Reception of Disraeli novels on the pages of “Otechest-vennye Zapiski” in 1840-1870 in the context of Jewish issue

As a result of the Rzecz Pospolita division (1772, 1793, and 1795) into three parts, the land, where a large Jewish community lived, became a part of the Russian Empire. It leaded to a change of state policy regarding the Jews. The core of this policy was the ideas of emancipation, assimilation and Russian and Jews cultural contacts. To encourage this policy it was tried to reveal new positive examples of Jews' assimilation and emancipation in the European society. The life and activity of famous and influential men were used to be such examples. Benjamin Disraeli, who made not only outstanding career in politics but also was met with recognition from the public as a writer, was used as one of emancipation illustrative examples. During the 19^th century his novels were being translated into Russian and were lively discussed in Russian periodical press. The reviews of his novels could help to study the changes in Russian state policy regarding the Jews as well as the attitude of Russian enlightened society to Jews' emancipation in Russia. The reviews published during 1840 - 1870 in the literary magazine “Otechestvennye Zapiski” (“Domestic notes”) are analyzed by the authors. It was the period when Disraeli novels were popular amongst Russian readers and discussed actively in the press of the 19^th century. The analysis of the reviews such novels as “Vivian Grey” (1826), “Coningsby, or the New Generation” (1844), “Sybil, or The Two Nations” (1845), and “Tancred, or the New Crusade” (1847) made by different literary critics showed that the evaluation of Disraeli's novels in Russia depended on social and political, economic and cultural factors. The reviews' analysis, made by the authors of the paper is very urgent and illustrative to study the attitude to the Jews in Russia. Initially, in 1840 critics paid more attention to genre distinctness and literacy features of Disraeli novels. The fact that he was a Jew and made a great career was characterized as a successful example of Jews' emancipation. The outburst of Jews' emancipation in 1860-1870 changed the life of Russian Jews significantly that was the reason of national conflicts and influenced on the attitude Russian society to the Jews in whole , as well as reception of Disraeli novels in particular. In 1870 critics tried to evaluate Disraeli ideology and political commitments and explain the con-tradictive basis of his novels according to his nationality and religion. The negative reception of Disraeli novels could be considered as a sigh of a change in Russian state police regarding the Jews: assimilation abandoning in favor of segregation, which was the key factor of state policy rewarding the Jews in the last two decades the 19^th century.

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