Karl Emil Franzos: um literato entre a Europa Central e a semi-Ásia

Karl Emil Franzos' (1848-1904) oeuvre represents a caesura within the literary tradition known as Ghettoliteratur and marks the establishment of clearly drawn borders separating the world of Eastern European Jewry from the so-called civilized Europe. Thegradual penetration of 19th. Century humanistic ideas - in particular, those of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn- in the world of traditional Jews has led to a deep conflict within European Jewry in the 19th. Century, and Franzos is one of those litterati who voices this conflict, clearly defending the modern and emancipated part of the community, and setting it against the religious-traditional sector. It would be no exaggeration to say that this conflict is the main subject of his oeuvre, andthat it gives voice to some paradigms which have become increasingly important both for the way emancipated Jews saw themselves and for the anti-semitic discourse which has gained momentum in late 19th Century Germany and Austria.By identifying traditional Jews with Asian barbarians, Franzos applies the terms of the mind of Enlightenment and plays a crucial role in the establishment of two complementary Jewish-European identities: that of the Ostjude (Eastern Jew) and that of the Westjude (Western Jew).