Faina Georgiyevna Ranevskaya ( Russian : Фаина Георгиевна Раневская , born Faina Girschevna Feldman , 27 August [ O.S. 15 August] 1896 — 19 July 1984) was a Soviet actress. She is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for her aphorisms .
137-424: She acted in plays by Anton Chekhov , Alexander Ostrovsky , Maxim Gorky , Ivan Krylov , Fyodor Dostoevsky , Leo Tolstoy , and others. She was born as Faina Feldman (Фельдман) to a wealthy Jewish family in the city of Taganrog , Russian Empire . Her father, Girsch Haimovich Feldman, owned a dry-ink factory, several buildings, a shop and the steamboat "Saint Nicolas". He was the head of Taganrog synagogue and
274-460: A New Jersey accent and being overprotective of her son. This character can also be seen from George Costanza ’s mother in Seinfeld , and Daniela Paguro, mother of the main character of the movie Luca . Jewish-American princess ( JAP ) is a pejorative stereotype that portrays some upper-middle-class Jewish women as spoiled brats, implying entitlement and selfishness , attributed to
411-647: A languid expression. An example of this stereotype is Rebecca in Sir Walter Scott 's Ivanhoe . Another example is Miriam in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's romance The Marble Faun . The Jewish mother stereotype is both a common stereotype and a stock character that is used by Jewish as well as non-Jewish comedians , television and film writers, actors, and authors in the United States and elsewhere. The stereotype generally involves
548-556: A nagging , loud, manipulative, highly-talkative, overprotective, smothering, and overbearing mother, who persists in interfering in her children's lives long after they have become adults and is excellent at making her children feel guilty for actions that may have caused her to suffer. The stereotype is described in detail in Dan Greenburg 's best-selling 1964 humor book, How to Be a Jewish Mother: A Very Lovely Training Manual . The Jewish mother stereotype can also involve
685-527: A prejudiced and antisemitic nature. Reproduced common objects, phrases and traditions are used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness. This includes but is not limited to the complaining and guilt-inflicting Jewish mother, often along with a meek nice Jewish boy, and the spoiled and materialistic Jewish-American princess. In caricatures and cartoons , Ashkenazi Jews are usually depicted as having large hook-noses and dark beady eyes with drooping eyelids. Exaggerated or grotesque Jewish facial features were
822-435: A "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text." The plays that Chekhov wrote were not complex, but easy to follow, and created a somewhat haunting atmosphere for the audience. Chekhov began writing stories to earn money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations that influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that
959-546: A career in the theater. Faina became estranged from her family over her choice of career, which they apparently rejected. She started as an extra actor in crowd or background scenes at the Summer Theater in Malakhovka near Moscow in 1915, where she also had a dacha. The Feldman family emigrated in 1917, but Faina decided to stay and continued her acting career, working in the theaters of Kerch , Rostov-on-Don , at
1096-614: A census. The letters Chekhov wrote during the two-and-a-half-month journey to Sakhalin are considered to be among his best. His remarks to his sister about Tomsk were to become notorious. Tomsk is a very dull town. To judge from the drunkards whose acquaintance I have made, and from the intellectual people who have come to the hotel to pay their respects to me, the inhabitants are very dull, too. Chekhov witnessed much on Sakhalin that shocked and angered him, including floggings, embezzlement of supplies, and forced prostitution of women. He wrote, "There were times I felt that I saw before me
1233-487: A fictionalised version of himself) fires his divorce lawyer Berg, who likewise pretends to be Jewish, and hires a Jewish lawyer instead. The nice Jewish boy (NJB) is a stereotype of Jewish masculinity that circulates within the American Jewish community , as well as in mainstream American culture. Jewish men have been historically viewed as effeminate , especially in contrast to the more violent masculinity of
1370-510: A fortnight and produced that November. Though Chekhov found the experience "sickening" and painted a comic portrait of the chaotic production in a letter to his brother Alexander, the play was a hit and was praised, to Chekhov's bemusement, as a work of originality. Although Chekhov did not fully realise it at the time, Chekhov's plays, such as The Seagull (written in 1895), Uncle Vanya (written in 1897), The Three Sisters (written in 1900), and The Cherry Orchard (written in 1903) served as
1507-539: A founder of a Jewish asylum for the aged. Faina's mother, Milka Rafailovna (née Zagovaylova), was a great admirer of literature and art. That and her passion for Chekhov influenced Faina's love of art, poetry, music, and theater. There were three other children in the family - two brothers and an older sister named Bella. Faina Feldman attended the elementary school classes at the Mariinskaya Gymnasium for Girls , and then received regular home education. She
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#17327876188711644-470: A hero of the new order, rising from a modest background so as eventually to possess the gentry's estates. Despite Chekhov's reputation as a playwright, William Boyd asserts that his short stories represent the greater achievement. Raymond Carver , who wrote the short story "Errand" about Chekhov's death, believed that Chekhov was the greatest of all short story writers: Chekhov's stories are as wonderful (and necessary) now as when they first appeared. It
1781-407: A long time since I drank champagne.' He drained it and lay quietly on his left side, and I just had time to run to him and lean across the bed and call to him, but he had stopped breathing and was sleeping peacefully as a child ... Chekhov's body was transported to Moscow in a refrigerated railway-car meant for oysters , a detail that offended Gorky . Some of the thousands of mourners followed
1918-465: A loving and overly proud mother who is highly defensive about her children in front of others. Like Italian mother stereotypes, Jewish mother characters are often shown cooking for the family, urging loved ones to eat more, and taking great pride in their food. Feeding a loved one is characterized as an extension of the desire to mother those around her. Lisa Aronson Fontes describes the stereotype as one of "endless caretaking and boundless self-sacrifice" by
2055-425: A man in an elegant dress. From 1914 to 1918, World War I shaped the identity and attitudes of American Jews for the better, yet is overshadowed by the devastation and catastrophe of World War II. For the first time, American Jews were seen as major philanthropists, which is now a central part of American Judaism. The stereotype of being greedy and miserly seemed to be challenged. Aid was provided to Jews overseas by
2192-455: A more serious, artistic ambition in the twenty-six-year-old. In 1888, with a little string-pulling by Grigorovich, the short story collection At Dusk ( V Sumerkakh ) won Chekhov the coveted Pushkin Prize "for the best literary production distinguished by high artistic worth." In 1887, exhausted from overwork and ill health, Chekhov took a trip to Ukraine, which reawakened him to the beauty of
2329-536: A mother who demonstrates her love by "constant overfeeding and unremitting solicitude about every aspect of her children's and husband's welfare[s]". A possible origin of this stereotype is anthropologist Margaret Mead 's research into the European shtetl , financed by the American Jewish Committee . Although her interviews at Columbia University , with 128 European-born Jews, disclosed
2466-698: A new organization, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee . By the end of the war, the Joint raised more than $ 16.5 million, which is equivalent to about $ 260 million today. However, attitudes towards the Jews change after World War I; from 1920 to 1940, saw American antisemitism at its peak. Many left-wing Jews showed sympathy toward, or even supported, the Russian Revolution . Jews were impressed by
2603-506: A pampered or wealthy background. This stereotype of American Jewish women has frequently been portrayed in contemporary US media since the mid-20th century. "JAPs" are portrayed as being used to privilege, materialistic , and neurotic . An example of the humorous use of this stereotype appears in the song " Jewish Princess " on the Frank Zappa album Sheik Yerbouti . Female Jewish comedians such as Sarah Silverman have also satirized
2740-419: A playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg , Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre. Chekhov was a physician by profession. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov renounced
2877-474: A plot of cosmetic surgery as a "cure" for Jewishness. In European culture, prior to the 20th century, red hair was commonly identified as the distinguishing negative Jewish trait. This stereotype probably originated because red hair is a recessive trait that tends to find higher expression in highly endogamous populations, such as in Jewish communities where Jews were forbidden to marry outsiders. Red hair
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#17327876188713014-399: A priest and a merchant. "The Steppe" has been called a "dictionary of Chekhov's poetics", and it represented a significant advance for Chekhov, exhibiting much of the quality of his mature fiction and winning him publication in a literary journal rather than a newspaper. In autumn 1887, a theatre manager named Korsh commissioned Chekhov to write a play, the result being Ivanov , written in
3151-466: A push for perfection and a continual dissatisfaction with anything less: "So you got a B? That could have been an A there." Hartman observes that the root of the stereotype is in the self-sacrifice of first-generation immigrants, unable to take full advantage of American education themselves, and the consequent transference of their aspirations, to success and social status, from themselves to their children. A Jewish mother obtains vicarious social status from
3288-428: A resurgence of sexist and anti-Semitic invective masking a scrim of misogyny ." The stereotype was partly a construct of, and popularized by, some post-war Jewish male writers, notably Herman Wouk in his 1955 novel Marjorie Morningstar and Philip Roth in his 1959 novel Goodbye, Columbus , featuring protagonists who fit the stereotype. The term "JAP" and its associated stereotype first gained attention at
3425-429: A revolutionary backbone to what is common sense to the medium of acting to this day: an effort to recreate and express the realism of how people truly act and speak with each other. This realistic manifestation of the human condition may engender in audiences reflection upon what it means to be human. This philosophy of approaching the art of acting has stood not only steadfast, but as the cornerstone of acting for much of
3562-804: A semi-fictional group of red-haired Jews, although this tale has obscure origins. In part due to their Middle Eastern ethnic origins , Jews tend to be portrayed as swarthy and hairy , sometimes associated with a curly hair texture known as a " Jewfro ". Hands During the Nazi-era propaganda campaign against Jews, there were repeated mentions of Jews being able to be identified by their use of hands while speaking, "the Jew moves his hands when he talks". This has evolved into modern stereotypes of Jews, much like others in Europe, namely Italians speaking with their hands . A well-known stereotype about Jewish communication
3699-556: A staple theme in Nazi propaganda . The Star Wars character Watto , introduced in The Phantom Menace (1999), has been likened to traditional antisemitic caricatures. The idea of the large or aquiline "Jewish nose" remains one of the most prevalent and defining features to characterize someone as a Jew. This widespread stereotype can be traced back to the 13th century, according to art historian Sara Lipton . While
3836-441: A wide variety of family structures and experiences, the publications resulting from this study and the many citations in the popular media resulted in the Jewish mother stereotype: a woman intensely loving but controlling to the point of smothering and attempting to engender enormous guilt in her children via the endless suffering which she professes to have experienced on their behalf. The Jewish mother stereotype, then, has origins in
3973-460: Is "spoiled, overly-concerned with appearance, and indifferent to sex", the last being her most notable trait. The stereotype also portrays relationships with weak men who are easily controlled and willing to spend large amounts of money and energy in order to recreate the dynamic which she had during her upbringing. These men tend to be completely content with catering to her endless needs for food, material possessions, and attention. The stereotype
4110-676: Is a correspondence that preserves gems of theatre history, including shared complaints about Stanislavski 's directing methods and Chekhov's advice to Olga about performing in his plays. In Yalta, Chekhov wrote one of his most famous stories, " The Lady with the Dog " (also translated from the Russian as "Lady with Lapdog"), which depicts what at first seems a casual liaison between a cynical married man and an unhappy married woman who meet while holidaying in Yalta . Neither expects anything lasting from
4247-595: Is not necessary to be either Jewish or a mother to be a Jewish mother.' The association of this otherwise gender stereotype with Jewish mothers in particular, is, according to Helmreich, because of the importance that Judaism traditionally places on the home and the family, and the mother's important role within that family. Judaism, as exemplified by the Bible (e.g. the Woman of Valor ) and elsewhere, ennobles motherhood, and it associates mothers with virtue. This ennoblement
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4384-413: Is not only the immense number of stories he wrote—for few, if any, writers have ever done more—it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish. According to literary critic Daniel S. Burt , Chekhov was one of the greatest and most influential writers of all time. One of
4521-402: Is often, though not always, the basis for jokes both inside and outside the Jewish community. Frank Zappa was accused of antisemitism for his 1979 song "Jewish Princess", which describes the narrator's lust for "a nasty little Jewish princess / With long phony nails and a hairdo that rinses". Zappa repeatedly denied antisemitic intention and refused to apologize on the basis that he did not invent
4658-513: Is similar to Chekhov's "Sleepy". The Russian critic D. S. Mirsky , who lived in England, explained Chekhov's popularity in that country by his "unusually complete rejection of what we may call the heroic values". In Russia itself, Chekhov's drama fell out of fashion after the revolution , but it was later incorporated into the Soviet canon. The character of Lopakhin, for example, was reinvented as
4795-438: Is supported by the results of IQ research. La belle juive (French, "the beautiful Jewess") was a 19th-century literary stereotype. A figure meeting the description is often associated with having and causing sexual lust, temptation and sin. Her personality traits could be portrayed either positively or negatively. The typical appearance of the belle juive included long, thick, dark hair, large dark eyes, an olive skin tone, and
4932-402: Is that they are each "a forceful Jewish woman who tries to control her life and the events around her", who is "intelligent, articulate, and aggressive", who does not passively accept life but tries to shape events, friends, and families, to match their visions of an ideal world. The Jewish mother became one of two stock female Jewish characters in literature in the 20th century, the other being
5069-576: Is the tendency to answer a question with a question. In large part, this stereotype arises from the emphasis on questioning in Jewish education ; chavrusa partnerships are designed around questioning Talmudic texts , which are structured around questioning different Talmudic texts , which are structured around questioning the Torah . This tradition, among others structured to encourage the value of l'dor v'dor (teaching "from generation to generation") such as
5206-513: Is usually considered a little excessive in English, Yiddish tends to take a homeopathic approach to kvetching: like cures like and kvetch cures kvetch. The best response to a complaint is another complaint, an antiseptic counter-kvetch that makes further whining impossible for anybody but you." Jews have often been stereotyped as greedy and miserly. This originates in the Middle Ages when
5343-655: The Black Forest in Germany, from where he wrote outwardly jovial letters to his sister Masha, describing the food and surroundings, and assuring her and his mother that he was getting better. In his last letter, he complained about the way German women dressed. Chekhov died on 15 July 1904 at the age of 44 after a long fight with tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his brother. Chekhov's death has become one of "the great set pieces of literary history" —retold, embroidered, and fictionalized many times since, notably in
5480-785: The Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army (1935-1939), Drama Theater, now Mayakovsky Theatre (1943-1949), Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (1955-1963), and finally Mossovet Theatre (1949-1955, 1963-1983), where she worked with Yuri Zavadsky . The actress was awarded the Stalin Prize for outstanding creative achievements on stage in 1949, and in 1951 for her work in the film U nih est' Rodina ( They Have Their Motherland ), directed by Vladimir Legoshin and Alexandre Feinzimmer. In 1961 Faina Ranevskaya
5617-814: The Chekhov Gymnasium ), where he was held back for a year at fifteen for failing an examination in Ancient Greek. He sang at the Greek Orthodox monastery in Taganrog and in his father's choirs. In a letter of 1892, he used the word "suffering" to describe his childhood and recalled: When my brothers and I used to stand in the middle of the church and sing the trio "May my prayer be exalted", or "The Archangel's Voice", everyone looked at us with emotion and envied our parents, but we at that moment felt like little convicts. In 1876, Chekhov's father
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5754-479: The Jewish-American princess . The focus of the stereotype was different than its precursors, too. Jewish writers had previously employed a stereotype of an overbearing matron, but its focus had always been not on the woman, but the ineffectual man whom she dominated, out of necessity. The focus of the Jewish mother stereotype that arose was based on a shift in the economic circumstances of American Jews during
5891-566: The Roman society where Rabbinic Judaism emerged from. Jewish masculinity puts more emphasis on studying and academic pursuits than on physical strength. However, male Jews have also been labeled as feminine in an antisemitic context. It was once even a widely-held view that Jewish men menstruated. The trope stemmed from the belief that circumcision was equivalent to castration. Jewish men have often been assigned feminine physical and mental traits in order to designate them as deficient in comparison to
6028-433: The four questions of Passover, have helped create a culture of structured debate. Jews, specifically Ashkenazi Jews, are also stereotyped as being melodramatic and over-zealously (and sometimes comedically) complaining. The Yiddish word for this behavior is to kvetch . Michael Wex, in his book Born to Kvetch , notes that this can be a real cultural phenomenon of Yiddishkeit ; "While answering one complaint with another
6165-502: The steppe . On his return, he began the novella-length short story " The Steppe ", which he called "something rather odd and much too original", and which was eventually published in Severny Vestnik ( The Northern Herald ). In a narrative that drifts with the thought processes of the characters, Chekhov evokes a chaise journey across the steppe through the eyes of a young boy sent to live away from home, and his companions,
6302-424: The "Jewish lawyer" is a stereotype of Jews, which portrays Jews and Jewish lawyers as being clever, greedy, exploitative, dishonest, and depicts them as engaging in moral turpitude and excessive legalism . Ted Merwin writes that in the United States the stereotype became popular in the mid-to-late 20th century when Jews started entering the legal profession. Jews entered the U.S. legal profession decades before
6439-508: The 'nice Jewish boy' from his soul, which is one of the reasons he has done so many outrageous things and gotten into trouble, including with the police. It's part of trying to overcome that lifelong terror of being a sissy . For Philip Roth 's semi-autobiographical avatar Alex Portnoy, neither the nice Jewish boy nor his more aggressively masculine counterparts (the churlish Jewboy, the "all-American" ice hockey player) prove to be acceptable identities to attain. The ceaseless floundering between
6576-540: The 1880s, the anarchist theorist Peter Kropotkin responded, "read only Chekhov's novels!" Raymond Tallis further recounts that Vladimir Lenin believed his reading of the short story Ward No. 6 "made him a revolutionary". Upon finishing the story, Lenin is said to have remarked: "I absolutely had the feeling that I was shut up in Ward 6 myself!" In Chekhov's lifetime, British and Irish critics generally did not find his work pleasing; E. J. Dillon thought "the effect on
6713-403: The 1970s resulted from pressures that were placed on the Jewish middle class and forced it to maintain a visibly affluent lifestyle even as post-war affluence declined. The concept was the butt of jokes and as a result, it was spoofed by many, including Jews. Mel Brooks' Spaceballs had a character named Princess Vespa ( Daphne Zuniga ), who proclaimed, "I am Vespa, daughter of Roland, King of
6850-406: The 1987 short story "Errand" by Raymond Carver . In 1908, Olga wrote this account of her husband's last moments: Anton sat up unusually straight and said loudly and clearly (although he knew almost no German): Ich sterbe ('I'm dying'). The doctor calmed him, took a syringe, gave him an injection of camphor , and ordered champagne. Anton took a full glass, examined it, smiled at me and said: 'It's
6987-425: The 20th century to this day. Mikhail Chekhov considered Ivanov a key moment in his brother's intellectual development and literary career. From this period comes an observation of Chekhov's that has become known as Chekhov's gun , a dramatic principle that requires that every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable, and that everything else be removed. Remove everything that has no relevance to
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#17327876188717124-413: The 20th century. American Jews were no longer struggling first-generation immigrants, living in impoverished neighborhoods. The "soldier woman" work ethos of Jewish women, and the levels of anxiety and dramatization of their lives, were seen as unduly excessive for lifestyles that had (for middle-class Jews) become far more secure and suburban by the middle of the century. Jewish literature came to focus upon
7261-687: The American Jewish community, with predecessors that originated in Eastern European ghettos . In Israel, with its diversity of diasporic backgrounds and where most mothers are Jewish, the same stereotypical mother is known as the Polish mother ( ima polania ). Comedian Jackie Mason describes stereotypical Jewish mothers as parents who have become experts in the art of needling their children that they have honorary degrees in "Jewish Acupuncture". Rappoport observes that jokes about
7398-715: The American Jewry "golden age" because of the triumph of "prosperity and affluence, suburbanization and acceptance, the triumph of political and cultural liberalism, and the expansiveness of unlimited possibilities." Jews participated in American culture including the entertainment and film industries, advertising, and organized sports, baseball in particular. More recently, benign stereotypes of Jews have been found to be more prevalent than images of an overtly antisemitic nature. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), released nationwide telephone surveys to analyse American beliefs on
7535-603: The Church forbade Christians to lend money while charging interest (a practice called usury , although the word later took on the meaning of charging excessive interest). Jews were legally restricted to occupations usually barred to Christians and thus many went into money-lending. This led to, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance , the association of Jews with greedy practices. Publications like The Protocols of
7672-681: The Druids!" Captain Lonestar ( Bill Pullman ) complained, "That's all we needed, a Druish princess!" Barf ( John Candy ) added, "Funny, she doesn't look Druish!" The stereotypical subject, as described in these sources, is overindulged with attention and money by her parents, resulting in the princess having unrealistic expectations as well as guilt, accompanied by her skill in the manipulation of guilt in others, resulting in deficient love life. The stereotype has been described as "a sexually repressive, self-centered, materialistic and lazy female," who
7809-687: The Elders of Zion and literature such as William Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice and Charles Dickens 's Oliver Twist reinforced the stereotype of the crooked Jew. Dickens later expressed regret for his portrayal of Fagin in the novel, and toned down references to his Jewishness. Furthermore, the character of Mr. Riah in his later novel Our Mutual Friend is a kindly Jewish creditor, and may have been created as an apology for Fagin. Lesser references in Arabian Nights , The Three Musketeers , and even Hans Brinker are examples of
7946-556: The International Ranevskaya Theater Festival "The Great Province". In 2017 it was announced that Faina Ranevskaya's birth house in Taganrog will re-open its doors as a museum. Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ( / ˈ tʃ ɛ k ɒ f / ; Russian: Антон Павлович Чехов , IPA: [ɐnˈton ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕexəf] ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904 ) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer. His career as
8083-563: The JAP stereotype being pejoratively used at colleges and universities have been noted in newspapers, magazines and academic journals. The American television show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend , created by Rachel Bloom , features a parody song that can be seen as both satirizing and embracing this trope. "JAP Battle" is featured in Season 1's "Josh and I Go to Los Angeles!". Rachel Bloom, and her character Rebecca Bunch, are both Jewish. The concept of
8220-529: The Jews an Inferior Race?" In 1938, according to opinion polls, about 50 percent of Americans had low opinions of Jews. Americans still believed the Jews to be untrustworthy and dishonest. Many hoped that the racial stereotypes would disappear if the Jews worked to mold themselves. A massive amount of effort was put towards Jewish charities, especially for new immigrants, in response to antisemitism in America. The twenty years following World War II are considered
8357-456: The Jews put an "emphasis on the importance of family life." Jewish stereotypes in literature have evolved over the centuries. According to Louis Harap , nearly all European writers prior to the twentieth century who included Jewish characters in their works projected stereotypical depictions. Harap cites Gotthold Lessing 's Nathan the Wise (1779) as the first time that Jews were portrayed in
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#17327876188718494-517: The Jews. Based on the fact that America is made up of immigrants, American Jewry identity is described as "fluid, negotiable, and highly voluntary." Within the first Jewish communities, the colonies gave the Jews the chance to live openly as Jews. The attitude towards Jews in the eyes of the colonial authorities was that they carried several assets for business. Most Jews settled in port cities and thrived in trade by relying on family and community ties for negotiating. Peddling , specifically, improved
8631-468: The Jews. The league concluded that in 2007, 15% of Americans, nearly 35 million adults, hold "unquestionably anti-Semitic" views about Jews. More than one quarter, 27% of Americans believe Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. On a more positive note, many Americans have positive views towards the Jews on ethics and family. About 65% of Americans believe the Jews had a "special commitment to social justice and civil rights." About 79% of Americans believe
8768-473: The Soviet's commitment to giving Jews equal civil, political, and national rights, which fueled the Jewish plots conspiracy theories. Movements of restricting immigration, such as the Immigration Act of 1924 , often had individuals express suspicion and hatred of the Jews. In the intellectual context, social scientists were asking questions like, "Will the Jews ever Lose their Racial Identity?" and, "Are
8905-457: The United States and Israel. The third set of traits concerns Jewish materialistic values, aggressiveness, clannishness." About one-third of Europe's Jewish population emigrated in the nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century. About 80 percent of those emigrants chose America. Although there is no doubt that Europe's depiction of the Jews influenced the United States, there were no immense massacres, pogroms , or legal restrictions on
9042-730: The achievements of her children, where she is unable to achieve such status herself. One of the earliest Jewish mother figures in American popular culture was Molly Goldberg, portrayed by Gertrude Berg , in the situation comedy The Goldbergs on radio from 1929 to 1949 and on television from 1949 to 1955. But the stereotype as it came to be understood in the 20th century was exemplified by other literary figures. These include Rose Morgenstern from Herman Wouk 's 1955 novel Marjorie Morningstar , Mrs Patimkin from Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth , and Sophie Ginsky Portnoy from Portnoy's Complaint also by Roth. Sylvia Barack Fishman 's characterization of Marjorie Morningstar and Sophie Portnoy
9179-400: The actress had never played a major part in a movie: all her roles were supporting ones. In a newspaper article, one of the Soviet movie industry apparatchiks explained her lack of main roles by Faina Ranevskaya's "typical Semitic" facial features . On May 16, 2008, a Ranevskaya Monument was inaugurated in Taganrog in front of actress's birth house on Ulitsa Frunze 10 within the framework of
9316-509: The arts as "human beings, with human possibilities and characteristics." Harap writes that the persistence of the Jewish stereotype over the centuries suggests to some that "the treatment of the Jew in literature was completely static and was essentially unaffected by the changes in the Jewish situation in society as that society itself changed." He contrasts the opposing views presented in the two most comprehensive studies of Jewish characters in English literature, one by Montagu Frank Modder and
9453-587: The beginning of the 1970s with the publication of several non-fiction articles such as Barbara Meyer's Cosmopolitan article "Sex and the Jewish Girl" and the 1971 cover article in New York magazine by Julie Baumgold, "The Persistence of the Jewish Princess". "JAP" jokes became prevalent in the late 1970s and early 1980s. According to Riv-Ellen Prell, the JAP stereotype's rise to prominence in
9590-450: The child slept with the convicts and soldiers all in a heap together. Chekhov later concluded that charity was not the answer, but that the government had a duty to finance humane treatment of the convicts. His findings were published in 1893 and 1894 as Ostrov Sakhalin ( The Island of Sakhalin ), a work of social science, not literature. Chekhov found literary expression for the "Hell of Sakhalin" in his long short story " The Murder ",
9727-403: The concept and further noted that women who fit the stereotype actually existed. In recent years, some Jewish women have made attempts to re-appropriate the term "JAP" and incorporate it as part of cultural identity. It has also been criticized as having a sexist basis, and for pejoratively branding young adult Jewish-American women as being spoiled and materialistic. Concerns about incidents of
9864-636: The country, and I will come and see her.... I promise to be an excellent husband, but give me a wife who, like the moon, won't appear in my sky every day. The letter proved prophetic of Chekhov's marital arrangements with Olga: he lived largely at Yalta, she in Moscow, pursuing her acting career. In 1902, Olga suffered a miscarriage; and Donald Rayfield has offered evidence, based on the couple's letters, that conception occurred when Chekhov and Olga were apart, although other Russian scholars have rejected that claim. The literary legacy of this long-distance marriage
10001-556: The depiction of the hooked-nose originated in the 13th century, it had an uprooting in European imagery many centuries later. The earliest record of anti-Jewish caricature is a detailed doodle depicted in the upper margin of the Exchequer Receipt Roll (English royal tax record) in 1233. It shows three demented-looking Jews inside a castle as well as a Jew in the middle of the castle with a large nose. The satirical antisemitic 1893 book The Operated Jew revolves around
10138-423: The differences between Jewish women and what Jews saw as being the various idealized views of American women, the "blonde bombshell", the "sex kitten", or the sweet docile "apple-pie" blonde who always supported her man. In contrast, Jewish writers viewed the still articulate and intelligent Jewish woman as being, by comparison, pushy, unrefined, and unattractive. Fishman describes the Jewish mother stereotype that
10275-468: The dominant idea of masculinity. For example, in the late 1900s, Jewish men were depicted with narrow chests, chubbiness, and hysteria, all of which were traditionally female characteristics. The idea that Jewish men were effeminate even made its way into Nazi racial theories that adopted Austrian philosopher Otto Weininger 's claim that "the Jew is more saturated in femininity than the Aryan." In Israel and
10412-614: The earlier (7th century) writings of the Quran which state that wretchedness and baseness were stamped upon the Jews, and they were visited with wrath from Allah because they disbelieved in Allah's revelations and slew the prophets wrongfully. And for their taking usury, which was prohibited for them, and because of their consuming people's wealth under false pretense, a painful punishment was prepared for them. The portrayal of Jews as historic enemies of Christianity and Christendom constitutes
10549-452: The encounter. Unexpectedly though, they gradually fall deeply in love and end up risking scandal and the security of their family lives. The story masterfully captures their feelings for each other, the inner transformation undergone by the disillusioned male protagonist as a result of falling deeply in love, and their inability to resolve the matter by either letting go of their families or of each other. In May 1903, Chekhov visited Moscow;
10686-488: The extreme limits of man's degradation." He was particularly moved by the plight of the children living in the penal colony with their parents. For example: On the Amur steamer going to Sakhalin, there was a convict who had murdered his wife and wore fetters on his legs. His daughter, a little girl of six, was with him. I noticed wherever the convict moved the little girl scrambled after him, holding on to his fetters. At night
10823-468: The family into progressively better accommodations. Early in 1886 he was invited to write for one of the most popular papers in St. Petersburg , Novoye Vremya ( New Times ), owned and edited by the millionaire magnate Alexey Suvorin , who paid a rate per line double Leykin's and allowed Chekhov three times the space. Suvorin was to become a lifelong friend, perhaps Chekhov's closest. Before long, Chekhov
10960-663: The family's possessions and finish his education. He remained in Taganrog for three more years, boarding with a man by the name of Selivanov who, like Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard , had bailed out the family for the price of their house. Chekhov had to pay for his own education, which he managed by private tutoring, catching and selling goldfinches , and selling short sketches to the newspapers, among other jobs. He sent every ruble he could spare to his family in Moscow, along with humorous letters to cheer them up. During this time, he read widely and analytically, including
11097-696: The film was silent, Ranevskaya learned several sayings of Madame Loiseau in French from the original novel by Maupassant. Romain Rolland , a French writer who visited the Soviet Union in the 1930s, loved the film, and his favorite actor in the movie was Faina Ranevskaya. At his request, the Pyshka ( Boule de Suif ) was shown in French cinemas, where it became a box-office success. Ranevskaya played on stage of
11234-420: The first day that Chekhov moved to Melikhovo, the sick began flocking to him from twenty miles around. They came on foot or were brought in carts, and often he was fetched to patients at a distance. Sometimes from early in the morning peasant women and children were standing before his door waiting. Chekhov's expenditure on drugs was considerable, but the greatest cost was making journeys of several hours to visit
11371-607: The first non-Russians to praise Chekhov's plays was George Bernard Shaw , who subtitled his Heartbreak House "A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes", and pointed out similarities between the predicament of the British landed class and that of their Russian counterparts as depicted by Chekhov: "the same nice people, the same utter futility". Stereotypes of Jews Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews , often caricatured and of
11508-582: The funeral procession of a General Keller by mistake, to the accompaniment of a military band. Chekhov was buried next to his father at the Novodevichy Cemetery . A few months before he died, Chekhov told the writer Ivan Bunin that he thought people might go on reading his writings for seven years. "Why seven?", asked Bunin. "Well, seven and a half", Chekhov replied. "That's not bad. I've got six years to live." Chekhov's posthumous reputation greatly exceeded his expectations. The ovations for
11645-600: The idea became a staple of Jewish American fiction. This stereotype enjoyed a mixed reception in the mid-20th century. In her 1967 essay "In Defense of the Jewish Mother", Zena Smith Blau defended the stereotype, asserting that the ends, inculcating virtues that resulted in success, justified the means, control through love and guilt. Being tied to mamma kept Jewish boys away from "[g]entile friends, particularly those from poor, immigrant families with rural origins in which parents did not value education". One example of
11782-408: The image of Jews in the eyes of the early Americans that allowed them into their homes, fed them food, and sometimes let them stay the night in their home. Peddling gave the chance to shed outward appearance stereotypes. Commentators noted they often wore a waistcoat and tie, with a top hat on their heads. For they understood a customer would be less likely to open their door to a shabby, dirty man, than
11919-592: The last section of which is set on Sakhalin, where the murderer Yakov loads coal in the night while longing for home. Chekhov's writing on Sakhalin, especially the traditions and habits of the Gilyak people , is the subject of a sustained meditation and analysis in Haruki Murakami 's novel 1Q84 . It is also the subject of a poem by the Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney , "Chekhov on Sakhalin" (collected in
12056-614: The leading publishers of the time. Chekhov's tone at this stage was harsher than that familiar from his mature fiction. In 1884, Chekhov qualified as a physician, which he considered his principal profession though he made little money from it and treated the poor free of charge. In 1884 and 1885, Chekhov found himself coughing blood, and in 1886 the attacks worsened, but he would not admit his tuberculosis to his family or his friends. He confessed to Leykin, "I am afraid to submit myself to be sounded by my colleagues." He continued writing for weekly periodicals, earning enough money to move
12193-409: The letter had struck him "like a thunderbolt" and confessed, "I have written my stories the way reporters write up their notes about fires—mechanically, half-consciously, caring nothing about either the reader or myself." The admission may have done Chekhov a disservice, since early manuscripts reveal that he often wrote with extreme care, continually revising. Grigorovich's advice nevertheless inspired
12330-562: The middle of the 20th century – by the time of the Great Depression, many Jews had already established themselves as lawyers. The stock character of the Jewish lawyer frequently appears in popular culture. Jay Michaelson writes in The Jewish Daily Forward that the character of Maurice Levy , in the drama series The Wire , played by Michael Kostroff , is stereotypical, with a "New York accent and
12467-617: The mobile theater "The First Soviet Theater" in Crimea , also in Baku , Arkhangelsk , Smolensk and other cities. In 1931 Ranevskaya acted at the Chamber Theater . The film Pyshka (known as Boule de Suif in the U.S.), directed by Mikhail Romm , marked her debut as a film actress in 1934. It was a silent black and white film based on the novel Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant , in which she starred as Madame Loiseau. Although
12604-459: The most damaging anti-Jewish stereotype which is reflected in the works of literature that were produced from the late tenth century through the early twelfth century. Jews were often depicted as satanic consorts, or as devils themselves and "incarnation[s] of absolute evil." Physically, Jews were portrayed as menacing, hirsute, with boils, warts and other deformities, and sometimes they were portrayed with horns, cloven hoofs and tails. Such imagery
12741-522: The orchard and the pond, and planted many trees, which, according to Mikhail, he "looked after ... as though they were his children. Like Colonel Vershinin in his Three Sisters , as he looked at them he dreamed of what they would be like in three or four hundred years." The first night of The Seagull , at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on 17 October 1896, was a fiasco, as
12878-419: The other by Edgar Rosenberg . Modder asserts that writers invariably "reflect the attitude of contemporary society in their presentation of the Jewish character and that the portrayal changes with the economic and social changes of each decade." In opposition to Modder's "historical rationale", Rosenberg warns that such a perspective "is apt to slight the massive durability of a stereotype". Harap suggests that
13015-439: The part of screenwriters or film-makers to rewrite or change the stereotype, in pursuance of some revisionist agenda, instead, it has simply fallen back a generation. Despite this, the concept of the Jewish mother can still be seen in popular culture even though it is declining in film. One use of the Jewish mother stereotype-trope can be seen in the popular television program The Big Bang Theory , which premiered in 2007, and it
13152-638: The parts of the diaspora which have received heavy exposure to the American media that deploy the representation, the stereotype has gained popular recognition to a lesser extent. The qualities which are ascribed to the nice Jewish boy are derived from the Ashkenazic ideal of אײדלקײַט ( eydlkayt , either "nobility" or "delicateness" in Yiddish ). According to Daniel Boyarin 's Unheroic Conduct (University of California Press, 1997), eydlkayt embraces
13289-586: The play The Cherry Orchard in the year of his death served to demonstrate the Russian public's acclaim for the writer, which placed him second in literary celebrity only to Tolstoy , who outlived him by six years. Tolstoy was an early admirer of Chekhov's short stories and had a series that he deemed "first quality" and "second quality" bound into a book. In the first category were: Children , The Chorus Girl , A Play , Home , Misery , The Runaway , In Court , Vanka , Ladies , A Malefactor , The Boys , Darkness , Sleepy , The Helpmate , and The Darling ; in
13426-462: The play was booed by the audience, stinging Chekhov into renouncing the theatre. But the play so impressed the theatre director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko that he convinced his colleague Konstantin Stanislavski to direct a new production for the innovative Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. Stanislavski's attention to psychological realism and ensemble playing coaxed the buried subtleties from
13563-673: The prevalence of this negative perception. Some, such as Paul Volcker , suggest that the stereotype has decreased in prevalence in the United States . A telephone poll of 1,747 American adults conducted by the Anti-Defamation League in 2009 found that 18% believed that "Jews have too much power in the business world", 13% that "Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want", and 12% that "Jews are not just as honest as other businesspeople". Jewish frugality, thriftiness, and greed are among
13700-456: The prominent lawyer Vasily Maklakov visited him almost every day. Maklakov signed Chekhov's will. By May 1904, Chekhov was terminally ill with tuberculosis . Mikhail Chekhov recalled that "everyone who saw him secretly thought the end was not far off, but the nearer [he] was to the end, the less he seemed to realise it". On 3 June, he set off with Olga for the German spa town of Badenweiler in
13837-484: The quintessential pale skin, brown hair and Ashkenazic nose of the typical American Jew ". This stereotyping is parodied in Breaking Bad and its spinoff series Better Call Saul , where the character Saul Goodman is an Irish-American lawyer who pretends to be a Jewish-American for his clients, believing that it makes him appear more competent as a lawyer. In Curb Your Enthusiasm , Larry David (playing
13974-530: The reader of Chekhov's tales was repulsion at the gallery of human waste represented by his fickle, spineless, drifting people" and R. E. C. Long said "Chekhov's characters were repugnant, and that Chekhov revelled in stripping the last rags of dignity from the human soul". After his death, Chekhov was reappraised. Constance Garnett 's translations won him an English-language readership and the admiration of writers such as James Joyce , Virginia Woolf , and Katherine Mansfield , whose story "The Child Who Was Tired"
14111-467: The recurrence of the Jewish stereotype in literature is itself one indicator of the continued presence of anti-Semitism amongst those who consume literature. Historian Gary Rosenshield writes that while Soviets passed legislation that made antisemitism against Jews "technically a crime, and as political oppression increased, both Jewish and non-Jewish authors avoided the portrayal of Jews in their works", stereotypical depiction of Jews "flourished" among
14248-678: The role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. Anton Chekhov was born into a Russian family on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great (17 January Old Style ) 29 January 1860 in Taganrog , a port on the Sea of Azov – on Politseyskaya (Police) street, later renamed Chekhova street – in southern Russia . He was the third of six surviving children; he had two older brothers, Alexander and Nikolai , and three younger siblings, Ivan, Maria , and Mikhail . His father, Pavel Yegorovich Chekhov,
14385-512: The same toothless old age and disgusting death, as with market-women." In 1893/1894 he worked as a Zemstvo doctor in Zvenigorod , which has numerous sanatoriums and rest homes. A local hospital is named after him. In 1894, Chekhov began writing his play The Seagull in a lodge he had built in the orchard at Melikhovo. In the two years since he had moved to the estate, he had refurbished the house, taken up agriculture and horticulture, tended
14522-435: The second: A Transgression , Sorrow , The Witch , Verochka , In a Strange Land , The Cook's Wedding , A Tedious Business , An Upheaval , Oh! The Public! , The Mask , A Woman's Luck , Nerves , The Wedding , A Defenceless Creature , and Peasant Wives. Chekhov's work also found praise from several of Russia's most influential radical political thinkers. If anyone doubted the gloom and miserable poverty of Russia in
14659-456: The sick, which reduced his time for writing. However, Chekhov's work as a doctor enriched his writing by bringing him into intimate contact with all sections of Russian society: for example, he witnessed at first hand the peasants' unhealthy and cramped living conditions, which he recalled in his short story "Peasants". Chekhov visited the upper classes as well, recording in his notebook: "Aristocrats? The same ugly bodies and physical uncleanliness,
14796-459: The son of a former serf and his wife, was from the village Olkhovatka ( Voronezh Governorate ) and ran a grocery store. He was a director of the parish choir, a devout Orthodox Christian , and a physically abusive father. Pavel Chekhov has been seen by some historians as the model for his son's many portraits of hypocrisy. Chekhov's paternal grandmother was Ukrainian, the Ukrainian language
14933-416: The stereotype have less basis in anti-Semitism than they have in gender stereotyping. William Helmreich agrees, observing that the attributes of a Jewish mother—overprotection, pushiness, aggression, and guilt-inducement—could equally well be ascribed to mothers of other ethnicities, from Italians through Blacks to Puerto Ricans. In the book How to Be a Jewish Mother , the author says in the preface that it
15070-635: The stereotype, as did filmmaker Robert Townsend in his comedy B*A*P*S (see also Black American Princess for more information on this related pejorative stereotype ). According to Rebecca Alpert , the stereotype of the Jewish-American Princess did not emerge until after World War II and it is "peculiar to the U.S. scene". In 1987, the American Jewish Committee held a conference on "Current Stereotypes of Jewish Women" which argued that such jokes "represent
15207-465: The stereotype, as it had developed by the 1970s, was the character of Ida Morgenstern , the mother of Rhoda Morgenstern , who first appeared in a recurring role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show , and later appeared as a regular on its spinoff Rhoda . According to Alisa Lebow , in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the stereotype of the Jewish mother has "gone missing" from movies. She observes that there appears to have been no conscious effort on
15344-513: The story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there. The death of Chekhov's brother Nikolai from tuberculosis in 1889 influenced A Dreary Story , finished that September, about a man who confronts the end of a life that he realises has been without purpose. Mikhail Chekhov recorded his brother's depression and restlessness after Nikolai's death. Mikhail
15481-639: The studiousness, gentleness and sensitivity that is said to distinguish the Talmudic scholar and make him an attractive marriage partner. The resistance that a Jewish male may launch against this image in his quest to become a "regular guy" has found its place in Jewish American literature . Norman Podhoretz , the former editor of Commentary , made the following comment about Norman Mailer 's literary and "extracurricular" activities: He spent his entire life trying to extirpate what he himself called
15618-446: The text, and restored Chekhov's interest in playwriting. The Art Theatre commissioned more plays from Chekhov and the following year staged Uncle Vanya , which Chekhov had completed in 1896. In the last decades of his life he became an atheist . In March 1897, Chekhov suffered a major haemorrhage of the lungs while on a visit to Moscow. With great difficulty he was persuaded to enter a clinic, where doctors diagnosed tuberculosis on
15755-436: The theatre after the reception of The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski 's Moscow Art Theatre , which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard . These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers
15892-505: The two fuels Portnoy's Complaint . Martin Marger writes "A set of distinct and consistent negative stereotypes, some of which can be traced as far back as the Middle Ages in Europe , has been applied to Jews." Antisemitic canards such as the blood libel first appeared in the 12th century and were associated with attacks and massacres against Jews. These stereotypes are paralleled in
16029-459: The typical themes in jokes about Jews, even by Jews themselves . A stereotype exists suggesting that Jews (often particularly Ashkenazi Jews, though historically sometimes Sephardi Jews) are more intelligent other peoples. This idea, also called "Jewish Genius", emerged during the 19th century within the context of scientific racism . Some 20th and 21st century publications, notably the highly controversial book The Bell Curve , have suggested it
16166-405: The upper part of his lungs and ordered a change in his manner of life. After his father's death in 1898, Chekhov bought a plot of land on the outskirts of Yalta and built a villa (The White Dacha) , into which he moved with his mother and sister the following year. Though he planted trees and flowers, kept dogs and tame cranes, and received guests such as Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky , Chekhov
16303-573: The volume Station Island ). Rebecca Gould has compared Chekhov's book on Sakhalin to Katherine Mansfield 's Urewera Notebook (1907). In 2013, the Wellcome Trust-funded play 'A Russian Doctor', performed by Andrew Dawson and researched by Professor Jonathan Cole, explored Chekhov's experiences on Sakhalin Island. Mikhail Chekhov, a member of the household at Melikhovo, described the extent of his brother's medical commitments: From
16440-464: The whole family. To support them and to pay his tuition fees, he wrote daily short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as "Antosha Chekhonte" (Антоша Чехонте) and "Man Without Spleen" (Человек без селезенки). His prodigious output gradually earned him a reputation as a satirical chronicler of Russian street life, and by 1882 he was writing for Oskolki ( Fragments ), owned by Nikolai Leykin , one of
16577-516: The works of Cervantes , Turgenev , Goncharov , and Schopenhauer , and wrote a full-length comic drama, Fatherless , which his brother Alexander dismissed as "an inexcusable though innocent fabrication." Chekhov also experienced a series of love affairs, one with the wife of a teacher. In 1879, Chekhov completed his schooling and joined his family in Moscow, having gained admission to the medical school at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University . Chekhov then assumed responsibility for
16714-540: The works of prominent British, Irish and American authors such as Dorothy Richardson , Virginia Woolf , T.S. Eliot , Evelyn Waugh , James Joyce , Ezra Pound and Graham Greene (with characters such as Shylock , Fagin and Svengali ). Rosenshield writes that among the many authors who employed stereotypical depictions of Jews in their works, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound have received the most attention in modern historiography. Eliot has been accused of being anti-semitic by John Gross and Anthony Julius , while Ezra Pound
16851-538: Was despotism and lying that ruined your mother's youth. Despotism and lying so mutilated our childhood that it's sickening and frightening to think about it. Remember the horror and disgust we felt in those times when Father threw a tantrum at dinner over too much salt in the soup and called Mother a fool." Chekhov attended the Greek School in Taganrog and the Taganrog Gymnasium (since renamed
16988-483: Was a former protégée and sometime lover of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko whom he had first met at rehearsals for The Seagull . Up to that point, Chekhov, known as "Russia's most elusive literary bachelor", had preferred passing liaisons and visits to brothels over commitment. He had once written to Suvorin: By all means I will be married if you wish it. But on these conditions: everything must be as it has been hitherto—that is, she must live in Moscow while I live in
17125-546: Was always relieved to leave his "hot Siberia " for Moscow or travels abroad. He vowed to move to Taganrog as soon as a water supply was installed there. In Yalta he completed two more plays for the Art Theatre, composing with greater difficulty than in the days when he "wrote serenely, the way I eat pancakes now". He took a year each over Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard . On 25 May 1901, Chekhov married Olga Knipper quietly, owing to his horror of weddings. She
17262-498: Was an obvious exaggeration, it had a solid basis in reality. While not all Jews were moneylenders, the Catholic Church 's prohibition of usury meant that Jews were the main representatives of the trade. David Schneider writes "Three large clusters of traits are part of the Jewish stereotype (Wuthnow, 1982). First, Jews are seen as being powerful and manipulative. Second, they are accused of dividing their loyalties between
17399-428: Was attracting literary as well as popular attention. The sixty-four-year-old Dmitry Grigorovich , a celebrated Russian writer of the day, wrote to Chekhov after reading his short story "The Huntsman" that "You have real talent, a talent that places you in the front rank among writers in the new generation." He went on to advise Chekhov to slow down, write less, and concentrate on literary quality. Chekhov replied that
17536-517: Was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR . The actress died in 1984 in Moscow and was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery . A memorial plate dedicated to Ranevskaya was placed on her birthhouse in the city of Taganrog on August 29, 1986. In 1992 British "Who's Who" encyclopedia named Ranevskaya among the world's Top Ten Actors of the 20th century. That was done despite the fact that
17673-404: Was declared bankrupt after overextending his finances building a new house, having been cheated by a contractor named Mironov. To avoid debtor's prison he fled to Moscow, where his two eldest sons, Alexander and Nikolai , were attending university. The family lived in poverty in Moscow. Chekhov's mother was physically and emotionally broken by the experience. Chekhov was left behind to sell
17810-473: Was especially closely linked with Judas Iscariot , who was commonly shown with red hair to identify him as Jewish. During the Spanish Inquisition , all those with red hair were identified as Jewish. In Italy, red hair was associated with Italian Jews . Writers from Shakespeare to Dickens would identify Jewish characters by giving them red hair. In Medieval European lore, " Red Jews " were
17947-480: Was further increased by the poverty and hardship of Eastern European Jews who immigrated into the United States (during the period from 1881 to 1924, when one of the largest waves of such immigration occurred), where the requirements of hard work by the parents were passed on to their children via guilt: "We work so hard so that you can be happy." Other aspects of the stereotype are rooted in those immigrant Jewish parents' drive for their children to succeed, resulting in
18084-475: Was given music, singing, foreign languages lessons. Faina loved reading. Her passion for theater began when she was 14. Her attendance of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre was an experience that had great impact on her. Her pseudonym "Ranevskaya", which later became her official surname, also came from that theater visit. In 1915 she left Taganrog for Moscow to pursue
18221-471: Was likely present in his household. Chekhov's mother, Yevgeniya (Morozova), was an excellent storyteller who entertained the children with tales of her travels all over Russia with her cloth-merchant father. "Our talents we got from our father," Chekhov remembered, "but our soul from our mother." In adulthood, Chekhov criticised his brother Alexander 's treatment of his wife and children by reminding him of Pavel's tyranny: "Let me ask you to recall that it
18358-416: Was played by the character of Howard Wolowitz's mother who is only heard as a voice character. Mrs. Wolowitz is loud, overbearing, and overprotective of her son. In the television show South Park , Sheila Broflovski , the mother of its main character Kyle Broflovski , is Jewish and represents a caricature of the stereotypes that are associated with her ethnicity and role, such as speaking loudly, having
18495-530: Was researching prisons at that time as part of his law studies. Anton Chekhov, in a search for purpose in his own life, himself soon became obsessed with the issue of prison reform. In 1890, Chekhov undertook an arduous journey by train, horse-drawn carriage, and river steamer to the Russian Far East and the katorga , or penal colony, on Sakhalin Island , north of Japan. He spent three months there interviewing thousands of convicts and settlers for
18632-630: Was used by male Jewish writers as "a grotesque mirror image of the proverbial Woman of Valor". A Jewish mother was a woman who had her own ideas about life, who attempted to conquer her sons and her husband, and used food, hygiene, and guilt as her weapons. Like Helmreich, Fishman observes that while it began as a universal gender stereotype, exemplified by Erik Erikson 's critique of "Momism" in 1950 and Philip Wylie 's blast, in his 1942 Generation of Vipers , against "dear old Mom" tying all of male America to her apron strings, it quickly became highly associated with Jewish mothers in particular, in part because
18769-473: Was used centuries later in the Nazi propaganda of the 1930s and 1940s. This propaganda leaned on Jewish stereotypes to explain the claim that the Jewish people belong to an "inferior" race. Although Jews had not been particularly associated with moneylending in antiquity, a stereotype of them acting in this capacity was first developed in the 11th century. Jonathan Frankel notes that even though this stereotype
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