LOST IN THE DIASPORA: ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER’S ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY AND JEWISH IMMIGRATION

Abstract

This paper explores Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel Enemies, A Love Story through Homi K Bhabha’s theories such as “Third Space”, mimicry and ambivalence. The novel portrays the fragmented identities of Holocaust survivors and their lives in the diaspora in post-World War II New York. Through the characters of Herman Broder, Masha, Yadwiga and Tamara, the novel demonstrates how trauma shapes personal as well as collective identities. The paper explores the ways mimicry functions as a survival technique and a source of inner conflict, which showcases the tension between assimilation and tradition. By interacting with Jewish history and tradition, Singer’s characters struggle with a sense of belonging to a world that no longer reflects their past. At its core, the analysis demonstrates how Enemies, A Love Story gives a layered representation of life in a diaspora, where the search for identity develops in an ambiguous space between memory and modernity.