The 'Jewish Question' in German Literature, 1749-1939 is an erudite and searching literary study of the uneasy position of the Jews in Germany and Austria from the first pleas for Jewish emancipation during the Enlightenment to the eve of the Holocaust. Trying to avoid hindsight, and drawing on a wide range of literary texts, Ritchie Robertson offers a close examination of attempts to construct a Jewish identity suitable for an increasingly secular world. He examines both literary portrayals of Jews by Gentile writers - whether antisemitic, friendly, or ambivalent - and efforts to reinvent Jewish identities by the Jews themselves, in response to antisemitism culminating in Zionism. No other study by a single author deals with German-Jewish relations so comprehensively and over such a long period of literary history. Robertson's new work will prove stimulating for anyone interested in the modern Jewish experience, as well as for scholars and students of German fiction, prose, and political culture.
Reviews
Review from previous edition Robertson does an admirable job in identifying and analyzing the complex development of 'the Jewish Question.' * Mitchell B. Hart, Religious Studies Rev. Vol.26, No.4, Oct. 00. *
This book will be valuable to beginning and advanced students and specialists of modern Jewish and modern German history and literature. * Mitchell B. Hart, Religious Studies Rev. Vol.26, No.4, Oct. 00. *
It can be mined for its extensive translations and summaries and engaged with as a masterful synthesis and interpretation of the major themes and dilemmas of modern Jewish and European history. * Mitchell B. Hart, Religious Studies Rev. Vol.26, No.4, Oct. 00. *
the reader will appreciate Robertson's fresh insights and his ability to synthesize and elucidate a vast body of primary and secondary sources. * I. Di Maio, Choice, June 2000. *
a whole series of stories, richly heterogenous in nature ... his account of Mendelssohn's career, and of his family's history, is admirably fair and illuminating. Robertson's is a magisterial work. He has read everything, and summarises it well * Anthony Julius, The Times, 29/07/99 *
Robertson's tireless labour ... Robertson's scholarly work deserves a place in every university library. * Edward Timms, THES *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199248889
Author Professor Ritchie Robertson
Format Paperback
Page Count 544
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 139mm * 29mm