Language:
German
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Aschkenas; Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der Juden
Angaben zur Quelle:
10,1 (2000) 177-201
Keywords:
Süss-Oppenheimer, Joseph,
;
Jews History 1800-2000
;
Jewish literature History and criticism
;
Court Jews
;
Jews in literature
;
Judaism in literature
Abstract:
Asserts that historical novels actually describe the authors' own times. Discusses fictional portrayals of court Jews by Jewish and non-Jewish, antisemitic and philosemitic writers. Wilhelm Hauff's "Jud Süss" (1827) is not all black and white: although Süss is portrayed without empathy, as corrupt and somehow demonic, his execution for crimes he did not commit is "an act of shameful barbarism". Berthold Auerbach, in his early work "Dichter und Kaufmann" (1840), presents a reactionary court Jew, endowed with all the stereotypical negative qualities, as a foil to his progressive Jewish hero. In contrast, other Jewish writers, both Reform and neo-Orthodox, portray court Jews who represent the ideal blend of Judaism with modernity and acceptance by society. But in 1925, when the Weimar Republic raised Jewish hopes, Feuchtwanger's Jud Süss perceives at the end that his belief in a new age, when Jews would enjoy the same opportunities and the same respect as anyone else, was an illusion.
Note:
Deals, among others, with the figure of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer in German novels.
URL:
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