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Bolesław Prus and the Jews shows the complexity of the so-called “Jewish question” in nineteenth-century Congress Poland and especially its significance in Prus’ social concept, reflected in his extensive body of journalistic work, fiction, and treatises. The book traces Prus’ evolving worldview toward Jews, from his support of the Assimilation Program in his early years to his eventual support of Zionism. These contrasting ideas show us the complexity of the discourse on Jewish issues from the individual perspective of a significant writer of the time, as well as the dynamics of the Jewish modernization process in a “non-existent” partitioned Poland. The portrait of Prus that emerges is surprisingly ambivalent.
“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. … Friedrich’s useful and thorough study is recommended for any scholar of Polish–Jewish relations or literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”
— Katarzyna Zechenter, University College London, Modern Language Review (October 2022: Vol. 117, No. 4)
“Bolesław Prus and the Jews is well organized and meticulously researched. Each chapter provides a wealth of references to primary and secondary sources, making it an excellent departure point for future inquiries into late-nineteenth-century Polish intellectual life and Polish-Jewish history…Those interested in Prus’s work or the rich—if often troubled—history of Polish-Jewish relations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will find Friedrich’s book a rewarding read.”
— Łukasz Wodzyński, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Polish Review
Agnieszka Friedrich is a lecturer and academic at the University of Gdańsk. Her research focuses on Jewish issues in Polish literature and press between 1863 and 1914. She is the author of dozens of articles published in Polish and English in Studia Judaica, Scripta Judaica Cracoviensia, Polin, East European Jewish Affairs, Kesher, and Kwartalnik Historii Żydów. She is currently working on the manuscript Dreyfus Affair in Polish Press.
Table of Contents
Preface to the English Edition
Introduction
1. Prus’s Predecessors and Contemporaries on the Jewish Question
2. Prus’s Social Reflections
3. Prus on the Traditional Aspects of the Jewish Question
4. Prus on the Modern Aspects of the Jewish Question
Conclusion
Bibliography