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2 votes
1 answer
52 views

What does the culture of Europe have to do with Yasha needing to acquire a large sum of money?

When Yasha is sitting in the restaurant and thinking before attempting his theft, we have this paragraph: "Why would all France glorify a tart?" Yasha wondered. Was this France? Was this ...
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3 votes
1 answer
59 views

What's the significance of saying "thou", and where does Emilia actually say it in "The Magician of Lublin"?

In The Magician of Lublin - part five, section 3 - this scene takes place between Emilia and Yasha: "What did you say, dear?" "I said that I love you and that I can't wait until you ...
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4 votes
1 answer
67 views

Is this instance of "little girl" a translation error in "The Magician of Lublin"?

There's a scene in The Magician of Lublin (part six, section 5) where Yasha is playing cards with Herman, a shady character in Warsaw. Yasha allowed him to perform several tricks: the trick with the ...
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1 vote
0 answers
18 views

How do Emilia's beliefs about dreams reflect on her in "The Magician of Lublin"?

In The Magician of Lublin, Emilia tries to contact Chrabotzky, her dead husband, through a medium. She then realized that the medium was a fraud. However, she does believe that she had dreams where ...
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2 votes
0 answers
17 views

What prompted Yasha to commit to Emilia all of a sudden?

In The Magician of Lublin, when Yasha goes to meet his sweetheart Emilia, Emilia starts talking about how Yasha's being non-commital: ["...]About us I certainly couldn't tell you a thing. All ...
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2 votes
0 answers
29 views

Why does Yasha feel guilty here in "The Magician of Lublin"?

When Yasha is sitting on a café in The Magician of Lublin, observing the other patrons (generally well-to-do Poles) it's mentioned that he feels a certain sadness or guilt: He, Yasha, was to all ...
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3 votes
0 answers
31 views

What's the significance of the colors in this song in "The Magician of Lublin"?

In chapter 5 of The Magician of Lublin, when Yasha is in Piask, he overhears this song: Musicians, sawing small fiddles, chanted a long drawn-out melody. From a wagon of peasant girls jammed together ...
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3 votes
0 answers
57 views

What do the names of Yasha's animals in "The Magician of Lublin" say about him?

In Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Magician of Lublin, our main character Yasha named his horses "Kara" and "Shiva", and refers to them as "Dust" and "Ashes: He need ...
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