Zangwill, Israel, 1864-1926

Israel Zangwill was an English novelist, playwright, essayist, and political activist.

From the description of Israel Zangwill collection of papers, 1895-1918. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122485923

From the guide to the Israel Zangwill collection of papers, 1895-1918, (The New York Public Library. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.)

Zangwill was an English novelist, playwright, and Zionist leader.

From the description of Papers, undated. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612770087

Anglo-Jewish writer and political activist.

From the description of Israel Zangwill letters and manuscripts, 1897-1926. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 122684945

A British fiction writer, dramatist, essayist, and political activist, Israel Zangwill was the father of modern British-Jewish literature. He founded Ariel: The London Puck, a humor periodical, in 1888, and was a regular contributor to the Idler, 1892- 95. His fiction included novels such as Merely Mary Ann, which he later turned into his most successful play; Ghetto Tragedies, and The King of Schnorrers (1894), a comic, episodic work about a Sephardic Jew in eighteenth-century London whose wit and learning make him the king of that city's Jewish beggars, or schnorrers. Many of his plays were produced in London, and several in New York City, such as The Melting Pot (1909). He had a political and literary social circle that included Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Theodore Roosevelt, Rudyard Kipling, and Oscar Wilde, among others. Writing eventually took a back seat to his political activities in the Zionist, feminist, reformist, and peace movements. He co-founded the Jewish Territorial Organization in 1905 and was later president of this group, which saw an immediate need for the resettlement of persecuted Jews (he resigned around 1925).

From the description of I. Zangwill letter to Dear Sir, 1901 Oct. 30. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 106487496

English born Zionist, humorist and writer.

From the description of Israel Zangwill papers, 1894, 1896, undated. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 648004392

Israel Zangwill was born in London on 1 February 1864. He was educated at schools in Bristol and Plymouth. In 1873 his parents returned to London, where they sent Zangwill to the Jews' Free School at Spitalfields, London. He received a BA with triple honours from the University of London. He published his first literary work, a short story in the journal Society . His first novel, The Premier and the Painter , appeared in 1888. From 1888 to 1926 Zangwill wrote many novels and plays including, The Big Bow Mystery , 1891, Children of the Ghetto: A study of a Peculiar People , 1892-1893 and the play We Moderns , 1926. During his lifetime, Zangwill also worked as a teacher, a lawyer and editor of the journal Ariel . Zangwill was involved in the Zionist movement. In 1904 he founded the Jewish Territorial Organisation. He also became the president of several Jewish cultural organisations including the Jewish Historical Society of England and the Jewish Drama League. He wrote pamphlets and addressed meetings in America, Europe and Israel on Jewish life and politics. Zangwill died on 1 August 1926 at his home in Midhurst, Sussex.

From the guide to the Zangwill, Israel, c1900, (Senate House Library, University of London)