The Fixer (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Historical realism
- Time of Work: Shortly before World War I
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: Prisons, 1910’s, Jews or Jewish life, Anti-Semitism, Existentialism, Russia or Russian people
- Locales: Kiev, Ukraine
Places Discussed
Shtetl. Small Jewish village near Kiev, Russia. Before leaving for Kiev, Yakov lives his entire life here. He leaves the village because he considers it a prison, in which he is unable to survive economically. He believes that if he leaves the shtetl his luck will change. Yakov’s sentiments about the shtetl become ironic: He leaves what he thinks is a prison only to be confined to a real prison, and instead of prospering when he leaves his community, he becomes the victim of anti-Semitism.
Yakov’s cell. Faded stucco prison building in a commercial...
[The entire page is 610 words long]
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