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

ISBN:

9780520929357

9781417525607

9781597347808

Title:

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

Author:

Schechter, Ronald.

Personal Author:

Schechter, Ronald.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 331 pages).

Series:

Studies on the history of society and culture ; 49

S. Mark Taper Foundation imprint in Jewish studies

Contents:

Cover -- 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 8220;Others8221; -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Personal Subject:

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

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.

Subject Term:

Jews -- France -- Identity.

Jews -- Public opinion.

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

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

Jews in literature.

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

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

Geographic Term:

France -- Ethnic relations.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2003

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
305.892404409033 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

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 Schechteroffers 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.

Author Notes

Schechter Ronald :

Ronald Schechter is Associate Professor in the Lyon Gardiner Tyler Department of History, The College of William and Mary. He is editor of The French Revolution: The Essential Readings (2001).

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Schechter's book represents a significant contribution to the history of French Jewry during the century connecting the French Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Empire. It also enhances our understanding of the French Jewish experience. Schechter (College of William and Mary) asks three main questions. First, to what degree did French thinkers and politicians discuss Jews during this period? Second, why was there so much interest in a politically weak and numerically insignificant minority? Finally, how did French Jews view themselves? The author explores these issues from a cultural standpoint, culling impressions of Jews from literary, political, and liturgical sources. He concludes that gentiles perceived Jews as obstinate and resistant to change, and employed these images as vehicles for discussing broader social, economic, and political issues. Consequently, in the fervor of the Revolution and its aftermath, efforts to assimilate French Jews became attempts to "convert" Jews to French civil religion rather than to Christianity. French Jews, however, interpreted their environment through a specifically Jewish lens, aligning perceptions of France with Jewish values and practices. They did not, Schechter writes, assimilate into France as much as they "assimilated France into themselves." ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty. J. Haus University of North Carolina at Greensboro