The Magic Barrel (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bernard Malamud
- First Published: 1954
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: Leo Finkle, Pinye Salzman
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Self-discovery, Marriage, God, Jews or Jewish life, Depression, mental, Rabbis
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
“The Magic Barrel” begins with the introduction of Leo Finkle, who is twenty-seven and in search of a suitable wife, to Pinye Salzman, who has advertised his services as a matchmaker in a local Jewish newspaper. Leo has spent six years in study, with no time for developing a social life. Inexperienced with women, he finds the traditional route of obtaining a bride appealing, an honorable arrangement from which his own parents benefited.
At their initial meeting, Salzman brings names from which to choose a proper wife for a respectable rabbi. The cards on...
[The entire page is 1328 words long]
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See Also:
See Also:
- - The Magic Barrel summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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