Before Daniel Deronda: George Eliot and the Jews
George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, is one of the most famous authors in the English language. Much ink has been spilled trying to portray her as an early feminist, a proto-socialist and/or a woman 'oppressed by the patriarchy' because of her relationship with a married man.
I don't propose to delve too much into this murky field of literary scholarship, but I would like to highlight something that is well-known to any scholar of George Eliot, but has seen little mention outside of it: she was anti-Semitic.
This might sound preposterous to many: how can the author of 'Daniel Deronda', the most overtly pro-jewish classic novel in the British language, have been an anti-Semite?
The key is understanding this is that 'Daniel Deronda' was Eliot's last novel published towards the end of her life and was a radical departure from anything she had hitherto written. Indeed much of 'Daniel Deronda' is autobiographical and merely inserts a few plot twists and a jewish-gentile love story into the mix. (1)
It is also contested whether 'Daniel Deronda' can be classified as a philo-Semitic or anti-Semitic novel since, as Ashton points out, it is written as much against jewish ethnic particularism as Christian anti-jewish prejudice. (2) This is reinforced by McDonagh who argues that Eliot's Christian-based jewish assimilationism can be seen as form of anti-Semitism (3) and is seen as such by many jews to this day. (4)
Indeed Eliot was a 'conventional anti-Semite' (5) who as a young girl wrote of jews that:
'Almost all their history is utterly revolting... Everything specifically Jewish is of a low grade.' (6)
We can also see this strong anti-Semitic feeling in her novels. In Eliot's personal favourite among her novels 'Romula'; the jews of Spain and Portugal are labelled as merciless usurers and thus the Florentine people are justified in not wanting them to come to their fair city. Later we see Eliot label all Christian bankers as being 'Rothschilds' and to have a 'special curve in their nose' – a reference to the famous 'jewish nose' – which manifests their descent from 'the ancient harpies'.
She even goes as far as to openly label the jews as scum whose ancestors are in hell.
Similarly in 'Felix Holt: The Radical' Eliot refers to all jews as being rich and the principle opponents against which Christians must struggle.
She also introduces a character named Baruch Nolan who is a 'tired London hosier'. Nolan is exotic looking and has 'sharp dark eyes' as well as a 'prominent hooked nose', which show him in sharp contrast to his rural English neighbours. He married a young girl early in life for her money and used this new capital to make a fortune in business.
Nolan is also extremely secretive and said to have a large amount of money that no one knows about in addition to being a very agreeable conversationalist (a-la the high verbal IQ of Ashkenazi jews). Eliot states that no one knew if he was jewish or not, because he hadn't followed a common trade associated with them (i.e., a pedlar).
However Eliot does tell us that he like was one and that he predictably also wielded much secret influence within the community by using his wealth and conversational skills.
We know that Mr. Nolan is likely intended to be a jew from Eliot's novel 'Silas Marner' where she describes the man who steals Silas' treasure as a 'swarthy, foreign-looking pedlar'. As we have already seen in 'Felix Holt'; Eliot – correctly as it happens – (7) associated jewishness with the pedlar trade. In addition in 'Romula' she directly states that a swarthy complexion and hooked nose are the physical symbols of a character's jewish identity.
Therefore we can say that Mr. Nolan is likely a jewish character and clearly an anti-Semitic depiction of the jew as a subversive political threat to the European nation state.
This anti-Semitic depiction of jewish behaviour is also seen in her novel 'Middlemarch'; where the banker Bullstrode's past as a 'jew pawnbroker' is revealed with the term itself being a synonym for unscrupulous capitalism.
Further there are suggestions of the biological construction of jewishness in Eliot's mind when she has the hero Will Ladislaw called 'the grandson of a thieving jewish pawnbroker'. This necessarily infers that the shameful status of jewishness is transmitted ancestrally not just by one's own actions or religious confession.
Similarly in 'Mr. Gilfil's Love Story' in her 'Scenes of Clerical Life' a woman who always pleads poverty, but in fact has a good income, is pejoratively referred to as a 'jewess' by Eliot. Indicating once again that Eliot held strong anti-jewish views at the time.
What happened to change Eliot's stridently anti-Semitic comments in her earlier novels to the Zionist assimilationism of her last novel 'Daniel Deronda'?
The first thing to realize about Eliot is that she was an inveterate reverse snob and absolutely despised those who were better educated and wealthier than her. This is evidenced for example in a sneering letter she wrote to fellow novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe in October 1876, which spat venom at the 'educated people' who dare to crack jokes at the expense of the jews. (8)
The point is that Eliot first and foremost wanted to be seen as superior to those who were of a higher social status than herself, which is indeed a common theme in many of her novels. These are not infrequently infected with a social commentary that is rooted in the politics of inverse snobbery and materialistic jealousy.
The second thing to realize is that Eliot was a political romantic and believed that there could be a political revolution of sorts against her social superiors. This was derived, as stated above, from her habitual inverse snobbery and jealousy, which in turn informed her literary output.
Her 1866 novel 'Felix Holt' is the best example of this; since it was intended to assist the radical party in agitating for the electoral reforms that were subsequently achieved in 1867 through the Second Reform Act.
Polite society retaliated against this by starting false rumours that Eliot's long-time married paramour George Henry Lewes was himself jewish. (9)
So when in May 1867 Eliot met Emanuel Deutsch in the British Museum: she was primed and ready looking for new charges and ammunition to use against her social superiors.
Deutsch was a young jew from Germany, an Orientalist and a renowned Talmudic scholar. (10) He flattered Eliot – who had little attention from men throughout her life as she was the proverbial 'ugly duckling' – and asked Eliot for advice on a forthcoming article on the Talmud that he was writing for 'The Quarterly Review'. (11)
The attention of the young eminent jewish intellectual likely triggered a whole series of desires and feelings that had been long-dead in Eliot. She was now important, eminent and beautiful again in Deutsch's eyes. It is likely that she was in love with Deutsch since when he died from dancer in 1873; she wrote 'Daniel Deronda' as a literary memorial to him. (12)
Eliot's obsession with all things jewish after Deutsch's death lead her to attend a book fair in Frankfurt-am-Main and ended up with her purchasing several books on jewish history and ideas. (13) She also attended a synagogue (14) and studied Kabbalah while she was in Frankfurt. (15)
This reinforced Eliot's belief that she was extremely knowledgeable about Judaism and jewish history. Lewes aptly described Eliot's vision of herself when he wrote to a correspondent that:
'You are surprised at her knowledge of the Jews? But only learned Rabbis are so profoundly versed in Jewish history and literature as she is.' (16)
This is of course hyperbolic nonsense. Eliot knew a fair amount about jewish history and literature to be sure, but she only knew what jews told her and didn't really delve any deeper.
The unfortunate truth is that Eliot's desire to believe that jews had been unjustly persecuted throughout history was reinforced by historical works that deliberately minimized non-jewish achievement, maximized both jewish superiority and emphasized that jews had been persecuted because non-jews were irrational and jealous of their betters. (17)
Thus it was Eliot's desire to believe that got her into trouble since she uncritically believed jewish self-description without looking to independent sources, which might have suggested to her that she was being intellectual hasty. Her emotion engaged by her love for Deutsch and a bitter sense of sadness after his death combined with the peculiar jewish scholarship of the time lead her to change her views from a conventional anti-Semitism to a kind of radical Zionist assimilationism.
Eliot is therefore a woman who should stand as a warning to all people about how emotions can lead you to make clouded ideologically-driven judgements surrounding important and controversial issues.
References
(1) Marghanita Laski, 1973, 'George Eliot and her World', 1st Edition, Thames and Hudson: London, p. 106
(2) Rosemary Ashton, 1996, 'George Eliot: A Life', 1st Editon, Hamish Hamilton: London, p. 348; also Idem., 1983, 'George Eliot', 1st Edition, Oxford University Press: New York, p. 83
(3) Josephine McDonagh, 1997, 'George Eliot', 1st Edition, Northcote House: Plymouth, p. 72
(4) Cf. Alan Dershowitz, 1998, 'The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of a Jewish Identity for the Next Century', 1st Edition, Touchstone: New York
(5) Laski, Op. Cit., p. 103
(6) Ibid.
(7) Cf. Betty Naggar, 1992, 'Jewish Pedlars and Hawkers, 1740-1940', 1st Edition, Porphyrogenitus: London
(8) Ashton, 'George Eliot: A Life', Op. Cit., p. 348
(9) Ibid., pp. 355-356
(10) Laski, Op. Cit., p. 103; Brenda Maddox, 2009, 'George Eliot: Novelist, Lover, Wife', 1st Edition, Harper Press: London, p. 151
(11) Ashton, 'George Eliot: A Life', Op. Cit., p. 304
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ibid., p. 336
(14) Ibid.
(15) Gillian Beer, 1986, 'George Eliot', 1st Edition, Harvest Press: Brighton, p. 216
(16) Ashton, 'George Eliot: A Life', Op. Cit., p. 355
(17) Cf. Albert Lindemann, 1997, 'Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York