The graphic storytelling style has been used by comic book artist-writers to present a variety of eras and locales where Jews have lived, such as modern-day Israel (Sacco), Holocaust- era Poland (spiegelman), the Depression-era Lower East Side of New York (Eisner) and Communist-era Europe (Giardino). However, few have effectively presented the essence of 19th-century New York as Ben Katchor has in The Jew of New York. It is appropriate that Katchor has written this work, that reflects upon the end of the last century, in recent years (i.e. at the end of the current century). The artwork, dialogue and story demonstrate both how different we have become and how similar we still are (for better or worse). For example, the respectable anti-onanism rally Katchor depicts has been replaced with the massive, boisterous pro-life demonstrations that take place outside of government buildings and clinics, yet the zeal and self-righteousness of the demonstrators has not changed in 100 years.
The Jew of New York is not so much a story as it is a collection of character sketches and mini-narratives, which are rather loosely connected to each other. The oddities of some of these characters give the work an air of absurditiy, worthy of Ianesco - characters such as Moishe Ketzelbaum, a wildman who literally seems to worship an actess whom he has never seen and who, after being mistaken for an animal, is killed, stuffed and put on display in a museum ; the New Afflatus commune of "free oxygenator" vegetarians, who are trying to promote a Yiddishized version of English ; Hershel Goulbat, whose stage show involves an American Indian who recites Jewish prayers in perfect Hebrew on a synagogue set ; and Yossl Feinbroyt, who transcribes the sounds of eating and drinking and sells kabbalistic patterns to a handkerchief company.
While showing us what befalls his assortment of New Yorkers, Katchor also manages to comment on attitudes held a century ago, that are still held today: the fear of poor Jewish "public relations" : "Should Kishon be arrested as a common vagrant, we are all implicated. People will talk: 'What sort of a religion drives a man to such aberrant behavior? Maybe there is some truth to those outlandish legends concerning the Jews?'" (pg. 57) ; the ridiculing of the traditional garb of Orthodox Jews: " ... we'll try to renovate your wardrobe. Something a little up-to-date ... the 14th century, perhaps" (pg. 62) ; the concern towards the shrinking Jewish community: "here in America, through assimilation and intermarriage, I fear that ... there will be no Jews left, as I know them, to write about." (pg. 68) ; and the anger towards Jews who are perceived as being unscrupulous businessmen: "They've devised a scherme whereby they can charge people two cents for a drink of water. Can you imagine making a business out of what falls freely from the sky?" (pg. 68). The character Issac Azarael's observation about the information explosion of the time (which is nothing compared to the glut of information we have today) is something we librarians can relate to: "There are high-speed steam presses in Boston and New York spewing out more printed material than can ever be consumed - over three hundred thousand bibles and six million tracts last year alone." (pg. 23).
All of the characters in Katchor's world are trying desperately (and usually, futilely) to try to make money fast in an uncertain, unpredictable economic environment that is rapidly changing, much like our own uncertain "information age". In Katchor's world, acting unconscionably has its price, whether it is Nathan Kishon selling unkosher tongues, Maynard Daizy trying to sensationalize his anti-semitic performance as a Jew by using the special effect of filling the theatre with the smell of pickled herring upon his entrances, or Hershel Goulbat trying to beat up the competition. His graphic novel reminds us all that no matter how difficult life gets, we must strive to treat each other with kindness, decency and respect. This book is reccommended for fiction or graphic novel sections of public, community and synagogue library collections.
Ben Katchor Homepage : http://www.katchor.com/