The King of Schnorrers

as you probably see there are many versions of this half-forgotten book floating around and, as i write, one positive but curiously mild review so i thought i would weigh in here where i might have some impact. this book is beautiful. not beautiful like lovely writing in particular, though certainly israel zangwill wrote well, but beautiful in intricacy and fun and a level of cleverness so profound it boggles the mind. i suspect that the king of the schnorrers impact on later jewish humorists has been vastly understated. i am thinking particularly of groucho marx (who had a brilliant career more or less playing a sort of comic version of our main character here), but also through him a passage to people like woody allen (um, are there people like woody allen?) and jerry seinfeld, lenny bruce, sarah silverman... indeed while this book is deeply concerned in its way with the particularities of the jewish communities of 18__'s london and with jewish law it is a highly secular and universal work of humor and a brilliant satire of the malleability of religious law (and, in its way then, law, custom and social compacts in general). in this way it bridges a gap from, say, a sholem aleichem to, well, the urban american jewish humor that has had such a profound influence on our culture. but beyond the satirical brilliance and nuance of this book i would like to commend it as simply enormously fun and readable. it's social vision is sophisticated and strangely contemporary and it is funny. our main character is enormous, ridiculous, ferocious and fascinating, someone you sort of root for in a state of horror, but i love how he is not invincible, and the person to whom he is vulnerable (if you can call it that, probably it is all part of da costa's (our hero's) plans) expresses for me the touch of sweetness that just keeps the humanity of the book afloat. the story is told in tight, marvelously put together chapters that nearly stand on their own. the plot work has that wonderful tight and suprising gearlike quality that is so satisfying to read, like in mysteries where the great detective works along a plan we only catch confusing glimpses of but all falls spectacularly into place by the end. i first found this book with a passage in a big paperback collection of jewish humour about 20 years ago and i was immediatly smitten. if you enjoy sharp and intricate humor, a touch of nuttiness, and perverse insight so twisted it becomes simple and profound i could not recommend a book more than this one.