British Romanticism and the Jews : History, Culture, Literature

British Romanticism and the Jews explores the mutual influences exerted by the British-Christian and British-Jewish communities on each other during the period between the Enlightenment and Victorianism. The essays in the volume demonstrate how the texts produced by the Jewish Enlightenment provided a significant resource for romantic intellectual revisionism, in much the same way that British romanticism provided the cultural basis through which the British-Jewish community was able to negotiate between the competing obligations to ethnicity and nationalism. Front Matter....Pages I-XII Introduction....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Great Britain or Judea Nova? National Identity, Property, and the Jewish Naturalization Controversy of 1753....Pages 19-36 Abraham Goldsmid: Money Magician in the Popular Press....Pages 37-60 Halakhic Romanticism: Wordsworth, the Rabbis, and Torah....Pages 61-77 “What are Those Golden Builders Doing?”: Mendelssohn, Blake, and the (Un)Building of Jerusalem ....Pages 79-90 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 “For Luz is a Good Joke”: Thomas Lovell Beddoes and Jewish Eschatology....Pages 93-103 Scott’s Hebraic Historicism....Pages 105-120 Maria Edgeworth’s Harrington: The Price of Sympathetic Representation....Pages 121-137 Imagining “the Jew”: Dickens’ Romantic Heritage....Pages 139-155 Front Matter....Pages 157-157 British-Jewish Writing of the Romantic Era and the Problem of Modernity: The Example of David Levi....Pages 159-177 Not for “Antiquaries,” but for “Philosophers”: Isaac D’Israeli’s Talmudic Critique and His Talmudical Way with Literature....Pages 179-196 Hyman Hurwitz’s Hebrew Tales (1826): Redeeming the Talmudic Garden....Pages 197-213 Grace Aguilar: Rewriting Scott Rewriting History....Pages 215-234 Alroy as Disraeli’s “Ideal Ambition”....Pages 235-248 Harold’s Complaint, or Assimilation in Full Bloom....Pages 249-263 Back Matter....Pages 265-294

british Romanticism And The Jews Explores The Mutual Influences Exerted By The British-christian And British-jewish Communities On Each Other During The Period Between Enlightenment And Victorianism. The Essays In This Volume Demonstrate How The Texts Produced By The Jewish Enlightenment Provided A Significant Resource For Romantic Intellectual Revisionism, In Much The Same Way That Romanticism Provided The Cultural Basis Through Which The British-jewish Community Was Able To Negotiate Between The Competing Obligations Of Ethnicity And Nationalism. With Separate Sections For Cultural Contexts, British Romantics, And Haskalah, And Jewish Writers And British Romanticism, The Collection Contains Essays Dealing With The Jewish Naturalization Controversy Of 1753, Jews In The Popular Press, And Halakhah And The Haskalah. Among The British Romantics, The Essays Focus On Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Sir Walter Scott, Maria Edgeworth, And Charles Dickens. Finally Jewish Writers Include David Levi, Isaac D’israeli, Hyman Hurwitz, Grace Aguilar, Benjamin Disraeli, And Harold Bloom.

This book explores the mutual influences exerted by the British-Christian and British-Jewish communities on each other during the period between the Enlightenment and Victorianism. The essays in the volume demonstrate how the texts produced by the Jewish Enlightenment provided a significant resource for romantic intellectual revisionism.