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Jun. 22nd, 2015 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsAt some point in the past year or so, nextian and I were hanging out and talking about George Eliot's Daniel Deronda and other terribly well-meant Victorian novels about virtuous Jews, as you do.
"Oh," saidnextian, "if you liked ... laughing awkwardly at ... Daniel Deronda, then you should ABSOLUTELY read Harrington. It's the ultimate well-meant Victorian novel about virtuous Jews!"
Much like Our Mutual Friend, Harrington was written because a Jewish reader wrote to Moderately Famous Victorian Novelist Maria Edgeworth to politely complain that many of Edgeworth's novels were super anti-Semitic.
Maria Edgeworth promptly spends the first three chapters of Harrington having her protagonist explain, in great detail, how he spent most of his childhood terrified of evil Jews.
HARRINGTON: No, see, it's because my terrible nursemaid used that nice old Jewish peddler to scare me when I was a kid! I got nervous fits and suffered terribly!
Then Harrington goes off to school, where he becomes chums with Terrible Lord Mowbray. Harrington and Mowbray's favorite thing to do is hang out and torment Jacob, the Jewish peddler kid who comes to sell things to the rich kids.
SOME KID WITH A PENCIL CASE: But Jacob is HONEST and TRUE and he REFUSED to let me pay more for the pencil case than it was worth --
MOWBRAY: OMG, Pencil Case Kid, will you ever shut up about that stupid pencil case?
HARRINGTON: Yeah! Ugh, Pencil Case Kid, I can't believe you bought a Jewish pencil case.
But then one day Mowbray goes TOO FAR in making fun of Jacob because Jacob won't tell him who his dad is, and Harrington has a sudden realization that what they're doing is kind of shitty and tells Mowbray to can it! CAN IT, HE SAYS.
As is often the way of things in this sort of book, this one instance of not being a complete and total asshole is enough to win Harrington the UNDYING LOYALTY of trusty Jacob.
JACOB: And actually, the thing is, the whole reason I didn't want to tell Mowbray who my dad was is because he is in fact the same peddler who used to give you nervous fits when you were a kid! And, even though you had never been anything but a total asshole to me at that time, I figured that might be sort of embarrassing for you to be reminded of in the middle of all your asshole friends and therefore decided I would not reveal it.
HARRINGTON: Oh, trusty Jacob, how could I have been so blind?!? Jews are the greatest!
So Harrington trots off to college, where he hangs out with a super-cool but plot-irrelevant Jew, and then comes home, all grown up and determined to make friends with EVEN MORE JEWS!
Sadly his mother then tears up the Cool Jewish Letter of Introduction to Cool Jews that he got from college, so Harrington is tragically thwarted in hsi efforts. The only person Harrington's mother wants him to make friends with is Terrible Lord Mowbray, who is also all grown up, and might possibly be less of a dick now (but of course is not.)
MOWBRAY: Ummmm how about we go meet an actor who is playing a Jew, does that count?
HARRINGTON: ... eh, I mean, sure, good enough.
So off they go to the theater, where who do they happen to encounter but ... a comely Jewess! Plus her tacky friends.
TACKY FRIEND #1: Shit, did we just accidentally bring our Jewish friend to a production of Merchant of Venice? Shiiiiiiiiit.
TACKY FRIEND #2: .... sorry, Berenice. Ummmm. We'd leave, but these tickets were hella expensive, so ...
BERENICE: It's FINE, it's fine, I will just ... sit behind this pole ... where I can't see any of the hideously offensive things happening in front of our face. Yes. This is fine.
HARRINGTON: Man, I never realized it before I saw this incredibly beautiful woman looking pained and disgusted, but Merchant of Venice is kind of hideously offensive? It's kind of hideously offensive!
Needless to say, Harrington promptly falls madly in love -- with Beautiful Berenice, who is also a fabulously rich heiress, but perhaps even MORESO with her highly cultured and intelligent father, Mr. Montenero.
MONTENERO: We're from America, where nobody is prejudiced against Jews at all, ever!
HARRINGTON: I hope you will not also think we are prejudiced in England! Nobody intelligent or well-bred is prejudiced here either! Look, here, to prove it, I will bring my mom to visit --
HARRINGTON'S MOM: I will visit a Jewish house over MY DEAD BODY.
HARRINGTON: Mom you are EMBARRASSING ME.
HARRINGTON'S MOM: I am sorry son but I just have a BAD FEELING about JEWS.
So instead, to prove his point that British society is totally not anti-Semitic, Harrington starts taking Mowbray along to hang out with the Monteneros instead, because that seems like a good idea.
Coincidentally, Trusty Jacob is also working for the Monteneros, because all Jews definitely know each other. (...actually Jewish familial, cultural and trade networks in this period in fact were very strong, OK, FINE, WHATEVER. Anyway.)
TRUSTY JACOB: Harrington, I love you, but I think Mowbray is a despicable person in every way.
HARRINGTON: Is this about how he relentlessly tormented you when we were in school? ... because to me that seems kind of like holding a petty childhood grudge, shame on you, Jacob!
TRUSTY JACOB: Well IN FACT it's about how he then grew up, joined the Army, led a bunch of ANTI-SEMITIC RIOTS, SPECIFICALLY AGAINST ME, and set all my stuff on fire ...
HARRINGTON: .... well, he seems fine now ... and he's the only person who will come hang out with the Monteneros with me, so ... you should try to be the bigger person!
So Harrington keeps bringing Mowbray along to chill with the Monteneros. They go on field trips together! Mowbray is witty and ironic! Harrington has LOTS OF FEELINGS!
MONTENERO: It's OK, I like young people feeling feelings! I'm not into these hipsters with their irony, cough, Mowbray.
HARRINGTON: Oh, really? Oh, gosh, if you like people feeling feelings, I am so ready to feel all my feelings SO MUCH!
And, hilariously, Harrington REALLY DOES SO. He COMMITS. He goes -- asinnerbrat, who has never even read Les Mis, pointed out when I was attempting to describe this to her -- the full Pontmercy and a half. He goes to museums, and drops to his knees in front of various artifacts on display, and wanders through the hallways declaiming random snippets of poetry, and then is deeply confused when Berenice and Montenero give him weird looks! He goes to auctions and has fainting fits because he is SO OVERCOME WITH HORROR at seeing an anti-Semitic picture, and Montenero is like "Ummmmmmmmm. I dunno, this seems .... excessive .......?"
But this happy interlude of constant FEELINGS ends when Harrington's anti-Semitic father hears that he's seeing a Jewish girl and threatens to cut him off completely if he proposes.
HARRINGTON: Fine, Dad, I'll propose TOMORROW!
MOWBRAY: Well, you might want to wait until you're sure she'll be into you if you're penniless
HARRINGTON: That doesn't matter anyway because she's super rich. And for her, I would happily overcome my pride and live on my wife's money! Because I love her THAT MUCH.
MOWBRAY: Or -- just a thought here -- a little idea I had -- we could have a little competition and I could see if she wants to marry me. Because, bro, I could really use the cash.
HARRINGTON: OMG! I didn't really listen to Jacob when he told me all those things about anti-Semitic riots and setting things on fire, but now that you're trying to steal my girl, I see that you really ARE a despicable person in every way!
HARRINGTON: Maybe I'll challenge Mowbray to a DUEL!
MOWBRAY: Maybe I'll challenge Harrington to a duel!
BERENICE: You know who I have sworn an oath to super, duper, ever not marry? ANYBODY WHO CHALLENGES ANYONE TO A DUEL.
(We see very little of Berenice's actual personality in the book, but I'll say this for her, she can clearly keep her head.)
Anyway, despite Mowbray's best efforts, Berenice is un-charmed by him -- possibly something having to do with being aware of the ANTI-SEMITIC RIOTS AND SETTING THINGS ON FIRE -- so he slinks off in a huff. It is now Harrington's turn to propose! But before he can do so --
MONTENERO: I hate to break it to you, you seem like a nice kid, but there is a SECRET REASON you cannot marry my daughter! It may be that the secret reason will be resolved by plot, but I don't give you any promises.
HARRINGTON: Does it have to do with my super anti-Semitic parents? Because --
MONTENERO: Son, your super anti-Semitic parents do not even register on my give-a-fuck-o-meter.
At this point, 3/4 of the way through the book, there's a lot of plot in very rapid succession. First there's an anti-Catholic riot, which turns accidentally into an anti-Jewish riot, and the actual heroine of this book -- an old lady who knows EVERYONE IN THE MOB, like, EVERYONE, you stop that, Billy, she's got her eye on you! -- turns up to protect Berenice and Montenero from the angry hordes, because she recognizes that they are Novelist Designated Cool People. So Harrington helps her out with that, and then does some detective work to help Montenero after he's falsely accused of shooting a guy, and then he comes back and is like "can I marry Berenice NOW?" and Montenero is like "sorry, but no!" and then Harrington does more detective work to get Jacob get out of being falsely accused of stealing but he STILL cannot marry Berenice, for continuing obscure reasons, and then Harrington's dad almost goes bankrupt and Montenero helps him out so he's not super anti-Semitic anymore, but now this is even WORSE because now Harrington's mother is all like "so when are you going to marry that hot rich Jewish girl?" and Harrington has to explain that he can't for a MYSTERIOUS REASON, no, he doesn't KNOW why, Mom, would you please stop NAGGING about it already!
HARRINGTON'S MOM: ... wait, you're saying that they ... this Jewish family that we have deigned to say it might be OK for you to marry into ... might have an objection to us?
HARRINGTON: Well APPARENTLY.
HARRINGTON'S MOM: But how could they possibly object to us? We're white Protestants!
HARRINGTON'S DAD: Anyway, son, while it's true I'm not super anti-Semitic anymore, I still swore a solemn vow I'd disinherit you if you married a Jew, and a solemn vow is a solemn vow!
HARRINGTON: Well it doesn't MATTER if she'll never marry me ANYWAY. >:(
And all the while Harrington is convinced that Mowbray is plotting something terrible, until he receives a letter from a random officer!
RANDOM OFFICER: OK, here's the deal: Mowbray's been acting like a total asshole for months, and eventually he got in a fight with some kid over something that happened at school about a Jewish peddler and a pencil case ...?
HARRINGTON: OMG, Pencil Case Kid! I totally forgot about Pencil Case Kid!
RANDOM OFFICER: Anyway, Pencil Case Kid took objection to Mowbray's anti-Semitic remarks, challenged him to a duel, and shot him super dead.
HARRINGTON: Dang, Pencil Case Kid. Dang.
A moment of respectful silence for Pencil Case Kid, the other unsung hero of this novel.
Anyway, then it turns out that Mowbray was in cahoots with ... Harrington's terrible anti-Semitic childhood nurse! She confesses all: Mowbray paid her off to tell the Monteneros that Harrington was secretly totally insane! And Berenice has always been terrified of marrying a lunatic!
HARRINGTON: But how could you have believed these vile slanders were true?
MONTENERO: Look, you were wandering around museums declaiming poetry to random suits of armor ...? IT'S KIND OF WEIRD. I'm just saying.
HARRINGTON: I thought you wanted me to feel my feelings. >:(
MONTENERO: There's such a thing as too much feelings, son.
Okay, on the one hand, there is certainly no sensitive and nuanced treatment of mental illness here. On the other hand: THIS IS HILARIOUS. Finally, someone gives the over-emotional Romantic hero the respect they deserve!
HARRINGTON'S DAD: Well, I'm glad you no longer think my son is a raving lunatic, but there still remains the matter of my SOLEMN VOW about my son never marrying a Jewess!
HARRINGTON: No one cares, Dad.
MONTENERO: Actually, it's fine! Berenice isn't actually Jewish!
HARRINGTON: ...??????
MONTENERO: While I am certainly the cool Jew you always thought me to be, my wife ... was Christian! Therefore, so is Berenice. Bet you're surprised Maria Edgeworth knew Judaism was matrilineal, aren't you?
HARRINGTON: ...a little ....????
MONTENERO: Anyway, what this means is HAPPY CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE FOR EVERYONE!
HARRINGTON: But ... why didn't you ever say so during all my agonies about my super anti-Semitic parents?
MONTENERO: Well, Berenice also wanted to make sure she wasn't marrying into a family of assholes.
So there we have it. Harrington: a novel about how one virtuous man conquers anti-Semitism, personally and in society, by marrying a totally Christian lady. Thank you, Maria Edgeworth!
nextian and I were hanging out and talking about George Eliot's Daniel Deronda and other terribly well-meant Victorian novels about virtuous Jews, as you do."Oh," said
nextian, "if you liked ... laughing awkwardly at ... Daniel Deronda, then you should ABSOLUTELY read Harrington. It's the ultimate well-meant Victorian novel about virtuous Jews!"Much like Our Mutual Friend, Harrington was written because a Jewish reader wrote to Moderately Famous Victorian Novelist Maria Edgeworth to politely complain that many of Edgeworth's novels were super anti-Semitic.
Maria Edgeworth promptly spends the first three chapters of Harrington having her protagonist explain, in great detail, how he spent most of his childhood terrified of evil Jews.
HARRINGTON: No, see, it's because my terrible nursemaid used that nice old Jewish peddler to scare me when I was a kid! I got nervous fits and suffered terribly!
Then Harrington goes off to school, where he becomes chums with Terrible Lord Mowbray. Harrington and Mowbray's favorite thing to do is hang out and torment Jacob, the Jewish peddler kid who comes to sell things to the rich kids.
SOME KID WITH A PENCIL CASE: But Jacob is HONEST and TRUE and he REFUSED to let me pay more for the pencil case than it was worth --
MOWBRAY: OMG, Pencil Case Kid, will you ever shut up about that stupid pencil case?
HARRINGTON: Yeah! Ugh, Pencil Case Kid, I can't believe you bought a Jewish pencil case.
But then one day Mowbray goes TOO FAR in making fun of Jacob because Jacob won't tell him who his dad is, and Harrington has a sudden realization that what they're doing is kind of shitty and tells Mowbray to can it! CAN IT, HE SAYS.
As is often the way of things in this sort of book, this one instance of not being a complete and total asshole is enough to win Harrington the UNDYING LOYALTY of trusty Jacob.
JACOB: And actually, the thing is, the whole reason I didn't want to tell Mowbray who my dad was is because he is in fact the same peddler who used to give you nervous fits when you were a kid! And, even though you had never been anything but a total asshole to me at that time, I figured that might be sort of embarrassing for you to be reminded of in the middle of all your asshole friends and therefore decided I would not reveal it.
HARRINGTON: Oh, trusty Jacob, how could I have been so blind?!? Jews are the greatest!
So Harrington trots off to college, where he hangs out with a super-cool but plot-irrelevant Jew, and then comes home, all grown up and determined to make friends with EVEN MORE JEWS!
Sadly his mother then tears up the Cool Jewish Letter of Introduction to Cool Jews that he got from college, so Harrington is tragically thwarted in hsi efforts. The only person Harrington's mother wants him to make friends with is Terrible Lord Mowbray, who is also all grown up, and might possibly be less of a dick now (but of course is not.)
MOWBRAY: Ummmm how about we go meet an actor who is playing a Jew, does that count?
HARRINGTON: ... eh, I mean, sure, good enough.
So off they go to the theater, where who do they happen to encounter but ... a comely Jewess! Plus her tacky friends.
TACKY FRIEND #1: Shit, did we just accidentally bring our Jewish friend to a production of Merchant of Venice? Shiiiiiiiiit.
TACKY FRIEND #2: .... sorry, Berenice. Ummmm. We'd leave, but these tickets were hella expensive, so ...
BERENICE: It's FINE, it's fine, I will just ... sit behind this pole ... where I can't see any of the hideously offensive things happening in front of our face. Yes. This is fine.
HARRINGTON: Man, I never realized it before I saw this incredibly beautiful woman looking pained and disgusted, but Merchant of Venice is kind of hideously offensive? It's kind of hideously offensive!
Needless to say, Harrington promptly falls madly in love -- with Beautiful Berenice, who is also a fabulously rich heiress, but perhaps even MORESO with her highly cultured and intelligent father, Mr. Montenero.
MONTENERO: We're from America, where nobody is prejudiced against Jews at all, ever!
HARRINGTON: I hope you will not also think we are prejudiced in England! Nobody intelligent or well-bred is prejudiced here either! Look, here, to prove it, I will bring my mom to visit --
HARRINGTON'S MOM: I will visit a Jewish house over MY DEAD BODY.
HARRINGTON: Mom you are EMBARRASSING ME.
HARRINGTON'S MOM: I am sorry son but I just have a BAD FEELING about JEWS.
So instead, to prove his point that British society is totally not anti-Semitic, Harrington starts taking Mowbray along to hang out with the Monteneros instead, because that seems like a good idea.
Coincidentally, Trusty Jacob is also working for the Monteneros, because all Jews definitely know each other. (...actually Jewish familial, cultural and trade networks in this period in fact were very strong, OK, FINE, WHATEVER. Anyway.)
TRUSTY JACOB: Harrington, I love you, but I think Mowbray is a despicable person in every way.
HARRINGTON: Is this about how he relentlessly tormented you when we were in school? ... because to me that seems kind of like holding a petty childhood grudge, shame on you, Jacob!
TRUSTY JACOB: Well IN FACT it's about how he then grew up, joined the Army, led a bunch of ANTI-SEMITIC RIOTS, SPECIFICALLY AGAINST ME, and set all my stuff on fire ...
HARRINGTON: .... well, he seems fine now ... and he's the only person who will come hang out with the Monteneros with me, so ... you should try to be the bigger person!
So Harrington keeps bringing Mowbray along to chill with the Monteneros. They go on field trips together! Mowbray is witty and ironic! Harrington has LOTS OF FEELINGS!
MONTENERO: It's OK, I like young people feeling feelings! I'm not into these hipsters with their irony, cough, Mowbray.
HARRINGTON: Oh, really? Oh, gosh, if you like people feeling feelings, I am so ready to feel all my feelings SO MUCH!
And, hilariously, Harrington REALLY DOES SO. He COMMITS. He goes -- as
innerbrat, who has never even read Les Mis, pointed out when I was attempting to describe this to her -- the full Pontmercy and a half. He goes to museums, and drops to his knees in front of various artifacts on display, and wanders through the hallways declaiming random snippets of poetry, and then is deeply confused when Berenice and Montenero give him weird looks! He goes to auctions and has fainting fits because he is SO OVERCOME WITH HORROR at seeing an anti-Semitic picture, and Montenero is like "Ummmmmmmmm. I dunno, this seems .... excessive .......?" But this happy interlude of constant FEELINGS ends when Harrington's anti-Semitic father hears that he's seeing a Jewish girl and threatens to cut him off completely if he proposes.
HARRINGTON: Fine, Dad, I'll propose TOMORROW!
MOWBRAY: Well, you might want to wait until you're sure she'll be into you if you're penniless
HARRINGTON: That doesn't matter anyway because she's super rich. And for her, I would happily overcome my pride and live on my wife's money! Because I love her THAT MUCH.
MOWBRAY: Or -- just a thought here -- a little idea I had -- we could have a little competition and I could see if she wants to marry me. Because, bro, I could really use the cash.
HARRINGTON: OMG! I didn't really listen to Jacob when he told me all those things about anti-Semitic riots and setting things on fire, but now that you're trying to steal my girl, I see that you really ARE a despicable person in every way!
HARRINGTON: Maybe I'll challenge Mowbray to a DUEL!
MOWBRAY: Maybe I'll challenge Harrington to a duel!
BERENICE: You know who I have sworn an oath to super, duper, ever not marry? ANYBODY WHO CHALLENGES ANYONE TO A DUEL.
(We see very little of Berenice's actual personality in the book, but I'll say this for her, she can clearly keep her head.)
Anyway, despite Mowbray's best efforts, Berenice is un-charmed by him -- possibly something having to do with being aware of the ANTI-SEMITIC RIOTS AND SETTING THINGS ON FIRE -- so he slinks off in a huff. It is now Harrington's turn to propose! But before he can do so --
MONTENERO: I hate to break it to you, you seem like a nice kid, but there is a SECRET REASON you cannot marry my daughter! It may be that the secret reason will be resolved by plot, but I don't give you any promises.
HARRINGTON: Does it have to do with my super anti-Semitic parents? Because --
MONTENERO: Son, your super anti-Semitic parents do not even register on my give-a-fuck-o-meter.
At this point, 3/4 of the way through the book, there's a lot of plot in very rapid succession. First there's an anti-Catholic riot, which turns accidentally into an anti-Jewish riot, and the actual heroine of this book -- an old lady who knows EVERYONE IN THE MOB, like, EVERYONE, you stop that, Billy, she's got her eye on you! -- turns up to protect Berenice and Montenero from the angry hordes, because she recognizes that they are Novelist Designated Cool People. So Harrington helps her out with that, and then does some detective work to help Montenero after he's falsely accused of shooting a guy, and then he comes back and is like "can I marry Berenice NOW?" and Montenero is like "sorry, but no!" and then Harrington does more detective work to get Jacob get out of being falsely accused of stealing but he STILL cannot marry Berenice, for continuing obscure reasons, and then Harrington's dad almost goes bankrupt and Montenero helps him out so he's not super anti-Semitic anymore, but now this is even WORSE because now Harrington's mother is all like "so when are you going to marry that hot rich Jewish girl?" and Harrington has to explain that he can't for a MYSTERIOUS REASON, no, he doesn't KNOW why, Mom, would you please stop NAGGING about it already!
HARRINGTON'S MOM: ... wait, you're saying that they ... this Jewish family that we have deigned to say it might be OK for you to marry into ... might have an objection to us?
HARRINGTON: Well APPARENTLY.
HARRINGTON'S MOM: But how could they possibly object to us? We're white Protestants!
HARRINGTON'S DAD: Anyway, son, while it's true I'm not super anti-Semitic anymore, I still swore a solemn vow I'd disinherit you if you married a Jew, and a solemn vow is a solemn vow!
HARRINGTON: Well it doesn't MATTER if she'll never marry me ANYWAY. >:(
And all the while Harrington is convinced that Mowbray is plotting something terrible, until he receives a letter from a random officer!
RANDOM OFFICER: OK, here's the deal: Mowbray's been acting like a total asshole for months, and eventually he got in a fight with some kid over something that happened at school about a Jewish peddler and a pencil case ...?
HARRINGTON: OMG, Pencil Case Kid! I totally forgot about Pencil Case Kid!
RANDOM OFFICER: Anyway, Pencil Case Kid took objection to Mowbray's anti-Semitic remarks, challenged him to a duel, and shot him super dead.
HARRINGTON: Dang, Pencil Case Kid. Dang.
A moment of respectful silence for Pencil Case Kid, the other unsung hero of this novel.
Anyway, then it turns out that Mowbray was in cahoots with ... Harrington's terrible anti-Semitic childhood nurse! She confesses all: Mowbray paid her off to tell the Monteneros that Harrington was secretly totally insane! And Berenice has always been terrified of marrying a lunatic!
HARRINGTON: But how could you have believed these vile slanders were true?
MONTENERO: Look, you were wandering around museums declaiming poetry to random suits of armor ...? IT'S KIND OF WEIRD. I'm just saying.
HARRINGTON: I thought you wanted me to feel my feelings. >:(
MONTENERO: There's such a thing as too much feelings, son.
Okay, on the one hand, there is certainly no sensitive and nuanced treatment of mental illness here. On the other hand: THIS IS HILARIOUS. Finally, someone gives the over-emotional Romantic hero the respect they deserve!
HARRINGTON'S DAD: Well, I'm glad you no longer think my son is a raving lunatic, but there still remains the matter of my SOLEMN VOW about my son never marrying a Jewess!
HARRINGTON: No one cares, Dad.
MONTENERO: Actually, it's fine! Berenice isn't actually Jewish!
HARRINGTON: ...??????
MONTENERO: While I am certainly the cool Jew you always thought me to be, my wife ... was Christian! Therefore, so is Berenice. Bet you're surprised Maria Edgeworth knew Judaism was matrilineal, aren't you?
HARRINGTON: ...a little ....????
MONTENERO: Anyway, what this means is HAPPY CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE FOR EVERYONE!
HARRINGTON: But ... why didn't you ever say so during all my agonies about my super anti-Semitic parents?
MONTENERO: Well, Berenice also wanted to make sure she wasn't marrying into a family of assholes.
So there we have it. Harrington: a novel about how one virtuous man conquers anti-Semitism, personally and in society, by marrying a totally Christian lady. Thank you, Maria Edgeworth!
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Date: 2015-06-23 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 03:19 am (UTC)(And hahaha yes, it's nice to see the 'we thought you were insane' plot used against a protagonist who might actually display signs of highly questionable OTT romanticism.)
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Date: 2015-06-23 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 03:56 am (UTC)HARRINGTON: Man, I never realized it before I saw this incredibly beautiful woman looking pained and disgusted, but Merchant of Venice is kind of hideously offensive? It's kind of hideously offensive!
Oh man, did I ever tell you about the time I saw Merchant of Venice (set in pre-WWII Italy for extra oomph) and when the intermission started, the guy sitting in front of me turned to his seatmate and said "you know, I had no idea this play was so anti-Jewish!"
Which begs the question: how exactly did he end up at a performance of Merchant of Venice without having any idea what the play was about? Did he think the plot revolved around Venetian trade agreements????? (Well, to be fair . . .)
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Date: 2015-06-23 04:09 am (UTC)oh my actual fucking god
MONTENERO: While I am certainly the cool Jew you always thought me to be, my wife ... was Christian!
WHAT?
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Date: 2015-06-23 04:10 am (UTC)the guy sitting in front of me turned to his seatmate and said "you know, I had no idea this play was so anti-Jewish!"
//face in hands
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Date: 2015-06-23 05:26 am (UTC)*headdesk* {Sigh} *headdesk*
The Victorians, one of the few societies ever to successfully pastiche themselves.
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Date: 2015-06-23 05:40 am (UTC)MONTENERO: Son, your super anti-Semitic parents do not even register on my give-a-fuck-o-meter.
Your summary causes me to feel kindly toward Montenero. Also toward Jacob, trusty or not, and That Stone Cold Kid with a Pencil Case. The only reason I don't feel as kindly toward Berenice is that she rates like two lines in this thing. In that sense I suppose Edgeworth succeeded, because I think I've just named all the actual Jewish (or at least culturally Jewish) characters in the novel; outside of Jacob's dad, who doesn't sound like he actually appears in the narrative so much as the protagonist anti-Semitizes about him a lot in childhood.
MONTENERO: Look, you were wandering around museums declaiming poetry to random suits of armor ...? IT'S KIND OF WEIRD. I'm just saying.
So I'm pretty sure that "SUCK IT, STENDHAL" is never a reasonable response to a plot point, but that is the first thing I thought. Also, yes; that's hilarious.
MONTENERO: Anyway, what this means is HAPPY CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE FOR EVERYONE!
. . . How much do I hope that Berenice wants to be married in a synagogue anyway? Lots. How much do I expect that is not the point? Sigh.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 07:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 07:26 am (UTC)This kind of reminds me of that one Star Trek episode about an alien who falls in love with a human man which was supposed to be a sympathetic metaphor for interracial marriage but is kind of undermined by the happy ending being that the alien winds up with a human female body that the human man finds attractive.
Also, there's clearly a whole world of terribly well-meant stories about virtuous Jews I wasn't previously aware of. The one I always think about is a short story by Rudyard Kipling in which it's true that Jews have a supernatural affinity for money and are running a secret conspiracy to manipulate the world's governments, but they're really a force for good apart from the occasional rogue and they only poison the wells of people who really deserve it.
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Date: 2015-06-23 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 12:52 pm (UTC)"MY WIFE WAS CHRISTIAN ALL ALONG."
The most amazing twist. Ahahahaha.
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Date: 2015-06-23 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 05:16 pm (UTC)"The Treasure and the Law"! Wherein the Jews of England secretly manipulate the economy toward the signing of the Magna Carta.
I appreciate that he also wrote "The House Surgeon," where the Jewishness of the family with the not exactly haunted house is mostly incidental and unconnected to the nature of the not exactly haunting. But I still look at the last story of Puck of Pook's Hill and . . . yeah.
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Date: 2015-06-23 05:20 pm (UTC)Now I want to read this book.
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Date: 2015-06-23 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 06:50 pm (UTC)Same! I'm not sure if I was overestimating or underestimating Maria Edgeworth with that expectation, compared to what the novel actually provided...
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Date: 2015-06-23 07:38 pm (UTC)I mean, it kind of actually makes sense in the context of Victorian literature. But still.
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Date: 2015-06-23 08:01 pm (UTC)That's what I was thinking too! Fandom has ruined me. :-)
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Date: 2015-06-23 09:50 pm (UTC)Also I'm going to be using "give-a-fuck-o'meter" at every opportunity now, so thank you for improving my life.
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Date: 2015-06-23 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-23 10:17 pm (UTC)