Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People

by Israel Zangwill, Meri-Jane Rochelson (Editor)

In its first appearance in 1892, Israel Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto created a sensation in both England and America, becoming the first Anglo-Jewish bestseller and establishing Zangwill as the literary voice of Anglo-Jewry. A novel set in late nineteenth-century London, Children of the Ghetto gave an inside look into an immigrant community that was almost as mysterious to the more established middle-class Jews of Britain as to the non-Jewish population, providing a compelling analysis of a generation caught between the ghetto and modern British life.

This volume brings back to print the 1895 edition of Children of the Ghetto, the latest American version known to have been corrected by the author. Meri-Jane Rochelson places the novel in proper context by providing a biographical, historical, and critical introduction; a bibliography of primary and secondary sources; and notes on the text, making this ground-breaking novel accessible to a new generation of readers, both Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

Genres: Jewish, Fiction, Classics, Research, Judaism, British Literature, Holocaust

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1892

About the author

Israel Zangwill was a British novelist, short-story writer and dramatist.

Reviews

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I've been researching Jewish family history for 20 years and I felt as though I knew the characters in this story. They correspond very well to lives I've traced in censuses, congregation minutes and news stories. Lacking are the serious criminals, abusive husbands and others of the darker aspect of humanity. None the less, it fills out a picture of real people I meet in official records - to the extent that I've had the impulse to look in the novel for information about individuals I've added to my database from census records. Ministers, congregation officials, members of old synagogues and those breaking away over disagreements to form new ones that will remain orthodox. Artists, actors, musicians. Old country new to England speaking Yiddish, and later generations who marry out. The poor pedlars and their descendants who move into professions and increasing wealth. Discussions that are relevant today - what is Judaism and what should it be today.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The edition I read of this book included both "Children of the Ghetto" and "Grandchildren of the Ghetto". The novel is primarily set in the Jewish ghetto of London's east end. Zangwill's portrayal of the ghetto is unsparing, yet empathetic. His characters are Dickensian and his development of setting reminds me of both Dickens and Betty Smith. Zangwill paints a portrait of London's Jewish ghetto of the late 1800's much as Smith did with early 20th century Brooklyn. The characters are, for the most part, immigrant orthodox Jews trying to maintain their heritage while struggling with varying degrees of poverty. The first book focuses on the lives of the people of the ghetto while the second book is a little heavy on philosophical argument regarding Zionism and orthodoxy making it much less lively although I did learn a bit.

[Bettie]

Page 244 Bloody Foreigners

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love classic literature, and it was a wonderful change to read a Dickensian book that was filled entirely with Jewish characters. There were moments of real spark--scenes that were well written and believable. There were also many passages that were boring or contrived, or that felt caricatured and balanced out the believable characters... Overall I recommend it if you have an interest in a classic novel starring Jews that has both surprising grace and the usual dated parts.

[Delphine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful depiction of the life of the Jews in the East End of London, their misery, their hopes, their pains.

[Ronda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and haunting

[Ruth Kuohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda slow and a little boring.

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This battered red bound hardcopy from 1893 fell into my lap from a thrift shop box, and I was delighted. I'd never heard of Israel Zangwill before, nor had I heard of his gentile alias "The Jewish Dickens." How could I resist such gem passages as: "He was a man of prodigious distorted mental activity. He had read omivoriously amid the vast stores of Hebrew literature, was a great authority on Cabbalah, understood astronomy, and still more astrology, was strong on finance, and could argue coherently on any subject outside religion. His letters to the press on specifically Jewsih subjects were the most hopeless, involved, incomprehensible, and protracted puzzles ever penned, bristling with Hebrew quotations from the most varying, the most irrevelant and the most mutually incongruous sources, and peppered with the dates and births and deaths of every Rabbi mentioned."

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encyclopedic in scope, Children of the Ghetto gives an intimate look at life in the East End of London at the turn of the century. A novel of Judaica, its detail may not appeal to all. In fact, it is the historical accuracy of Jewish life that makes it so interesting--like a Dickens novel with Jews.

[Zelda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed what I read of it very much but found it too long to finish right now. Might go back to it at a later date.