Małżeństwo żydowskie w opowiadaniach Szaloma Asza – kryzys i siła tradycji
Jewish Marriage in short stories by Sholem Asch – Crisis and Strength of Tradition

Author(s): Maria Ciostek
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Sholem Asch; marriage; tradition; crisis; anachronism
Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the clash between tradition and modernity in the short stories written by Sholem Asch on the example of the institution of marriage. Asch was deeply rooted in Jewish culture, but at the same time, he strayed away from the tradition of his ancestors. He watches the world he knows so well from the outside. He notices the crisis of tradition among Jewish communities and exemplifies it through marriage, one of the most important Jewish rituals. In his short stories, he presents people who break the tradition bymarrying beneath themselves, not following all the elements of the ritual, choosing spouses against traditional advice. However, this neglect of tradition rebounds on the heroes – they are lonely, suffer from social ostracism, feel excluded, do not get along with the spouse or even die. Asch creates a hermetic world of a Jewish community which is slowly pervaded with unwanted changes. On the one hand, the narrator finds this tradition beautiful and loves it, on the other, it is anachronistic, rotten and destroys the characters in his stories..

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