Imperfect Sympathies

Jews and Judaism in British Romantic Literature and Culture

J. Page

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN:
  9781349388110
  9780312295707
• eBook ISBN:
  9781403980472
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: European Literary Criticism

Judith W. Page argues that the 'cultural revolution' of sympathy and sentiment in British literature from 1770-1830 influenced the representations of Jews and Judaism. Page draws on historical materials and primary documents by and about Jews of the period, as well as a variety of authors and literary genres. She argues that there is a tension between the Romantic impulse to admire and sympathize with Jews and Judaism on the one hand, and the traditions of anti-semitism and conversionist philo-Semitism on the other. This often unresolved tension in the literature reflects the political and cultural struggles of the time, as well as the dilemma of Romanticism, which advocates sympathy but doesn't always accommodate difference.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Imperfect Sympathies
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Introduction: Jews and the Romantic Culture of Sympathy
• Chapter 2 Blessing and Curse: Imaginary Jews and Romantic Texts
• Chapter 3 Reinventing Shylock: Romanticism and the Representation of Shakespeare’s Jew
• Chapter 4 Hyman Hurwitz’s HEBREW TALES (1826): Redeeming the Talmudic Garden
• Chapter 5 Judith Montefiore’s PRIVATE JOURNAL (1827): Jerusalem and Jewish Memory
• Chapter 6 Maria Edgeworth’s HARRINGTON (1817): Jews, Storytelling, and the Challenge of Moral Education
• Chapter 7 “Nor yet redeemed from scorn”: Wordsworth and the Jews
• Chapter 8 “The Historical Moment”: Jewish Scholars and Romanticism
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index