1 option
Instrument of memory : encounters with the Wandering Jew / Lisa Lampert-Weissig.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Lampert-Weissig, Lisa, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Wandering Jew in literature.
- Wandering Jew in art.
- Wandering Jew--Influence.
- Wandering Jew.
- Memory in literature.
- Genre:
- Electronic books.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xiii, 266 pages) : illustrations
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2024.
- Summary:
- How can immortality be a curse? According to the Wandering Jew legend, as Jesus made his way to Calvary, a man refused him rest, cruelly taunting him to hurry to meet his fate. In response, Jesus cursed the man to wander until the Second Coming. Since the medieval period, the legend has inspired hundreds of adaptations by artists and writers. Instrument of Memory: Encounters with the Wandering Jew, the first English-language study of the legend in over fifty years, is also the first to examine the influence of the legend's medieval and early modern sources over the centuries into the present day. Using the lens of memory studies, the work shows how the Christian tradition of the legend centered the memory of the Passion at the heart of the Wandering Jew's curse. Instrument of Memory also shows how Jewish artists and writers have reimagined the legend through Jewish memory traditions. Through this focus on memory, Jewish adaptors of the legend create complex renderings of the Wandering Jew that recognize not only the entanglement of Jewish and Christian memory, but also the impact of that entanglement on Jewish subjects. This book presents a complex, sympathetic, and more fully realized version of the legend while challenging the limits of the presentism of memory studies.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-266) and index.
- Description based on information from the publisher.
- ISBN:
- 9780472903955
- 0472903950
- Access Restriction:
- Open Access Unrestricted online access
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.