The Woman Beater: With a Chapter From English Humorists of To-day by J. A. Hammerton

By Israel Zangwill and J. A. Hammerton

“The Woman Beater” is a 1903 short story by British author Israel Zangwill (1864–1926). Zangwill was a leading figure in cultural Zionism during the 19th century, as well as close friend of father of modern political Zionism, Theodor Herzl. In later life, he renounced the seeking of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A notable portion of Zangwill's work concentrated on ghetto life and earned him the nickname "the Dickens of the Ghetto". Highly recommended for lovers of the short story form and not to be missed by fans of Zangwill's masterful work. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter from “English Humourists of To-Day” by J. A. Hammerton.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read & Co. Books
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528790086

Israel Zangwill

Zangwill, the son of Latvian and Polish immigrants, was born in London’s East End and showed literary promise as early as eighteen. A teacher for some years after he graduated from London University, he eventually left the profession to write full-time, publishing hundreds of essays, as well as novels, short stories and plays produced in London and New York. His work concentrated on political, social and Jewish issues but The Big Bow Mystery was his only venture into detective fiction.

Book preview

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THE

WOMAN BEATER

WITH A CHAPTER FROM

English Humorists of To-day

BY J. A. Hammerton

By

ISRAEL ZANGWILL

First published in 1903

This edition published by Read Books Ltd.

Copyright © 2019 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

Contents

Israel Zangwill

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

Israel Zangwill

Israel Zangwill

This picture though it is not much

Like Zangwill, is not void of worth

It has one true Zangwillian touch

It looks like nothing else on earth.

Oliver Herford

Confessions of a Caricaturist,

Perhaps some one will suggest that Mr. Israel Zangwill is a humorist only as one whom we loved long since and lost awhile, because of late years — indeed, for more than a decade — little that is entirely humorous has come from his pen. On the other hand, he has never been a humorist who inspires affection: he is somewhat too intellectual for that. There is no novelist who, with greater justice, takes himself and his art more seriously than Mr. Zangwill has done since, in 1892, he wrote that masterpiece of modern fiction, Children of the Ghetto; yet, as he began his literary career as a humorous writer and is beyond question one of our masters of epigrammatic wit and intellectual point—de—vice, he may with sufficient reason be included in any survey of modern humour. Moreover, despite the high and serious purpose of all his later work, his attendant imps of mirth are ever at his elbow, and we find him with welcome frequency acknowledging their presence in the writing of even his soberest stories.

Born to Jewish parents in London forty—three years ago, Mr Zangwill shares the distonction of such celebrities as Napoleon and Wellington in not knowing his birthday. He is aware that the year was