“The Enchantment Has Gone.” Anti-Jewish Views of Jan Neruda in the Context of Czech Liberal Journalism in the 1860s
“The Enchantment Has Gone.” Anti-Jewish Views of Jan Neruda in the Context of Czech Liberal Journalism in the 1860s

Summary/Abstract: How does one understand and explain the anti-Jewish views of the Czech writer Jan Neruda, which culminated in 1869 in a series of feuilletons entitled “Pro strach židovský” [“For Fear of the Jews”] in Národní listy [National Gazette], the most widespread Czech daily of its time? Literary historians (with the exception of Oskar Donath1) have so far not devoted much attention to this aspect of Neruda’s work. Generally speaking, one can note three strategies for explaining Neruda’s anti-Jewishness: (1) in Marxist literature it is seen as an expression of anti- -Capitalism;2 (2) subsequently, as a deviation resulting from the pressures of journalism on promptness and current affairs reporting;3 (3) due to the role of Jews in the Czech-German national conflict (and, sometimes, also due to their allegedly baleful and anti-Czech influence on the economy).4 For many of his admirers, the idea of Neruda spreading anti-Jewish hatred or as an anti-Semite evidently does not fit into the image of a democratic and socially sensitive author. As I shall attempt to show, however, both aspects of his work are connected together.

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