Benjamin Disraeli
The Fabricated Jew in Myth and Memory
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University Press of America
Published:18th Apr '03
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£78.00(9780761824725)
This book utilizes previously ignored or little known sources to provide new insights into how one of the most famous Jewish converts was viewed by the Jewish community he ignored and by the larger Christian world that would not accept him. Although Benjamin Disraeli was baptized prior to his thirteenth birthday, he could not escape his origins. Labeled as a 'Jew Scamp' by his detractors when he entered the political arena, he exploited his background to demonstrate the nobility of his ancient race and the superiority of his ancestral origins over those of his opponents. Rather than deny his roots, he chose to make them an integral part of his mystique. Though Disraeli's support of Jewish causes was problematic, his growing prominence attracted the attention of Anglo-Jewry who needed a hero to validate their own Englishness. Gradually, in spite of his baptism, they accepted him as a true representative of their faith and culture. Ultimately, a diverse group used and abused his achievements for their own purposes both during and especially after his lifetime. Zionists, Victorian racists, mid-twentieth century Nazis, Jewish apologists, and present day hate-mongers found abundant material in his novels to support their causes. This book shows how a myth can take on a life of its own in the collective memory of the Jewish people, as well as in the thought processes of a variety of anti-Semitic groups. Its fresh approach to the life and lore of a colorful Victorian figure also raises the issue of ethnic identity and minority acceptance in our pluralistic society.
Dr. Glassman's is an imaginatively researched and engagingly readable account of one of the most complexly overdetermined cultural constructions in modern Jewish history- Benjamin Disraeli. . . Dr. Glassman here enters exciting and often bizarre territory, and makes a significant contribution not only to the study of anti-Semitism and Victorian Jewry, but to an understanding of the uses and processes- the selectivity and transmutations- memory, mythopoeia and popular historiography. -- Dr. Andrew Horn, Fellow of the W.E.B. Dubois Institute, Harvard University; formerly University Chair of Literature and Language, University of t
Students of modern Jewish historiography are in Bernard Glassman's debt for the other illuminating feature of this work: his tracing the imaginary legacy and idealized image of Benjamin Disraeli born following his death. -- Harvey Meirovich * Conservative Judaism *
Having found a trove of material about the place of Benjamin Disraeli in the popular imagination, Bernard Glassman tell the intriguing story of how British Jewry came to celebrate the achievements of this former Jew turned Anglican as the highest expression of the Jewish spirit. -- Dr. Todd Endelman, William Haber Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Michigan
Having found a trove of material about the place of Benjamin Disraeli in the popular imagination, Bernard Glassman tell the intriguing story of how British Jewry came to celebrate the achievements of this former Jew turned Anglican as the highest expression of the Jewish spirit. -- Dr. Todd Endelman, William Haber Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Michigan
Dr. Glassman's is an imaginatively researched and engagingly readable account of one of the most complexly overdetermined cultural constructions in modern Jewish history- Benjamin Disraeli. . . Dr. Glassman here enters exciting and often bizarre territory, and makes a significant contribution not only to the study of anti-Semitism and Victorian Jewry, but to an understanding of the uses and processes- the selectivity and transmutations- memory, mythopoeia and popular historiography. -- Dr. Andrew Horn, Fellow of the W.E.B. Dubois Institute, Harvard University; formerly University Chair of Literature and Language, University of t
Students of modern Jewish historiography are in Bernard Glassman's debt for the other illuminating feature of this work: his tracing the imaginary legacy and idealized image of Benjamin Disraeli born following his death. -- Harvey Meirovich * Conservative Judaism *
ISBN: 9780761825401
Dimensions: 216mm x 138mm x 20mm
Weight: 345g
262 pages