Jews in Fiction?

Question

In my opinion fiction can be used to show that anti semitic feeling was prevalent up to and including the hideous Nazi regime in fiction. I wanted to know what others thought. (For example Fagin from Oliver Twist and Shylock from the Merchant of Venice).

Answer 1

It is debatable about Shylock in the merchant of Venice .I have always felt that it was possible that Shakepeare may be dealing with merchants in general.Venice was rapacious city and its merchants of what ever religion had a reputation.If you look at Macbeth or Hamlet you will see that Shakespeare played other groups in an unfavorable light.Proving that a writer is anti semitic by what he may have written in fiction is debatable so you will really have to go on something that the writer wrote as a semi-fictional or factual piece.

Answer 2

The only reason the Nazi regime happened is because the hatred of Jews had been festering in many people's hearts for centuries. Hitler just tapped into that hatred and was able to get many people to go along with his twisted plan. Yekl & The Imported Bridegroom by Abraham Cahan depicts Jewish people living in New York City at the turn of the century, and they have to deal with quite a lot of anti-Semitism. Another writer who deals with Jewish people, and thus anti-Semitism, is Mordecai Richler, although most of his books take place in the 50s and later.

Answer 3

There was a lot of anti semitism in the 20s and 30s but, having said that there was a lot of racism generally. Agatha Christie often described people as 'having a Jewish cast of features' and it was never meant as a compliment. She also used words like 'dago' and the n word. I've read other books of that period that were similar but I can't recall them off hand.

I think really that this anti semitism was more of a snob thing than actual racism. The people of this country were genuinely shocked and saddened when details of the Holocaust came out and since then this sort of overt prejudice has largely ceased.

Answer 4

I am afraid that anti-semitism in fiction has gone on for a great deal of time in English literature. In The Prioress' Tale in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" the Jews are treated horibly, and are seen as evil people who deserve any punishment inflicted upon them.

In some of the Medieval stage plays Jews and Moslems are grouped together as a single evil. Sounds like a pretty modern theory to me!

Answer 5

I think you will even find it in Walter Scott's book Ivanhoe where Isaac of York
is the ne'er do well. Also the Pawnbroker with Rod Steiger.Look these up by all means and then try to relate this to what is happening between Palestine and Israel today.Does it really fall under the heading of Anti Semitism? I think not

Answer 6

Frankenstein is Jewish and shown as 'ungodly' with his attempts to create life; Fagin is a good example - Dickens rewrote the book because of the fuss created by referring to him as the jew and Jewish throughout the initial version. Arguably Dracula has a Jewish reading; constantly referred to as being wealthy but ungodly, carrying bags of gold etc.

Loads more if you look into it - prof. Anthony Bale has written a lot of literary criticism on this subject.

Answer 7

Im not too sure but they seem to be persecuted alot. There was something I was talking about with my dad the other day and he said they were thrown out of another country for some reason They are just a not liked race, whcih is unfair. I think books portray them unfair as well in a sterotypoical greedy way. This is again unfair and not good to any jewish people, who are persecuted

Answer 8

You have anti semitism in Crime and Punishment - Raskolnikov killing the pawnbroker (who is NOT Jewish, but he suspects she is b/c of her occupation and greed!), Dostoyevsky's less than favorable description of Peter Petrovich Luzhin and his character's comparison with being Jewish because of his greed and wealth.