Published in 1904 by Ezra Brudno, whose great great father studied with the Gaon of Vilna, The Fugitive could be considered a good study of the influence of Haskala (translated here as "culture") in literature, or a sociological testimony or a pro-assimilation pledge. Otherwise - or because of the aforementioned traits - the literary value is very limited. After the first 100 pages of the book you easily realize that the whole construction is aimed to reach a lecturing ending: life is possible also outside the shtetl.
Israel - a name symbolic for the whole community - is condemned to wonder from a place (the Russia of pogroms) to another (till America) and from a country to another after his father was accused on Pesah - the celebration of the freedom - of the blood label. From the cruel world of the yeshivas - from where he is expelled after being found reading Spinoza - to the bloody reality of the pogroms and the hard work of the immigrant in the United States, Israel will be driven by his love for the Christian woman and the final meditation about the equal indifference against all religions. At the end of his long and adventurous sentimental journey, he will achieve what her lover ask him to do when he was a poor orphan: to achieve the same intellectual status with writers as Pushkin or Lermontov. The whole story is written at the first person as a way probably to create the image of more authenticity.
Although it was written before Shoah, the ending is echoing in our 21st century ears the saying of Elie Wiesel according to which the children of the criminals aren't criminals. At the end, Israel will marry the daughter of the man directly involved in the murder of his father. Symbolically, Israel accepts the communion with those who murdered his community. The symbolism is relatively cheap and our hero doesn't develop too much about his choice(s), although given his exposure to Haskala and modern literature and philosophy, more tension and complex thinking would have enriched the story.
Reading recommendation: only if you are a lot of free time, you are working permanently to improve your English and writing skills and experience.
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