictional gorilla, who falls an easy victim to the chimpan- Goray, the era of the mystical Torah, the Torah zees' racial prejudices. In contrast to most of the of atzilut, is ushered in by Reb Gedaliya's lifting name symbolism in the book, his name has only the ban on polygamy and cancelling "all the positive connotations. While Buz, who is very strict 'Thou shalt nots,' as well"19 in order to condescending toward the gorilla, significantly hasten the end of the days of exile. It is ironical suggests Adolf, Cohn chooses George both in that despite Cohn's reticence Malamud's chim- honour of his gentle father in-law and of George panzees do not fail to decipher the secret mean- Washington. The other members of the marginal ing of the Seven Admonitions. Instead of yearn- group include the scorned baboons, the lowest ing to learn about good and evil at the school- caste on the island. tree they begin to insist on their right to enjoy The dichotomies on the island are mirrored the fruit of the Tree of Life. in Cohn's relationship to Buz. It is crucial that Although Cohn's growing hypocrisy and the after finding the chimpanzee on the oceano- chimpanzees' rude counter arguments create graphy vessel the protagonist thinks: "They'd be comical effects in the remainder of God's Grace, like brothers, if not father and son" (GG 26). the mood turns increasingly sombre. The chim- Malamud's work abounds in symbolical father- panzees' first acts of cannibalism, their violation son relationships. Whatever forms they take of the First Admonition, portend the proximity deep down they reflect the traditional Jewish of the end of days. Similarly, Cohn's fight with view of mutual respect: the father is a benevolent Esau takes on apocalyptic connotations that are teacher and the son an obedient student. Cohn's carried over to the scene in which Buz — stand- opting for the father-son alternative, however, ing high up on the escarpment — preaches to the implies his hidden wish to dominate. I have al- apes. Buz's altering of the Seventh Admonition ready referred to the religious conflict between makes him suggestive of an Antichrist or a False Malamud's hero and his adoptive son. Before Prophet. Although the revision involves adding the Day of Devastation Buz belonged to Dr. a Christian emphasis on God's love, Buz's sub- Bünder, an eminent scientist "with a rectilinear sequent appearance as a Judas figure ironically

89 3

confirms that, like Cohn, he does not practice aged Cohn on an altar he builds on a mountain. what he preaches. Given the messianic symbolism of the novel, An atmosphere of senseless waste pervades Buz's terry-cloth turban serves as an ironical ref- the last scenes of the novel. The chimpanzees' erence to Sabbatai Zevi's conversion to Islam. riots multiply the number of meaningless kill- This time, however, the symbols seem to derive ings, and not even Cohn can escape committing from the biblical tradition. The pleading beggar a murder. The apes understandably protest himself reminds the reader of the suffering Messiah against the apparent contradictions in the "hon- in Isaiah ch. 53 while the meeting and the questions orary chimpanzee's" advice to sublimate their to which it gives rise suggest a similar scene in sexual desire. With horrifying appropriateness the Jewish apocalyptical work called The Book the atrocities against him culminate in the lifting of Zerubbabe1.20 The number seven, a recurring of the sexual taboo on the consenting Mary Ma- apocalyptic symbol in God's Grace, reappears delyn and in demolishing their home. Common with the beggar. One may ask if Cohn's lack of language is the instrument that enables Cohn to self-knowledge has not caused the others suffer- begin his work for a "better civilization, a more ing and if he is not too hard even on the beggar, idealistic and altruistic one" (GG 211). Prepos- but these questions seem to have lost their rel- terously he seals his own fate when he snaps the evance. Even though Cohn has the sense to in- wires of Buz's artificial larynx as a punishment quire if the beggar is a Messiah, his "bony seven- for his aiding the chimpanzees in achieving their fingered hand" (GG 221) indicates that the period anarchistic utopia. The other chimps' English of grace has come to an end. Hence, no angel was an act of faith in Buz, and from now on the appears when the speechless Buz lights the fire silence that surrounds Cohn has an ever deepen- and wields the stone knife. ing apocalyptic ring. Yet one should not hasten to conclude that The action in the apocalyptic town of Goray Malamud has denounced the premise of human- ends in the birth of a dybbuk. In God's Grace, an ism that is implicit in all his writings: As in Satan equally grotesque end is prefigured by Cohn's in Goray, the desire to press the end linked to the frequent references to a connection between the yearning for redemption destroys Cohn and his Holocaust and the Day of Devastation. In the fictional world. The blame, however, is not on beginning of the book, the author acknowledges the guiding religious and moral principles but on his debt of gratitude to Shalom Spiegel's The their misinterpretation and deliberate distortion. Last Trial, a study on the Akedah. While the The grotesque appearance of George in the last inclusion of the story of Abraham and Isaac en- lines of the novel also shows that like the repre- riches the symbolical significance of the novel, it sentative books of the comic-apocalyptic tradi- also complicates the interpretation of Mala- tion, God's Grace is firmly rooted in "a hope mud's deceptively simple fable by alluding to about hope." Wearing a discarded yarmulke both the Jewish and the Christian reading of the George — a ludicrous honorary American Adam events on Mount Moriah. Throughout God's and a self-appointed Jew — sits in a tree chan- Grace, Malamud manipulates biblical patterns ting a Kaddish for Calvin Cohn. Epitomizing in the direction of the Freudian family romance. the outsider's paradox he alone has internalized The intricacies of the last chapter, a Beckettian the code of Menschlichkeit, and finding a viable endgame, are increased by the father's and son's existence within the tradition he takes on the reversal of the traditional roles: Buz offers the burden of the past.

(The article is based on a paper read at the Third Nordic 3. Rosenfeld 1962, p. 69. Conference on Jewish Studies held June 9-12, 1985, in Tur- 4. Malamud was working on a new novel at the time of his ku, Finland) death on March 18, 1986. According to his publisher the book will either be published separately or parts of it I. Leslie A. Fiedler, Waiting for the End. The American will be included in a posthumous collection. Mervyn Literary Scene from Hemingway to Baldwin (Harmonds- Rothstein, "Bernard Malamud, Author. Dies at 71," worth: Penguin Books, 1967), p. 72. The New York Times (Thursday. March 20, 1986), D 26. 2. Isaac Rosenfeld, An Age of Enormity, ed. Theodore Solo- GG-abbreviation for Bernard Malamud's God's Grace taroff (Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1962), p. 68. (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982) and A-

90 abbreviation for Bernard Malamud's The Assistant Douglas Robinson. "Visions of No End: The Anti- (Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1957). Subsequent references Apocalyptic Novels of Ellison, Barth, and Coover." will be noted parenthetically in the text. American Studies in Scandinavia. Vol. 13, No. 1 (1981), 5. Josephine Zadovsky Knopp, The Trial of Judaism in pp. 2-3. Contemporary Jewish Writing (Urbana: University of Il- 14. R.W.B. Lewis, Trials of the Word. Essays in American linois Press, 1975). p. 109. Literature and the Humanistic Tradition (New Haven: 6. Joseph Wershba, "Not Horror but 'Sadness,— New Yale University Press, 1966), p. 185. York Post (Sunday, Sept. 14, 1958), M 2. 15. Lewis 1966, p. 235. 7. See Robert Alter, "A Theological Fantasy," The New 16. Ihab Hassan, Radical Innocence. Studies in the Contem- Republic, Vol. 187, Nos. 12 & 13 (September 20 & 27. porary American Novel (Princeton: Princeton University 1982), p. 38. Press, 1973), p. 162. 8. Alter, p. 38. 17. Joseph C. Landis, "Reflections on American Jewish 9. Alan Le!chuck, "Malamud's Dark Fable," The New Writers," Jewish Book Annual. Vol. 25 (1967-8), p. 145. York Times Book Review, August 29, 1982, p. 14. 18. Gersholm Scholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism and 10. See, for instance, R.W.B. Lewis, The American Adam. Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality (London: George Al- Innocence. Tragedy. and Tradition in the Nineteenth Cen- len & Unwin Ltd., 1971), pp. 124-125. See also Geoffrey tury (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1975), H. Hartman. "On the Jewish Imagination," Prooftexts. pp. 1-10. A Journal of Jewish Literary History, Vol. 5, No. 3 11. Alter, p. 38. (1985), p. 206. 12. John R. May, Toward a New Earth: Apocalypse in the 19. Isaac Bashevis Singer, Satan in Goray (New York: Noon American Novel (Notre Dame: University of Notre Press, 1979). p. 147. Dame Press, 1972), p. 38. 20. Nils Martola, "Serubbabels bok." Nordisk judaistik/ 13. For a critical overview of several recent definitions, see Scandinavian Jewish Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1972), p. 10.