Language:
German
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie
Angaben zur Quelle:
118,2 (1999) 234-265
Keywords:
Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von,
;
German literature 19th century
;
Jewish magic History 1500-
;
Magic in literature
;
Jews Fiction
;
Antisemitism in literature
Abstract:
The accusation that Jews practice black magic, a sign of their moral and theological depravity, goes back to antiquity and was maintained by Luther, Eisenmenger, and Schudt, and in the 19th century by Joseph von Goerres, a friend of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's close friend Christoph Bernhard Schlüter. Jews were said to use black magic in revenge for wrongs done to them, taking justice into their own hands, in collusion with the Devil and in circumvention of the Christian legal system. On the other hand, Franz Joseph Molitor, also a friend of Schlüter, saw in the magic of the Kabbalah the restoration of cosmic harmony. When this harmony is ruptured by a murder, it must be restored through the magic death of the murderer. Thus, the Jews' curse on Simon's murderer in Droste-Hülshoff's story can be understood either as black, demonic magic or as white, natural magic.
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