SOURCE: “Does Zangwill Still Live?” in Commentary, Vol. 17, 1954, p. 308.

In the following excerpt, Hindus points out the strengths and limitations in style of Zangwill's work as seen in The King of Schnorrers.

I began The King of Schnorrers with an anticipation based on a misty recollection of an old reading of Zangwill. The letdown I experienced was commensurate with my hopes. Perhaps to one who is more of an “outsider,” The King of Schnorrers may seem, as Professor Bernard N. Schilling says in his introductory essay, “an extremely funny book.” I find this hard to believe, however. Not that I think it a bad book, but it seems a good deal more humorous in intention than in fact.

And yet Zangwill has some solid literary virtues which are still discernible. He knew his Jewish subjects from within. If his tone occasionally suggests that he is writing with an...