Cha-ching! Unbelievably, our library gives us access to The Veil of Moses: Jewish Themes in Russian Literature of the Romantic Era. I was even going to check into the possibility of buying it (although I wouldn’t have, it’s 211 USD). The chapter on Russian Jews in the 1840s brought me to the book, but the whole thing is very interesting.
Publisher’s blurb: The Veil of Moses describes the creation of Russian romantic literary stereotypes which shaped the opinion of the Russian public on the Jews. These stereotypes in turn generated long-lasting habits of dealing with Jews and Jewish themes in Russian culture and politics. This volume introduces a formidable corpus of previously neglected evidence into the scholarship, namely, journalism and second- and third-rank prose. Journalism, influenced by more humane Western attitudes, reflected changes and presented a more objective picture of the Jews. It was the romantic prose, full of mythology and appealing to dark instincts that created the most odious anti-semitic clichés.
And you can see chapter titles, at least, via the website. I’d like to read this on paper, but … I’m glad to read it at all, what can I say.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 