Grace Aguilar

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Grace Aguilar

Grace Aguilar (born June 2, 1816 in London ; died September 16, 1847 in Frankfurt am Main ) was an English writer of Sephardic descent. In addition to novels, she wrote essays and articles on historical topics, especially Jewish history. Aguilar is believed to be the first woman to write about Judaism in English. Her works were extremely popular in her day.

Life

Aguilar spent the first years of her life in London. Her parents were Spanish immigrants of Marran descent; her father Emanuel Aguilar was a merchant and an important figure in the Jewish community, her mother Sarah Dias Fernandes Aguilar ran a small private school for boys. Her brother was the pianist and composer Emanuel Aguilar . Aguilar was home-schooled by both parents. With all family members in poor health, the family spent much of their time out of the big city in Devonshire . Her church visits there were her first encounter with British Protestantism .

Aguilar was considered extraordinarily well-educated, but she was heavily under the influence and control of her mother and barely moved in circles outside of her own family. Even after her literary success began, she was not allowed to travel independently, unlike her two younger brothers who had careers abroad. After the death of her father in 1845, she supported the family with the income from her literary work alone. In 1847 Aguilar spent the last months of her life seriously ill in Germany. Her mother, who had accompanied her there, had hoped for medical help there; However, Aguilar died in September of that year after losing the ability to speak some time before. She is buried in Frankfurt.

plant

Although seven of her novels were only published posthumously by her mother, Aguilar was an extremely popular writer during her lifetime and was translated into various foreign languages. Her first works were historical romances . Typical of this creative phase is The Vale of Cedars , which was first published in 1850 and also translated into German and Hebrew and is set at the time of the Spanish Inquisition . The main characters are Jews who must practice their faith in secret. Aguilar later turned to translations as well as theological and biographical writings. It was during this phase that she achieved her greatest fame. Among other things, she dealt with issues of the emancipation of women in the context of Judaism and the connection between Judaism and humanism . In 1844 Women of Israel appeared , a compilation of various women in the Bible and Talmud . In the last years of her life, Aguilar turned back to fiction. Works like Home Influence and A Mother's Recompense are less emancipatory; Women are more likely to act in accordance with Victorian ideals as strong mothers who have little social freedom outside of their families.

Aguilar's religious writings rarely take pronounced theological positions; for the most part they are enlightened and try to convey knowledge about Jewish culture and history. It set itself the goal of breaking down prejudices among a broad readership. The background to these efforts was their distrust of Catholicism , which found further spread in the context of Catholic emancipation in Great Britain during this period . In particular, she feared the Catholic influence on literature. Throughout her life she associated Catholicism with anti-Semitism and the oppression of Spanish and Portuguese Jews that was anchored in her own family history.

Aguilar also appeared as a translator; In 1838 she published Israel Defended , a translation from the French of a work by Isaak Orobio de Castro . In 1835 she had also anonymously published a volume of poetry entitled The Magic Wreath .

reception

Although her fiction was largely well received by the critics, the religious writings had the greatest influence on Aguilar's reputation as an author. In a review of The Days of Bruce, Sharpe's Magazine described the novel as successful, but its descriptions of Judaism were unique in comparison. Women of Israel , some of which was taught in Sunday schools until the 1950s , met with the strongest critical response . Her poems, however, were less popular. The American Anglist Michael Galchinsky sees Aguilar as the most important voice of English Judaism of her time, who has strengthened both the position of the Jews against Christians and that of Jewish women against men.

Today, Aguilar and her work are little known. A branch of the New York Public Library is named after her.

bibliography

  • The Magic Wreath (1835)
  • Israel Defended (1838)
  • The Spirit of Judaism (1842)
  • Women of Israel (1844)
  • Records of Israel (1844)
  • The Jewish Faith (1846)
  • History of the Jews in England (1847)
  • Home Influence (1847)
  • The Vale of Cedars (1850)
  • A Mother's Recompense (1851)
  • Woman's Friendship (1851)
  • The Days of Bruce (1852)
  • Women's Friendship (1853)
  • Home Scenes and Heart Studies (1853)
  • Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853)

supporting documents

  1. ^ Grace Aguilar in the Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved December 15, 2010
  2. ↑ a b c d e Lorna Sage: The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English , Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (1999), p. 7
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Paul Schlueter / June Schlueter (eds.): An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers , Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick / London (1998), p. 4f.
  4. ↑ a b Michael Dugdale: Grace Aguilar , seen May 11, 2010

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Aguilar, Grace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1847
Place of death Frankfurt am Main