Maurice Samuel
Encyclopedia
Maurice Samuel was a Romania
n-born British
and American
novelist, translator and lecturer.
A Jewish and Zionist
intellectual, he is best known for his work You Gentiles, published in 1924. Most of his work concerns Judaism
and the Jew's role in history and modern society, but he also wrote more conventional fiction such as The Web of Lucifer, which takes place under the Borgias' rule in Renaissance Italy
and the fantasy
/science-fiction novel The Devil that Failed. He and his work won a little bit of acclaim in the Jewish community during his lifetime. (Maurice Samuel also wrote the nonfiction King Mob under the pseudonym "Frank K. Notch.")
, Tulcea County
, to Isaac Samuel and Fanny Acker, Maurice moved to Paris
with his family at the age of five and about a year later to Victoria University
. Eventually, he left England and from 1914 he remained in America.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n-born British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, translator and lecturer.
A Jewish and Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
intellectual, he is best known for his work You Gentiles, published in 1924. Most of his work concerns Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and the Jew's role in history and modern society, but he also wrote more conventional fiction such as The Web of Lucifer, which takes place under the Borgias' rule in Renaissance Italy
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
and the fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
/science-fiction novel The Devil that Failed. He and his work won a little bit of acclaim in the Jewish community during his lifetime. (Maurice Samuel also wrote the nonfiction King Mob under the pseudonym "Frank K. Notch.")
Early life
Born in MăcinMacin
-Location:Măcin is located in the north-western part of the Dobrudja region, in Tulcea County. The city is located at the intersection of the DN22 and DN22D national roads. The DN22 road links it to the Romanian capital, Bucharest and to the cities of Isaccea and Tulcea...
, Tulcea County
Tulcea County
Tulcea is a county of Romania, in the historical region Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea.-Demographics:In 2002, Tulcea County had a population of 256,492...
, to Isaac Samuel and Fanny Acker, Maurice moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his family at the age of five and about a year later to Victoria University
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
. Eventually, he left England and from 1914 he remained in America.
Quotes
- "We Jews are accused of being destroyers: whatever you put up, we tear down. It is true only in a relative sense. We are not iconoclasts deliberately: we are not enemies of your institutions simply because of the dislike between us. We are a homeless mass seeking satisfaction for our constructive instincts. And in your institutions we cannot find satisfaction." - You Gentiles, Page 147.
- "Jew and Gentile are two worlds, between you Gentiles and us Jews there lies an unbridgeable gulf...There are two life forces in the world: Jewish and Gentile...I do not believe that this primal difference between Gentile and Jew is reconcilable..." - You Gentiles, page 9
- "I cannot find an underlying difference between the moral purpose of the Old Testament and the New, between Judaism and Christianity, between Bachya ibn Pakudah's 'Duties of the Heart' and Boethius's 'Consolation of Philosophy' or Thomas à Kempis's 'Imitation of Christ'. There is, on the contrary, a deep and moving similarity of spirit between Israel Baal Shem, the founder of Chassidism, and Francis of AssisiFrancis of AssisiSaint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
, though the former had never heard of the latter, and had never looked into the New Testament. What is perhaps more important for my thesis, the gentleness and warmth that I have found in plain Jewish homes in Manchester, New York, Warsaw, Vilna, Johannesburg, I have found also among gentile LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
weavers, and midwest American farmers, and French peasants—all deriving from the same tradition." - Gentleman and the Jew, pages 203-204.
Fiction
- The Outsider (1921)
- Whatever Gods (1923)
- Beyond Woman (1934)
- Web of Lucifer (1947)
- The Devil that Failed (1952)
- The Second Crucifixion (1960)
Non-fiction
- You Gentiles (1924)
- I, the Jew (1927)
- What Happened in Palestine: The Events of August, 1929: Their Background and Significance
- King Mob: A Study of the Present-Day Mind (1931)
- On the Rim of the Wilderness: The Conflict in Palestine (1931)
- Jews on Approval (1932)
- The Great Hatred (1940)
- The World of Sholom Aleichem (1943)
- Harvest in the Desert (1944)
- Haggadah of Passover (1947) (translation)
- Prince of the Ghetto (1948)
- The Gentleman and the Jew (1950)
- Level Sunlight (1953)
- Certain People of the Book (1955)
- Little Did I Know: Recollections and Reflections (1963)
- Blood Accustation: the Strange History of the Beiliss Case (1966)
- Light on Israel (1968)
- In Praise of Yiddish (1971)
- In the Beginning, Love: Dialogues on the Bible (collaboration) (1975)