The King of Schnorrers: Grotesques and Fantasies

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zangwill, Israel, 1864-1926

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The King of Schnorrers: Grotesques and Fantasies" by Israel Zangwill is a fictional work written in the late 19th century. This novel employs humor and social commentary to explore the lives of Jewish beggars, or schnorrers, in London during the close of the 18th century. Central to the narrative is Joseph Grobstock, a wealthy man whose encounters with the unique character Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, a schnorrer, set up a series of comic misunderstandings that reveal the contrasts between wealth, charity, and identity within the Jewish community. The opening of the novel introduces us to the bustling scene outside a synagogue as Joseph Grobstock emerges, eager to distribute alms to a crowd of beggars waiting outside-a motley collection of schnorrers, each with their own story. With humor and a dash of mischief, Grobstock hands out packets of coins, delighting in the reactions of the crowds when they discover the varied contents within. However, when he mistakenly offers a packet to Manasseh, a highly intelligent and proud schnorrer, the interaction flips, leading to a clash of classes and a humorous exploration of charity, entitlement, and communal bonds. This initial encounter sets the stage for a complex relationship that blurs the lines between benefactor and beggar, ultimately illuminating social dynamics and cultural identity within the backdrop of Jewish life in England. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Contents:

The King of Schnorrers

The semi-sentimental dragon

An honest log-roller

A tragi-comedy of creeds

The memory clearing house

Mated by a waiter

The principal boy

An odd life

Cheating the gallows

Santa Claus

A rose of the Ghetto

A double-barrelled ghost

Vagaries of a viscount

The queen's triplets

A successful operation

Flutter-Duck: a Ghetto grotesque.

Credits:

Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Notes:

Reading ease score: 74.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.

Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Schnorrers

Release date is 2011-12-26