The 'Jewish Question' in German Literature, 1749-1939

The Jewish Quarterly Review ... engaging reading of the Enlightenment ... as a study of representations of Jewish identities, Robertson's work offers a well-versed survey and provides a comprehensive view of the topic that leaves only the field of postwar German-Jewish literature untouched.

Religion and the Arts Introduces non-Germans to well and lesser-known German literary figures from 1749 to 1939 and to the answers they had to the so-called 'Jewish Question'.

The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies A work of outstanding thoroughness and scholarship.

Modern Language Quarterly Eminently readable and accessible, this study is destined to become the standard survey of the topic.

Modern Language Quarterly Robertson aims to give a broad synthesis of nearly two centuries of literary history, and it is difficult to imagine a book that does it better.

James J. Sheehan, Times Literary Supplement He [Robertson] recognizes that hostility to Jews had many sources ... This flexibility enables Robertson to provide a sensitive analysis of German writers about Jews.

James J. Sheehan, Times Literary Supplement This is an excellent introduction to the literary treatment of Jews and the Jewish question, accessible enough for beginners, interesting and challenging enough for experts.

James J. Sheehan, Times Literary Supplement Robertson is a careful and astute reader, sensitive to the nuances of language and style, alert to historical connections, and able to make useful comparisons across a wide range of European literature.

Anthony Julius, The Times Robertson's is a magisterial work. He has read everything and summarised it well.

Introduction; Enlightenment; German Jewry before Emancipation; How the Enlightenment saw the Jews; Lessing and Toleration; Emancipation: Dohm versus Humboldt; Moses Mendelssohn and the Rational Jew; Mendelssohns Legacy; Liberalism; Jews and Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century; Schnitzler: Liberalism and Irony; The European Humanism of Stefan Zweig; Freud: Science versus Religion; Antisemitism; Varieties of Antisemitism; Literary Images of the Jew; Assimilation; The Meaning of Assimilation; Self-Hatred; Hyperacculturation; Dissimilation; The Jewish Renaissance; The Eastern Jews; The Jew as Oriental; Zionism; Abbreviations; Select Bibliography