SOURCE: “Israel Zangwill's The King of Schnorrers,” in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 10, 1973, pp. 227–233.

In the essay below, Winehouse provides background and publication information as well as a critical overview of Zangwill's novella The King of Schnorrers, which he places among Zangwill's most competent comic works.

It is not difficult to understand the special interest of Zangwill, the ghetto upstart and social rebel, in the schnorrer and his picaresque adventures. In the traditional schnorrer, or Jewish beggar, was to be found a paradoxical, though peculiarly Jewish combination, of poverty and learning. His wit, erudition and incredible impudence were all used to cut across class barriers and to outwit his social superiors. The nouveaux-riches of Anglo-Jewry were the prime target of Zangwill's “King,” whose funds of money were by no means always equalled by any fund of learning or religious piety. I like to see the King of Schnorrers...