Identity Theft

"Identity Theft" focuses on the life and writing of Avraam Uri Kovner. As one of the fiery Jewish nihilists of his generation, variously a critic, author, and bank embezzler, Kovner embodies the problem of identity as a series of translations across cultural boundaries. Kovner, who initiated modern Hebrew criticism, published two novels in Russian as well as a weekly column in a widely read Russian newspaper. He forged a bank check and became notorious in the Russian press as an example of the danger integration of the Jews represented to Russian society. From prison, and later in exile, Kovner defended the Jews in a series of letters to Fedor Dostoevsky and Vasilii Rozanov, both of whom vilified Jews in their writings. Ostracized by both the Jewish and Russian communities, he mimed and at the same time undermined rigid stereotypes of Jewish and Russian behavior, pointing out the uneasy interdependence of the two cultures he inhabited.

ISBN 0804732906   Pages 264 ISBN13 9780804732901 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Stanford University Press   Weight (grammes) 490 Imprint Stanford University Press   Published in Palo Alto Format Hardback   Series title Contraversions: Jews & Other Differences Publication date 30 Jun 2003   Height (mm) 235 Library of Congress 2003002197   Width (mm) 162 DEWEY 947.08092   Spine width (mm) 21 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

		Acknowledgments
		A Note on Transliteration
		Introduction		1
1		Early Years		11
2		The Jew as Nihilist		32
3		Kovner and Russophone Literature		59
4		A Chameleon of Our Time		83
5		Crime and Punishment		104
6		Dostoevsky		131
7		A Jewish Casanova: Letters to Rozanov		156
		Conclusion		172
		Notes		201
		Works Cited		221
		Index		233

"In this investigation of the life and work of Avraam Uri Kovner...Harriet Murav deploys her actue analytical skills to fashion a study that should prove satisfying to both historians and literary scholars--a remarkable and rare achievement in today's academic world. Drawing thoughtfully from current post-modern and post-colonial theory...in a discussion that is blessedly accessible and jargon-free, she brings new insights to a crucial aspect of modern Jewish history that has indeed been in need of just such a fresh approach."--"Journal of Jewish Studies"

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