Jews and Jewishness in British Children's Literature Madelyn J. Travis
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Almost English: Jews and Jewishness in British Children’s Literature Madelyn J. Travis A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Newcastle University 2011 Abstract This thesis examines constructions of Jews and Jewishness in British children’s literature from the eighteenth century to the present. It demonstrates that this literature has often sought to determine the place of Jews in Britain, and that this endeavour is linked to attempts to define the English sense of self. This discourse is often politicised, with representations influenced as much by current events and political movements as by educational objectives. The main focus of the thesis is on works published from World War II through 2010, with Chapter One providing a historical context for the later material and offering an overview of key motifs from the eighteenth century to World War II. Works by authors such as Maria Edgeworth, E. Nesbit and Rudyard Kipling are discussed alongside rare texts which have not been examined before. Chapters on gender, refugees, multiculturalism and heroes and villains reveal developments as well as continuities from earlier periods. The chapter on multiculturalism draws on unpublished interviews with authors including Adele Geras, the late Eva Ibbotson and Ann Jungman. The sometimes competing and conflicting representations in literature which has been influenced by the impact of the Enlightenment, the Empire, the Holocaust, cultural diversity and 9/11 demonstrate that there has been no teleological progression over the centuries from anti-Semitism to acceptance, or from ‘outsider’ to ‘insider’. Instead, many of the recurring themes in these texts reveal an ongoing concern with establishing, maintaining or problematising the boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. This tension is present in a substantial body of texts across age ranges, genres and time periods. It demonstrates that the position of Jews in Britain has been ambivalent, and that this ambivalence has persisted to a surprising degree in view of the dramatic socio-cultural changes which have taken place over two centuries. i Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the financial assistance of Newcastle University, the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Rubin Foundation. I am immensely grateful to my supervisors, Professor Kim Reynolds and Dr Matthew Grenby; their erudition, incisive guidance and unstinting enthusiasm for my project has always been an inspiration. Many thanks to authors Leila Berg, Keren David, Adele Geras, Alan Gibbons, the late Eva Ibbotson, Ann Jungman, Elizabeth Laird, Michael Rosen, Leon Rosselson and Jonny Zucker for taking the time to answer my questions. I would like to thank Dr Simon Cohen, who gave me access to his collection of rare children’s books and Judaica, Dr Keith Kahn-Harris, who sent me an advance copy of his recent book, and John Trotter of Manor House Books, who offered useful insights and a valuable contact. Thanks also to my fellow research students, particularly Vanessa Harbour, Anthony Pavlik and Kate Wright; to Kathryn O’Neill for proofreading this thesis; and to Noga Applebaum, Marcella Forster, Frances Gertler, Carolyn Mahoney and Kathryn O’Neill for conversations about all things PhD. Finally, thanks to Theo, for his unfailing encouragement, patience and wisdom, and to Samuel, for keeping my feet on the ground. ii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….………………..1 Structure and methodology…………………………………………………...3 Critical and theoretical context……………………………………………….7 CHAPTER 1: ENGLAND, ‘JERUSALEM’ AND THE JEWS: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR....... 19 Jerusalem or Babylon?...................................................................................21 Conversion narratives I: transcendent children……………………………..24 Conversion narratives II: ‘muscular’ ‘Christian-Jews’……………………..27 Enlightenment voices……………………………………………………….29 Men in the street: pedlars and criminals……………………………………37 Agents of Empire or alien capitalists?...........................................................42 Integration and Empire: stories for boys………………………………….. 52 Conclusion...………………………………………………………………..60 CHAPTER 2: ‘CONVERSION’ TO ENGLISHNESS: REFUGEES AND BELONGING…………………...………………………...64 Figures of fun................................................................................................66 ‘English’ Germans…………………………………………………………69 Refugees at Boarding School………………………………………………71 Anglo-Jewry and the war…………………………………………………..75 Colonised subjects…………………………………………………………77 A sense of belonging?..................................................................................83 Post-Holocaust sensibilities: from ‘race’ to religion………………………88 Finding meaning: the ‘survivor’…………………………………………...97 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..101 CHAPTER 3: BRITISH-JEWISH IDENTITY: THE HYPHEN PROBLEM ………………………...………………………104 Politicised Jews: multicultural constructions…………………………… 106 ‘Old and hunched and beaky’: image versus ‘reality’…..……………….110 Acculturation: exoticism and ambivalence……………………………....116 Silent voices……………………………………………………………...121 ‘Boutique multiculturalism’ or cultural authenticity?...............................126 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….132 iii CHAPTER 4: MOTHER, MONSTER, MENSCH: REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER………………………………….……137 The Jewish man: at home and in the street……………………………...139 The abject man…………………………………………………………..140 In and out of the closet…………………………………………………..144 ‘Patriarchs’ and patriarchy………………………………………………147 Mensch or new Jewish man?.....................................................................151 The enclosed woman…………………………………………………… 155 The (s)mother-monster…………………………………………………..159 The man-eater and the princess………………………………………… 163 The new Jewish woman…………………………………………………166 Conclusion………………………………………………………………170 CHAPTER 5: ‘GOOD JEWS’ OR ‘BAD JEWS’?: THE JEWISH QUESTION REVISITED………….………………………..172 ‘Knights errant?’: victimised heroes…………………………………… 173 East End left-wing radicals……………………………………………...179 The Middle East, past and present………………………………………183 Competing victimhoods…………………………………………………190 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….207 CONCLUSION: AT THE CROSSROADS………………………………212 WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………...222 Primary texts………………………………………………………….....222 Secondary texts………………………………………………………….231 iv Figures Fig.1.1. The Patriots of Palestine (1899) 28 by Charlotte M. Yonge. Ill. by W. S. Stacey. p. 39 Fig 1.2. The Slaves of Sabinus (1890) by Charlotte M. Yonge. 28 Ill. by C J. Staniland. p. 87 Fig 1.3. Fagin in Oliver Twist Retold for Boys and Girls 38 (1910) by Charles Dickens. Abridged by Alice F. Jackson. Ill. by F.M.B. Blaikie. p. 110 Fig 1.4. The World Turned Upside Down, or No News, 40 and Strange News (c.1860), J. Kendrew. p. 26 Fig 1.5. ‘The Treasure and the Law’ in Puck of Pook’s Hill 46 (1906) by Rudyard Kipling. Ill. by H.R. Millar. p. 299 Fig 1.6. ‘The Jew of St. Jim’s’ by Martin Clifford. 58 The Gem Library. 28 August 1915. Fig. 1.7. ‘The Schoolboy Outcast’ by Frank Richards. 59 The Magnet Library. 30 March 1912. Fig 2.1. ‘William and the Nasties’ in William the Detective 67 (1935) by Richmal Crompton. Ill. by Thomas Henry. p. 130 Fig 2.2. Gretel at St. Bride’s (1940) by Mary K. Harris. 73 Ill. by Drake Brookshaw. Frontispiece Fig. 2.3. Back cover of Other People’s Houses (1964) 78 by Lore Segal. Fig 2.4. Almost an Englishman (1979) by Charles Hannam 84 Front cover. Fig 2.5. Faraway Home (1999) by Marilyn Taylor. 98 Cover ill. by Kevin Chadwick. Fig 3.1. A Box for Benny (1958) by Leila Berg. 108 Ill.by Jillian Willett. Fig 3.2. After Thursday (1985) by Jean Ure. 115 Cover ill. by Derek Brazell. (Methuen Teens edition) Fig 3.3. The Morning Gift (1993) by Eva Ibbotson. 122 Cover image Ron Levine/The Image Bank/Getty Images. (Young Picador edition, 2007) v Fig 3.4. Dan and the Mudman (2008) by Jonny Zucker 130 Fig 4.1. The Star and the Sword by Pamela Melnikoff (1965). 144 Ill by Hans Schwarz. Fig 4.2. The Lion and the Unicorn (1998) by Shirley Hughes 155 Fig. 4.3. Lynne Reid Banks’s One More River (1973). 167 Cover ill. by Caroline Binch. (Penguin edition, 1998). Fig 5.1. David, Solomon, Susannah and Robin (centre) 174 in The Red Towers of Granada (1966) by Geoffrey Trease. Ill. by Charles Keeping. Fig 5.2. Street of Tall People by Alan Gibbons (1995). 182 Cover ill. by Derek Brazell. Fig 5.3. The Most Magnificent Mosque (2004) 183 by Ann Jungman. Ill. by Shelley Fowles. Fig 5.4. The Kites are Flying (2009) by Michael Morpurgo. 189 Ill. by Laura Carlin. vi Introduction When the protagonist of The Red Towers of Granada (1966), Geoffrey Trease’s novel set in thirteenth-century Nottingham, is forced to take temporary refuge with a family in the Jewish ghetto, the young scholar gains an insight into Jewish beliefs and rituals as well as the family’s experience on the margins of the hegemonic culture. Solomon of Stamford, the doctor who comes to Robin’s aid, was born in Spain and, he explains, by rights he should call himself Solomon of Seville. ‘“But I was taken to Stamford when I was a youth and” – he hesitated and smiled shyly – “in England it is wiser to look as though you belong!”’ His son, David, responds to the comment with the bitter retort, ‘A Jew can never belong! They will not let us’ (28). The exchange highlights questions of identity, belonging and exclusion for members of a minority group. Such issues have