More on the question of anti-Semitism in Pontoppidan's Lucky Per

Henrik Pontoppidan's novel Lucky Per (1904), at the mid-point, culminates in the announcement of the engagement of Per and Jakobe, but not before Per indulges in some serious flirtation and a passionate kiss w/ J's beautiful sister, Nanny - boding ill for the planned marriage, to put it mildly. Per at this point has his back up; he's furious w/ all of the Copenhagen financiers who refused to back his enormous project to build canals across Denmark and in his head-strong manner he believes he can push ahead alone w/ his project. Of course his anger at the financiers touches on his anti-Semitic feelings, and perhaps on those of Pontoppidan as well; I've been reading this novel for about a week now and am still wrestling w/ the anti-Semitism: How much of it is just social realism, for which HP deserves credit for depicting? How much of it is HP's own biases and prejudice? HP describes, through Per's eyes, the enormous dinner party that the Salomon's give to welcome home Nanny and to announce the engagement of Jakobe. He describes the chaos, the multiple languages spoken, the many ongoing conversations about politics and art, the lavish spread, the heavy and expensive silverware on the table - and he describes this as very Jewish. Well, I can tell you, he's right - I can picture many of my own family gatherings over multiple generations, and that's pretty accurate, although I'm not sure it's exclusively Jewish, either (Italian-American families may have similar gatherings, for ex.). In some ways, this description is in praise of the Jewish families - but there's also, just beneath the surface, a contempt for the nouveau-riche display of wealth and for the boisterous, indecorous conversations. This mixture of admiration and contempt is something all Jews will recognize, and I'm just not sure what to make of HP's portrayal. I'm hoping that to get a better handle on his sensibility as the plot unfolds over the second half of this long novel.