Description
The King of Schnorrers is one of the most widely-known works by Israel Zangwill and a social satire that is thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time.Written and first published in 1894, the book immortalizes the character of the schnorrer Yiddish for beggar in a funny way, presenting the insolent and resourceful Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, the man who has transformed begging into an elevated art form.The book is witty and the author often directs his irony and criticism against the Jewish community in the London of the 18th century. He does so even though Zangwill himself was one of the leaders of the movement of cultural Zionism and one of the distinguished members of the community he satirizes in this book.The King of Schnorrers is not all fun and humor, though. There is depth and a very serious streak to both the story line and the character depictions. It contains vivid depictions of the way one comes to regard oneself in relation to others and the concept of social responsibility is also discussed. Tolerance, charitable actions, social and intellectual superiority are also among the defining themes of the novel.This novel is not the only one in which Zangwill presents the life of the Jewish community in London. Many of his plays and novels revolve around the topic of what it was like to be a Jew in London and his extraordinary storytelling talent earned him the name he was frequently referred as: the Dickens of the Ghetto. His most well-known books include Children of the Ghetto, Dreamers of the Ghetto, Grandchildren of the Ghetto, Ghetto Tragedies and Ghetto Comedies, but he wrote successful books about other topics as well, such as The Bachelors Club, The Big Bow Mystery, The Master and Merely Mary Ann.