SUMMARY:

The article surveys representations of the Jew in literary texts produced by members of the noble class of mid-nineteenth century Lithuania. Written from the perspective of the nobleman’s microcosm – the local estate – where the nobles and the peasantry shared the Christian religion and the agricultural lifestyles, these texts underscored perceptions of the Jews as aliens amid the Lithuanian social texture. The authors pointed out Jewish economic activities, envisioned as harmful to the well-being of the Christian peasantry, the Jewish cultural difference from the Christian population, and often referred to the Jewish “malicious” business practices. Although an alternative and democratic stream in Lithuanian literature began to display sympathetic attitudes to the Jews, it was marginal and could not compete with the dominant perceptions by the noble classes. In the circumstances of the overwhelming predominance of Christian religion, the authors saw the only way to resolve the Jewish problem in Lithuania through conversions and assimilation of the Jews.