Good Goy , Bad Goy : Representations of non-Jews in the London Yiddish Press, 1915–1930.
When Yiddish writers depicted London's Jewish East End in feuilleton urban sketches in the Yiddish press, they most often described a world made up solely of the Yiddish-speaking immigrant community. However, the East End was not an isolated ghetto, and there was significant contact with the non-Jew...
| Publicado en: | Prooftexts Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 106 - 136 |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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Indiana University Press
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=195708321&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 195708321 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02729601 29G jtl: Prooftexts issn: 02729601 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 42 iid: 2 pid: 211 pub: Indiana University Press artinfo: ui: 195708321 10.2979/ptx.00033 ppf: 106 ppct: 30 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 477KB tig: atl: Good Goy , Bad Goy : Representations of non-Jews in the London Yiddish Press, 1915–1930. aug: au: Lachs, Vivi affil: Queen Mary, University of London su: Yiddish language Cultural identity Jewish communities Literary form Interwar Period (1918-1939) Jews 20th century (Literary period) London (England) East End (London, England) sug: subj: London (England) East End (London, England) Yiddish language Cultural identity Jewish communities Literary form Interwar Period (1918-1939) Jews 20th century (Literary period) ab: When Yiddish writers depicted London's Jewish East End in feuilleton urban sketches in the Yiddish press, they most often described a world made up solely of the Yiddish-speaking immigrant community. However, the East End was not an isolated ghetto, and there was significant contact with the non-Jewish authorities, neighbors, and fellow workers in the streets. Indeed, non-Jewish characters appear in around 20 percent of the local feuilletons written in London between the 1880s and the 1950s. This article analyzes the breadth and position of these non-Jewish characters. It subverts Bryan Cheyette's theory of how "the Jew" appears as "other" in English literature by arguing that the non-Jew is used as a stooge in order to critique Jewish immigrant life and as a contribution to local debate. The feuilleton was a perfect genre for this task. Through an analysis of a range of feuilletons from World War I and the interwar period, this article makes visible the discussions within a small immigrant community and considers the range of words used for non-Jewish characters, focusing on the word "goy" as a pivotal means of separating Jew from non-Jew. It explores how Jews capitalize on this use when they call each other "goy" in order to underline the breadth of debate and cultural difference that existed within London's Jewish community. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Prooftexts is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Prooftexts holder: Indiana University Press dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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