Movement and Nomenclature
Jewish Identity in Il’ia Erenburg
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In 38 episodes, Il’ia Erenburg’s novel The Stormy Life of Lazik Roitshvanets deals with the possibilities of Jewish identity under conditions of assimilation, economic constraints, and antisemitism. Through the example of the protagonist and his wanderings through Europe and Palestine, the text shows how every society and place produces its own image of Jewish identity and at the same time rejects it. In the interplay of circulating stereotypes, Hasidic views, and traditions, Erenburg formulates a construct that is relational and always endangered.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2008, pp. 331–340)