Feuchtwanger's Jud Süß and the Ambiguities of Jewish Political Power
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20660146 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gabriel Cooper (Oberlin College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 315-331 |
| Publication date | 2017-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The German Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-8831 • E-ISSN: 1756-1183 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/gequ.12038 |
| OpenAlex | W2740301565 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
This reading reassesses Feuchtwanger's novel Jud Süß (1925) as historical fiction, focusing on the temporality of the events portrayed, rather than the era in which the author wrote. An examination of the motif of betrayal, intrinsic to the historical setting's characterization, lends insight into the novel's portrayal of Jewish political power as deeply ambivalent. Whereas previous scholarship has uncritically received Feuchtwanger's justification for writing the novel, I argue that the author's interest lay in his subject – the court Jew, Josef Süß Oppenheimer – precisely as a historical Jewish figure. Through his protagonist, Feuchtwanger sought to probe dilemmas that confronted Jews torn between religious community and civil society. Ultimately, the novel espouses a pessimistic view of Jewish political power, and as response to the “Jewish question,” it exposes the insincerity of the state's offer of equal rights to Jews in exchange for relinquishing Judaism
Art · Epistemology · Jewish studies · Judaism · Literature · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · State of exception · Temporality · Theology · German History and Society · German legal, social, and political studies · German Literature and Culture Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |