While the rest of us were celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens and doesn't he look well for his age the Jewish Chronicle were busy implying he was anti Semitic for using stereotypes towards the Jewish community like Fagin in Oliver Twist.
In a rather confused long winded article Jenniffer Lipman seems to be arguing with herself when she reluctantly appears to acknowledge what the the rest of the world has that Dickens was perhaps this country's finest writer although Shakespeare fans might have something to say about that.
LM found it ironic how my old muckers at the JC attack a writer of Dicken's calibre for apparently using stereotypes yet remarkably stay silent when Jewish owned organisations most notably in the form of Richard Desmond's stable of papers like the Daily Excrement and Daily Star currently do the very same to Muslims. Interestingly Ms Lippman is never slow and correctly so when stereotypes are still used towards Jews however, perhaps the next time we Muslims come under unwarranted attack from a Jewish proprietors stable of papers the JC will similarly and consistently attack the use of Muslim stereotypes.
In a rather confused long winded article Jenniffer Lipman seems to be arguing with herself when she reluctantly appears to acknowledge what the the rest of the world has that Dickens was perhaps this country's finest writer although Shakespeare fans might have something to say about that.
LM found it ironic how my old muckers at the JC attack a writer of Dicken's calibre for apparently using stereotypes yet remarkably stay silent when Jewish owned organisations most notably in the form of Richard Desmond's stable of papers like the Daily Excrement and Daily Star currently do the very same to Muslims. Interestingly Ms Lippman is never slow and correctly so when stereotypes are still used towards Jews however, perhaps the next time we Muslims come under unwarranted attack from a Jewish proprietors stable of papers the JC will similarly and consistently attack the use of Muslim stereotypes.
No, Dickens did not dislike Jews.
ReplyDeleteDickens was accused of anti-semitism at the time the book was published and Dickens was remorseful about it after these criticisms came about and included positive references to Jews in his later works. His portrayal of Fagin was not so much a personal commentary of Jews, but the normal archetypal view of them at the time - so Fagin is not a representation of Dickens's view - but a representation of Victorian English views.
Today we read Dickens as a book, in literature - however at the time, Dickens was published by chapter and were consumed in the same way we consume soaps today - chapter by chapter, with the greater public wondering what was going to happen next and gossiping about the characters.
The biggest opinion theme going through Dickens and Oliver Twist is actually his makeup of Central London, the class system and recent Victorian discoveries and theories about genetics. Dicken's portrayal was not an intentional attack on the Jews - he was merely embodying a highly recognisable archetypal jewish villain, which was a common figure in Victorian English conversation and awareness at the time. This view that came from the fact that at the time - most Jews worked in the "money" trade - which was a despised at the time and regarded as a "sinful" trade, and Jews did this because they could not find work in other trades due to discrimination against them at the time, and this was one of the few options of earning a living available to them.
Stereotypes are very much alive and well today (Jewish and otherwise) and again, they are a representation of the greater consciousness of the time. They exist because they connect, they connect because there is mass agreement, dialogue, fictional work and news that reinforce them almost continually - and more often than not, they exist because of their closeness to the wider perceived "truth" - that "truth" being defined as "what I will not speak out and admit to publicly, but what I believe internally".
Stereotypes are basically "character templates" that can shortcut you straight to the heart of a character because the reader already has all of the information they need in order to relate to the character appropriately and identify him / her quickly as hero or villain.
So yes, Fagin is an anti-semitic portrayal because he is a negative character and more often than not - we interpret "negative" as "anti". But to say "Dickens was antisemitic" is to ignore the whole body of his works, ignore the proper decorum for approaching literature and to ignore the culture of the whole entire Victorian period and society, and even to ignore HIM.
Dicken's is part of a bigger picture and much longer journey of anti-semitism, the evidence of which begins with records of it in the Old Testament - all the way up until today. Oliver Twist is but a drop in an ocean.
Who is this chap Dicken you keep talking about?
ReplyDeleteI agree that certain sectors of the press in this country can be moronically prejudiced at times and encourage knee-jerk xenophobia. However, to pick on this (well written and thoughtful)article and use it as an excuse to lament the paucity of balanced reporting in the JC is a little hypocritical, isn't it? Surely you should then expect The Muslim News (http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/) to highlight prejudice in the Islamic community in the same way and to report on world affairs in a balanced and fair-minded way? Take a look - I think you're in for a long wait...
ReplyDelete(you might, as an interesting starting point, read this article on Nigeria: http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=5675)