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The Magic Barrel (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

At a glance:

“The Magic Barrel” is another fantasy; this one mixes elements of the traditional fairy tale with Jewish folklore. Like most fairy tales, the story begins with “Not long ago there lived . . .” Leo Finkle, the rabbinical student searching for a wife, is the prince; Salzman, the marriage broker with the magic barrel and sudden appearances, is the supernatural agent; and Stella, his prostitute daughter, is the princess. As in a typical fairy tale, the prince finally meets the princess and through the intervention of the supernatural agent has a chance at a happy ending.

The fairy tale combines with elements from Jewish folklore. The characters are stereotypic: the marriage broker, the schlemiel, and the poor daughter. The setting is the usual lower-class milieu. With Leo helping Salzman at the end, the plot has the familiar reversal. Even the theme is the easily recognizable one of redemptive rebirth through love. Malamud also infuses the story with humor. Aside from the stock characters and stock situations, he uses puns, hyperbole, and juxtaposition (women are described in the jargon of a used-car salesman).

The story is also social criticism directed at the Jews. Leo Finkle has learned the Jewish law but not his own feelings. He takes refuge in his self-pity, he wants a wife not for love but for social prestige, and he uses his religion to hide from life.

Bibliography

Abramson, Edward A. Bernard Malamud Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1993.

Astro, Richard, and Jackson J. Benson, eds. The Fiction of Bernard Malamud. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 1977.

Avery, Evelyn, ed. The Magic Worlds of Bernard Malamud. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Bernard Malamud. New York: Chelsea House, 2000.

Davis, Philip. Experimental Essays on the Novels of Bernard Malamud: Malamud's People. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.

Field, Leslie A., and Joyce W. Field, eds. Bernard Malamud: A Collection of Critical Essays. Rev. ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975.

Field, Leslie A., and Joyce W. Field, eds. Bernard Malamud and the Critics. New York: New York University Press, 1970.

Nisly, L. Lamar. Impossible to Say: Representing Religious Mystery in Fiction by Malamud, Percy, Ozick, and O’Connor. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Ochshorn, Kathleen. The Heart's Essential Landscape: Bernard Malamud's Hero. New York: Peter Lang, 1990.

Richman, Sidney. Bernard Malamud. Boston: Twayne, 1966.

Salzberg, Joel, ed. Critical Essays on Bernard Malamud. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987.

Sío-Castiñeira, Begoña. The Short Stories of Bernard Malamud: In Search of Jewish Post-immigrant Identity. New York: Peter Lang, 1998.

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