Stereotypes of Jews in literature have evolved over the centuries. According to
Louis Harap Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
, nearly all European writers prior to the twentieth century projected the
Jewish stereotypes in their works. Harap cites
Gotthold Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developme ...
's ''
Nathan the Wise
''Nathan the Wise'' (original German title: ', ) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was never performed during Lessing's lifetime and was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsch ...
'' (1779) as the first time that Jews were portrayed in the arts as "human beings, with human possibilities and characteristics."
Harap writes that, the persistence of the Jewish stereotype over the centuries suggests to some that "the treatment of the Jew in literature was completely static and was essentially unaffected by the changes in the Jewish situation in society as that society itself changed." He contrasts the opposing views presented in the two most comprehensive studies of the Jew in English literature, one by
Montagu Frank Modder and the other by
Edgar Rosenberg. Modder asserts that writers invariably "reflect the attitude of contemporary society in their presentation of the Jewish character, and that the portrayal changes with the economic and social changes of each decade." In opposition to Modder's "historical rationale", Rosenberg warns that such a perspective "is apt to slight the massive durability of a stereotype".
Harap suggests that the recurrence of the Jewish stereotype in literature is itself one indicator of the continued presence of
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
amongst the readers of that literature.
English literature
Edgar Rosenberg, American film and television producer, has characterized 'the image of the Jew in English literature' as having been "a depressingly uniform and static phenomenon". For example, although Jews were
expelled from England in 1290, stereotypes were so ingrained and so durable that they persisted in English society as evidenced by presentations in English literature, drama, and the visual arts during the almost four-hundred-year period when there were virtually no Jews present in the British Isles. Dik Van Arkel notes that "
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
,
Marlowe Marlowe may refer to:
Name
* Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator
* Philip Marlowe, fictional hardboiled detective created by author Raymond Chandler
* Marlowe (name), including list of people and characters w ...
and
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
had no direct knowledge of Jews."
''The Canterbury Tales''
In ''
The Canterbury Tales'', the Prioress tells a story of a devout Christian child who was murdered by Jews affronted at his singing a hymn as he passed through the Jewry, or Jewish quarter, of a city in Asia. Much later criticism focuses on the tale's
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. Allen Koretsky asserts that, because the antisemitism in this tale runs counter to the generally positive image of Chaucer, it has been "ignored, excused, explained or palliated in a number of ways."
Thus, a considerable body of critical and scholarly opinion holds that this speech, in the mouth of the Prioress, represents an ironic inversion of Chaucer's own sentiments; that is, the Prioress is seen as a hypocrite whose cruelty and bigotry belies her conventionally pious pose—a situation typical of the indeterminacy of Chaucer's intentions.
Elizabethan era
The character of Barabas in
Christopher Marlowe's play ''
The Jew of Malta
''The Jew of Malta'' (full title: ''The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta'') is a play by Christopher Marlowe, written in 1589 or 1590. The plot primarily revolves around a Maltese Jewish merchant named Barabas. The original story comb ...
'' is possibly the first ever stage-portrayal of a
psychopath
Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...
(at least within English literature). Barabas takes people into confidence by playing on their desires and then killing them. Like
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's
Shylock—the idea of whom may have been inspired by Barabas—he is open to interpretation as a symbol of antisemitism. However, also like Shylock, he occasionally shows evidence of humanity (albeit very rarely).
It has been suggested that ''The Jew of Malta'' influenced Shakespeare's play, ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
''. Despite the fact that Shakespeare probably never met a Jew, ''The Merchant of Venice'' includes a character named Shylock who has become the archetype of the Jewish moneylender stereotype. Derek Cohen asserts that the Shylock character is "the best known Jew in English."
Shylock is a money-lender and was often portrayed with a hooked nose and bright red wigs. Shylock's character has been criticized for its antisemitic nature, although some interpretations of the play consider him a sympathetic figure.
Victorian era
When Jews are found in Victorian fiction, they are almost always portrayed as a stereotype rather than as human beings.
The "villain Jew" stereotype is found in a number of Victorian era novels. The character of Fagin from
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
's ''
Oliver Twist'' is perhaps one of the best known Jewish stereotypes in the world. Dickens portrays him as immoral, miserly, and "disgusting" to look at. Another famous example is the character of
Svengali
Svengali () is a character in the novel ''Trilby'' which was first published in 1894 by George du Maurier. Svengali is a man who seduces, dominates and exploits Trilby, a young half-Irish girl, and makes her into a famous singer.
Definition
...
in
George du Maurier
George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald ...
's novel ''
Trilby
A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...
''.
Some authors of this period seem to have attempted to counterbalance the negative portrayals of Jews in their earlier works with more positive images in later works. For example, in the novel ''
Our Mutual Friend'', Dickens presents the Jewish character Riah as a paragon of virtue. Dickens even claimed that Fagin's Jewishness was incidental to the conception of the character and this claim has been treated seriously by many literary critics. In opposition to this view, Cohen and Heller assert that Fagin's Jewishness is stressed frequently in ''Oliver Twist'' and that Dickens often refers to him as "the Jew" and that Fagin's character and physical features draw on the "long history of antisemitic associations and stereotypes to provide added resonance to Fagin's particular villainies".
George du Maurier depicts Svengali as a Jewish rogue, masterful musician, and
hypnotist. The character has been portrayed in many film and television versions of the story. The word "
svengali
Svengali () is a character in the novel ''Trilby'' which was first published in 1894 by George du Maurier. Svengali is a man who seduces, dominates and exploits Trilby, a young half-Irish girl, and makes her into a famous singer.
Definition
...
" has entered the language meaning a person who with evil intent manipulates another into doing what is desired. It is frequently used for any kind of coach who seems to exercise an extreme degree of domination over a performer (especially if the person is a young woman and the coach is an older man).
One notable exception is the character of Anton Trendelssohn in his novel Nina Balatka, whom
Anthony Trollope portrays as a more deep character rather than as a Jewish stereotype.
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...
's novel ''
Daniel Deronda'' (1876) is admired by many for having made an honest attempt to capture the essence of 19th century Judaism by presenting a sympathetic rendering of Jewish proto-
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
and
Kaballistic
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defi ...
ideas,
20th century
Negative stereotypes of Jews were still employed by prominent twentieth-century non-Jewish writers such as
Dorothy Richardson,
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
,
T. S. Eliot,
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
, and
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
.
The
protagonist in
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
's
Ulysses,
Leopold Bloom
Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/ Odysseus in Homer's epic ...
, is probably one of the most remarkable representations of Jews in Irish fiction. Bloom is the quintessential Everyman, and takes on the venerable role of
Odysseus in Joyce's saga. Far from stereotypical, the depiction of his personality is one of the most detailed in literature.
Ezra Pound mentions Jewish attitudes towards money in his poem ''
The Cantos
''The Cantos'' by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a ''canto''. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date ...
'', which focuses on the themes of economics and governance. In the poem, Jews are implicated in sinister manipulations of the money supply. Abraham Foxman asserts that ''The Cantos'' include a "vicious diatribe against interest-paying finance" and that those sections include antisemitic passages. In Canto 52, Pound wrote "Stinkschuld's
othschildssin drawing vengeance, poor yitts paying for / Stinkschuld
othschilds/ paying for a few big jews' vendetta on goyim", but the name Rothschilds was replaced by "Stinkschulds" at the insistence of Pound's publisher.
American literature
Until the 20th century, the characterization of Jews in American literature was largely based upon the stereotypes employed in English literature.
Although Jewish stereotypes first appeared in works by non-Jewish writers, after World War II it was often Jewish American writers themselves who evoked such fixed images. The prevalence of anti-Semitic stereotypes in the works of such authors has sometimes been interpreted an expression of self-hatred; however, Jewish American authors have also used these negative stereotypes in order to refute them.
19th century
Anti-Semitic images are often found in nineteenth-century American literature. Some of the most notorious examples can be found in the writings of
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
.
In Hawthorne's novel ''
The Marble Faun
''The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni'', also known by the British title ''Transformation'', was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. ''The Marble Faun'', written on the eve of the Amer ...
'', Jews are described as "the ugliest, most evil-minded people" who resemble "maggots when they overpopulate a decaying cheese."
The earliest significant American poets were the
Fireside Poets. These wrote from a Christian point of view and, with the exception of
John Greenleaf Whittier, uniformly employed negative stereotypes of Jews.
In the latter half of the 19th century, Jews were often characterized as overly ambitious compared to African-Americans and Native Americans. Anti-Jewish stereotypes portrayed Jews as "aggressively smart and threateningly successful"; they were seen as a threat to American culture because of their "rapid social and economic mobility". However, despite their economic success, Jews were depicted as being unable to assimilate into American culture. One focus of media attention was the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, an area where many European Jewish immigrants had settled. Newspaper accounts and photographs of the time depicted this urban slum as cluttered, disorderly, dirty and smelly; in brief, the living conditions of the Jews were considered to violate middle-class white standards of cleanliness and orderliness. Alicia Kent notes that, although the photographs of
Jacob Riis
Jacob August Riis ( ; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twen ...
were motivated by a desire to reform immigrant housing and employment conditions, they ironically helped to fix the public perception of Jews as "disorderly and uncontrollable."
Perhaps the only major work of 19th-century American literature that does not depict Jews according to the stereotypes of the day is
Herman Melville
Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...
's epic poem
Clarel, which depicts the hardships faced by Jews living in Palestine as well as their customs. Departing from the usual treatment employed by other American writers of that era, Melville presents a range of Jewish characters that provide the reader a sense of Jews as human individuals rather than as cardboard cutouts.
20th century
The presentation of economic and social stereotypes of Jews in American literature persisted into the first half of the 20th century. Jews were depicted as money-obsessed, vulgar, and pushy social climbers. Jewish men and women were represented in literature as dressing ostentatiously. Their physical characteristics followed the model that had been handed down over the centuries: Red hair and hooked noses were some of the prominent features employed. For example, in ''
The American Scene
''The American Scene'' is a book of travel writing by Henry James about his trip through the United States in 1904-1905. Ten of the fourteen chapters of the book were published in the ''North American Review'', '' Harper's'' and the '' Fortnigh ...
'',
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
employs a number of anti-Semitic stereotypes to describe the skin color and nose shape of the Jewish residents. Characterization of Jews as an inferior race could be found in works such as
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
's novel ''
Martin Eden
''Martin Eden'' is a 1909 novel by American author Jack London about a young proletarian autodidact struggling to become a writer. It was first serialized in '' The Pacific Monthly'' magazine from September 1908 to September 1909 and then publis ...
''.
Jewish-American authors
According to Sanford V. Sternlicht, the first generation of
Jewish-American authors presented "realistic portrayals - warts and all" of Jewish immigrants.
He describes the literature of this generation as "almost devoid of Jewish self-hatred."
Sternlicht contrasts this generation with some second or third-generation Jewish-American authors who deliberately "reinforced negative stereotypes with satire and a selective realism".
The
Jewish-American Princess (JAP) stereotype was a construct of, and popularized by, post-war Jewish male writers,
notably in
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ...
's 1955 novel, ''
Marjorie Morningstar'' and
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
's 1959 novel ''
Goodbye, Columbus'' featuring princess protagonists.
French literature
Medieval era
In medieval French literature, Jews are generally presented unfavorably. However, those Jews who convert are treated favorably. For example, a Jew who is among the infidels who convert is viewed positively in the 12th-century ''
Pèlerinage de Charlemagne a Jérusalem'' (''Pilgrimage of Charlemagne to Jerusalem''). A rare exception to the unfavorable stereotyping of Jews is a work by
Peter Abelard framed as a dialogue between a Jewish and a Christian philosopher and presents Judaism in a favorable light.
18th century
Although Voltaire was celebrated for his commitment to tolerance, his writings often included vicious stereotypes of traditional targets of prejudice such as Jews and Catholics.
Discussing Voltaire's literary treatment of Jews in works such as ''
Candide'', Eric Palmer describes him as having been "uncharacteristically blind to some forms of inhumanity within his sphere."
Robert Michael writes that, "Voltaire's work helped ensure that antisemitic stereotypes would persist among the educated members of French society."
In his 1759 novel ''
Candide'', Voltaire utilizes stereotypical characterization of Jews as greedy and dishonest.
For example, Cunegonde is sold to a Jewish merchant:
19th century
Nineteenth-century French literature is filled with both pro-Jewish and anti-Jewish images. Some of the anti-Jewish images include stereotypes such as the greedy banker and art collector in
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
's series ''
La Comédie humaine
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'' (''The Human Comedy'').
Henry H. Weinberg has described the stereotype of the Jewish banker in late nineteenth-century French literature as "shifty, cosmopolitan, cleverly manipulating ... single-minded
n hisquest for money." In
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
's drama ''
Les Mississipiens'' (1866), there is a Jewish capitalist, Samuel Bourset, who has been described as a "
Shylock in modern dress".
German literature
High German literature
In the first published version of the
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
legend – the anonymous Faustbuch of 1587 – Faust borrows money from a Jew, who demands one of Faust's legs as security for the debt. Faust saws off his leg and gives it to the Jew as collateral; however, when Faust subsequently returns to repay the debt, the Jew is, of course, unable to return the leg and compelled to pay Faust compensation as a result.
19th century
The hostility towards Jews that developed in the political and cultural arenas of 19th-century German society was reflected in the literature of the era.
The "Orientalness of Jews", particularly that of Jewish women, was a common trope in anti-Semitic German literature of the 19th century. Examples of this stereotype are found in Hauff's novella ''
Jud Süß
(, "Süss the Jew") is a 1940 Nazi German historical drama and propaganda film produced by Terra Film at the behest of Joseph Goebbels. It is considered one of the most antisemitic films of all time. The film was directed by Veit Harlan, who ...
'' (1827),
Hebbel's play ''
Judith'' (1840) and
Grillparzer's play ''
Die Jüdin von Toledo'' (1872).
Another stereotype of Jews employed in German literature was to represent them as speaking in a manner that was considered defective German. This manner of speech was referred to as ''mauscheln'', a German word based on the proper name Moishe. An example of this stereotype is the character of Jäkel the Fool who speaks in a "mock Frankfurt accent dialect" that is meant to be understood as proto-
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
.
Richard Levy characterizes Veitel Itzig, the villain in
Gustav Freytag
Gustav Freytag (; 13 July 1816 – 30 April 1895) was a German novelist and playwright.
Life
Freytag was born in Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in Silesia. After attending the school at Oels (Oleśnica), he studied philology at the universities of ...
's ''
Debit and Credit
Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a credit e ...
'' as "perhaps the most poisonous stereotype of the greedy, utterly immoral Jewish businessman in nineteenth-century literature." According to Jacob Katz, the message of ''Debit and Credit'' is that "Judaism alone is not capable of giving its adherents morality or culture."
Post-World War II
Since the end of World War II, negative stereotypes of the Jew have almost totally disappeared from German literature. The awareness of German crimes against Jews and the contribution of anti-Semitism in German literature to the ethos in which those crimes were committed have led postwar authors to work towards providing a more accurate and unbiased portrayal of the Jewish experience.
Russian literature
Russian literature has a long tradition of negative Jewish stereotypes. Zvi Y. Gitelman writes that "Whatever their personal views of the Jewish people, pre-1881 Russian writers fell short of their liberal, humanistic ideals when they wrote of Jews."
"The author and the work most often attacked for creating an disseminating such stereotypes was
Faddey Vanediktovich Bulgarin and his
picaresque novel
The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corru ...
''Ivan Vyzhigin''. In chapter seven of this popular novel, Bulgarin's hero Ivan encounters the dishonest village tavern keeper Movsha and his wife Rifka and chronicles the endless dishonesty of these" Jewish characters.
[''"Zhid": Biography of a Russian Epithet.'' John D. Klier. The Slavonic and East European Review. Vol. 60, No. 1 (Jan., 1982), pp. 1-15. Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association. Article Stable URL]
/ref> Although Bulgarin was a convenient scapegoat for perpetuating these stereotypes, "few Russian authors of his age, including the 'classics', avoided crude Jewish stereotypes. Nikolay Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
's" "Yankel' in ''Taras Bulba
''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...
'' lacked the malevolence of Bulgarin's Movsha, but he and other Jews are usually portrayed as ridiculous and bizarre." "One of the most repellent literary Jewish types of this period was to be found in Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
's early story ''Zhid''. Despite sympathetic nuances, Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's Jewish convict Bumschteyn in ''Notes from the House of the Dead
''The House of the Dead'' (russian: Записки из Мёртвого дома, ''Zapiski iz Myortvovo doma'') is a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1860–2 in the journal '' Vremya'' by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It has also b ...
'' is a stereotyped character."
See also
*Racial stereotypes
An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...
*Stereotypes of Jews
Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature.
Common objects, phrases and traditions which are used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness include bagels, the complaining ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*Craig, Terrence: ''Racial Attitudes in English-Canadian Fiction, 1905-1980''. xii, 163 pp. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1987.
*
*
*
*{{cite book , title=Jewish Stereotypes in English Fiction, 1795-1895 , first=Edgar , last=Rosenberg , year=1958
*Wassermann, Henry: ''Stereotypes and Antisemitism, from the Middle Ages to the Present''. 23 pp. Jerusalem: Israel Information Centre, 1985. ("Da et amcha"). (Hebrew)
Literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
Jewish portrayals in media