The Portrait of The Jew in The Balzacian Novel

Unlike other novelists of the early nineteenth century, Honore de Balzac created important literary characters who were Jewish. Although he borrowed certain traits, his Jews were not the stereotypes commonly found in earlier literature. Balzac used his ability to penetrate the facade of reality in order to explore human experience and to depict French society. Because the Jews had a special relationship to the French community, they were also scrutinized by the author. As he began to observe the Jew, his perspicacity dispelled the superficiality of the demonic archetype which was commonly accepted. As Balzac probed into the motivation of the Jew, he realized his own affinity with them. In his portraits of the Jew he created outsiders and pariahs with all the strengths of such excluded types and challenged them to triumph over the society which rejected them. Balzac develops in the successful Jew, a Promethean figure who uses his authenticity, will and intelligence to achieve his goal.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

French

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Grodzinsky, Frances Schlamowitz

• Literature, Romance

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8026505

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/67925