Rethinking Antisemitism in Nineteenth-Century France

by Julie Kalman

Overview

Rethinking Antisemitism in Nineteenth-Century France is a history of the stories the French told about the Jews in their midst during the early nineteenth century. Using a novel cultural analysis that brings together pamphlets, newspaper articles, novels, and works of art, Julie Kalman focuses on the period that historians have explored the least, encompassing the years 1815–1848. Kalman shows that there were significant discussions surrounding France’s Jewish population taking place during this period and argues that these discussions are central to our understanding of the history of the Jew’s place in France. These stories also allow us to reflect on core questions of French history during this period, a time when the French were questioning the fundamental nature of their own identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521897327
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/14/2009
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Julie Kalman lectures in Jewish History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. She has published work on France and the Jews in the nineteenth century in French Historical Studies and Jewish Social Studies. Dr Kalman is an International Fellow of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for 2008–9.

Table of Contents

Introduction: charting a noisy silence; 1. Competing solutions to a Jewish question; 2. The unyielding wall: Christianity and Judaism; 3. The eternal Jew; 4. Sensuality, depravity, and ritual murder: Jews in the Orient, and Jews at home?; 5. 'Rothschildian greed: this new variety of despotism'; 6. Evolutions in the Jewish question; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

'In this thoroughly researched and persuasively argued study, Julie Kalman skillfully traces the evolution of the Jew in the French imagination. Her important book succeeds admirably in elucidating the role of antisemitism in the cultural formation of modern France.' Jay R. Berkovitz, University of Massachusetts Amherst

'Julie Kalman's study fills an important gap in the histories of both nineteenth-century France and French Jews. In addition to focusing on the Restoration and July Monarchy (relatively understudied in both fields), Kalman demonstrates why debates about Jews must be seen as far more than a footnote in the era's overall history. In beautifully written prose, she charts the development of anti-Jewish representations in the early nineteenth century and reveals how discourse about Jews reflected the anxieties of a population struggling to make sense of the legacy of the French Revolution.' Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, California State University–San Marcos

'This brilliantly sensitive and thoughtful book shows the 'quiet tolerance' of 1814–48 as the refusal by many to envisage their Jewish compatriots as French citizens.' Pamela Pilbeam, Royal Holloway, University of London

From the Publisher