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BELA ZSOLT, THE HUNGARIAN “SOCIOLOGIST OF JEWRY” identity, or at least he considers it as an irrelevant attribute of his identity, even if he is in a sort of soul-search himself. However, his handling of Jewish self-identification is not self-deceptive as in Gerson’s case because Dr. Hell does not actually see the significance of his roots, whether religiously, or with his ancestry. Not surprisingly, the first instance of the word zsidó in this novel is not even about him; some of his friends are talking about a man who later will never be mentioned again: Ottó Kerz, a dentist, wanted to become an anthropologist and now heis passionately demonstrating that the Jewish intellectual’s and rebel’s only way out is Zionism.” Ott6 Kerz is an insignificant character in the world of the novel, similarly to the role of the Jewish intelligentsia; therefore, this occurrence illustrates both the narration’s and the main character’s attitude towards Jewishness. This negligence is strikingly and beautifully used in the novel; its implication is the ambivalence of the assimilated attitude of the contemporary Jew (not caring about being Jewish) and the impossibility of an actual assimilation (because of being viewed Jewish by society). Eventually, Hell’s lack and failure of self-identification becomes his fatality, thus legitimizing the fact that this negligence and ambivalence evolve into self-destruction. Another example of the author’s intentional use of ambivalence can be traced back on a metaphorical level in the plot as well: the main character engages in important business on a Saturday ignoring the Sabbath laws, but at one other time, eagerly tries to pray in Hebrew. The last of Zsolt’s novels to be discussed, The Woman from the Riverside of the Danube, is the deepest and most complexly worked out one in terms of Jewish identification. Here the narrator speaks in the first-person singular, presenting himself as a self-aware Jewish man. The first mention of his Jewish identity is in the form of a corporeal description, which technique will be discussed in the next section. Nonetheless, the most articulate Jewish identification technique in this novel is the embodiment of fear. The era’s “Jewish fear”?°, which can only be cognizable from the narrator-protagonist, speaks for itself through the key sentence of the novel: "Kerz Ottó fogorvos, antropológus akart lenni, és most szenvedélyesen bizonyítja, hogy a zsidó entellektüel és forradalmár számára egyetlen kivezető út a cionizmus." In Béla Zsolt: Kínos Ügy, Budapest, Ulpius-häz Könyvkiadö, 2008, 18. Here I am not referring to any established notion; my denotation only aims to mark an idea that can be perceived as a culmination of the “Jewish inconvenience” Zsolt depicts in his works. + 467 "
