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Re: Verne's anti-semitism

From: <Leyonmarks~at~aol.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 13:22:28 EDT
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

   A few more thoughts re: Verne's anti-semitism:
1. I have only encountered a few novels of Verne in which a character is
expressly said to be a Jew, other than Hakabut in Hector Servadac- the innkeeper
in Carpathian Castle, and a minor character in Southern Star. I recall neither
as being virulent, and in the case of the Carpathian innkeeper, the worst
that can be said of him is that he recognizes a chance to make a buck.
2.It is certainly worth remembering that Verne wrote without the
foreknowledge of twentieth century horror, and should not be judged in the light of later
experience. Still, I cannot believe anti-semitism was ever considered polite
in 19th century France. Human decency is still human decency. It seems Hetzel
himself implored Verne to tone down Hakabut's portrayal, and given how much
influence he wielded over Verne, doesn't it seem odd that here's where Verne put
his foot down and insisted on his right as an author?
   3. I wonder if Verne considered his portrayal of the Jew in Hector
Servadac as any different than his occasionally nasty portrayals of characters of
other nationalities.
For example, his German in the Begum's Fortune is essentially a Nazi, and the
German train passenger in Claudius Bombernac was a disgusting fool. Perhaps
Verne was an 'equal opportunity bigot,' deriding any group he took a fancy to
mocking, for the sake of humor.
   4. I understand Verne had at least one Jewish friend, the composer
Hoffman. Perhaps he just didn't draw any connection between his anti-semitism in
Hector Servadac and his personal life.
   By the way, Hector Servadac is my favorite, or near favorite, Verne novel,
and it is really galling to have to deal with the Isaac character. -Roger
Leyonmark
Received on Tue 09 Sep 2003 - 20:25:44 IDT

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