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20B - Antisemitism in Modern Literature and Theater

German Literature, 18th–21st Century*

from Part III - The Modern Era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

By
Michael Mack
Edited by
Steven Katz
Steven Katz
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Summary

This essay analyzes antisemitism in modern German literature from the Enlightenment to post-Holocaust times. It shows how antisemitic stereotypes and theological elements were encoded in fictitious stories and how Jews were portrayed as foreign and demonic by both left-wing and right-wing writers. Both sides fabricated claims that it was the Jews who were responsible for the shortcomings of all forms of modern society.

Keywords

Nathan the WiseBiarritzJud SüssSalomon MaimonRichard Wagner
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Antisemitism , pp. 367 - 376
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Further Reading

Eco, U., The Prague Cemetery, trans. Dixon, Richard (London, 2010). Historical thriller about how the chapter entitled “The Prague Cemetery” in Goedsche’s novel Biarritz became the basis for the conspiracy theories propounded in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.Google Scholar
Gilman, S. L., The Jew’s Body (London, 1999). Detailed analysis of how antisemitic fictions have informed pseudo-scientific medical and popular culture in the German speaking sphere from 1800 to 1945.Google Scholar
Gilman, S. L., and Zipes, J., eds., Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096–1996 (New Haven, CT, 1997). Contains a variety of highly readable short essays on key issues and events related to antisemitic stereotyping from the 18th century to the end of the 20th century.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kafka, F., The Castle, trans. J. A. Underwood, with an introduction by Parry, I. (London, 1997). In quasi-allegorical form, Kafka’s 1926 novel depicts the ways in which the antisemitic stereotyping of Jews as strangers determines the protagonist Joseph K.’s experience of being vilified, demonized and excluded by society.Google Scholar
Lessing, G. E., Nathan the Wise, trans. Kemp, E. (New York, 2004). Spinoza-inspired drama depicting, via Nathan’s famous ring parable, the equality of different religions and cultures.Google Scholar
Mack, M., German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses (Chicago, IL, 2003). Analyzes the pseudo-theological foundations of pseudo-scientific antisemitism in German literature with a focus on Wagner’s idealist and socialist antisemitism.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendes-Flohr, P., and Reinharz, J., eds., The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History (Oxford, 1995). Provides an English translation of key documents of German antisemitic literature (such as Wagner’s essay “Judaism in Music”). It also contains illuminating introductions and helpful commentary to the translated texts.Google Scholar

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