Obstinate Hebrews : representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 / Ronald Schechter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schechter, Ronald.

Series:

Studies on the history of society and culture ; 49.

S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies.

Studies on the history of society and culture ; 49

S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821--Relations with Jews.

Napoleon.

Jews--France--Identity.

Jews.

Jews--Public opinion.

Public opinion--France--History--18th century.

Public opinion.

Public opinion--France--History--19th century.

Jews in literature.

French literature--19th century--History and criticism.

French literature.

Jews--France--Social conditions--18th century.

France--Ethnic relations.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (346 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Enlightenment writers, revolutionaries, and even Napoleon discussed and wrote about France's tiny Jewish population at great length. Why was there so much thinking about Jews when they were a minority of less than one percent and had little economic and virtually no political power? In this unusually wide-ranging study of representations of Jews in eighteenth-century France-both by Gentiles and Jews themselves-Ronald Schechter offers fresh perspectives on the Enlightenment and French Revolution, on Jewish history, and on the nature of racism and intolerance. Informed by the latest historical scholarship and by the insights of cultural theory, Obstinate Hebrews is a fascinating tale of cultural appropriation cast in the light of modern society's preoccupation with the "other." Schechter argues that the French paid attention to the Jews because thinking about the Jews helped them reflect on general issues of the day. These included the role of tradition in religion, the perfectibility of human nature, national identity, and the nature of citizenship. In a conclusion comparing and contrasting the "Jewish question" in France with discourses about women, blacks, and Native Americans, Schechter provocatively widens his inquiry, calling for a more historically precise approach to these important questions of difference.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. A Nation within the Nation?: The Jews of Old Regime France

2. Jews and Philosophes

3. Jews and Citizens

4. Contrapuntal Readings: Jewish Self-Representation in Prerevolutionary France

5. Constituting Differences: The French Revolution and the Jews

6. Familiar Strangers: Napoleon and the Jews

Conclusion: Jews and Other "Others"

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-317) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786612356957

9781282356955

128235695X

9780520929357

0520929357

9781597347808

1597347809

OCLC:

475928037