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• W4300002648 abstract "Reviewed by: Bolesław Prus and the Jews by Agnieszka Friedrich Katarzyna Zechenter Bolesław Prus and the Jews. By Agnieszka Friedrich. Trans. by Ben Koschalka. Boston: Academic Studies Press. 2021. x+286 pp. $109. ISBN 978–1–64469– 573–9. Agnieszka Friedrich’s monograph demonstrates the extreme complexity of approaches to the so-called ‘Jewish question’ in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Poland (then still part of Tsarist Russia). Some modern critics, Friedrich argues, reach precipitate or even wrong conclusions by reading Prus’s fiction through a post-Holocaust lens; but those who read Prus in unequivocal black-and-white terms minimize the complexity of his work. Friedrich’s insightful and well-researched monograph is the first to fully evaluate Prus’s opinion of the Jews. As a specialist in Jewish issues in nineteenth-century Polish literature, she is well placed to evaluate contemporaneous understandings of the Jewish question in the context of Poland. The book is divided into four chapters. The first examines Prus’s predecessors and contemporaries, exploring their grasp of Polish–Jewish issues, such as the Great Sejm’s attempt to grant Polish Jews equal rights. The second discusses Prus’s reflections on society, a prominent theme throughout his work, especially in his many journalistic articles and columns published in various Warsaw periodicals and also in his fiction. Her final chapters explore Prus’s opinions regarding both traditional and modern aspects of the Jewish question. Friedrich prioritizes Prus’s journalism over his fiction, thus leaving out the many Jewish characters in his novels, although she does refer to these to inform her account of Prus’s changing stance on Jewish matters. Her book covers the period from 1876 to 1911, tracing how Prus’s support for the assimilation of Polish Jews evolved into eventual advocacy of Zionism. Prus, like many Polish intellectuals of his era, including Jewish scholars such as Henryk Nusbaum and Wilhelm Feldman, thought Jews should assimilate. He questioned whether they represented a separate ‘nation’ rather than a distinct caste; he also realized that the root cause of the growing social problems and anti-Semitism was not religious but economic rivalry. Prus also believed that the rapid Jewish population growth had exacerbated their poverty: by the 1880s, he noted growing divisions between the peasants, the intelligentsia, and the Jews. As a remedy, he advocated for Christians to enter trade and for Jews to go into agriculture rather than becoming innkeepers or moneylenders. Prus’s proposal demonstrates his understanding of how economic problems influence social issues. By 1889, when his most famous novel, The Doll (Lalka), appeared, Friedrich suggests that Prus viewed Jewish success in trade and commerce as a growing economic and social problem. He identified four phases in this process: oppression, equality, triumph, and reaction, the latter rooted in growing doubts about Jewish assimilation and nationalism. Prus’s gradual disillusionment with assimilation as an ideology emerges in his concern over the influence of powerful ‘rapacious capitalists’ (p. 262) such as Rothschild or Hirsch (the latter responsible for the Jewish Colonization Association, which settled thousands of Russian Jews in Argentina). By the 1890s, Prus began to believe that Zionism and the creation of a separate Jewish state might provide a [End Page 731] better solution to the Jewish question, a dramatic change from his earlier faith in assimilation and Polish–Jewish co-operation. By now, Prus did perceive the Jews as a separate nation. He argued that any Jews who rejected models of European civilization should be allowed to establish their own state elsewhere. In a climate of growing nationalism at the turn of the century, Prus rejected ‘the national egoism’ promoted by National Democrats in favour of a consistent policy of tolerance and compromise, writing: ‘I know that both [Jews and Christians] have their deficiencies and their qualities, but since they comprise one society, I treat them equally in my heart’ (p. 256). He considered tolerance and compromise as guiding social principles since the unsuccessful uprising against Russia in 1863, which in his opinion indicated Jewish affiliation to the Polish homeland through their participation as insurgents (like Dr Szuman in The Doll). Thus, Prus held National Democrats responsible for..." @default.
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• W4300002648 title "Bolesław Prus and the Jews by Agnieszka Friedrich" @default.
• W4300002648 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/mlr.2022.0150" @default.
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