Messianic configurations in “Die Juden von Zirndorf” (“The Jews of Zirndorf”) by Jakob Wassermann
Abstract
Jakob Wassermann’s novel Die Juden von Zirndorf (1897), an ambitious portrait of fin de siècle German-Jewish life, displays different messianic concepts, which can only partly be ascribed to the Jewish tradition as such. The text deals particularly with the figures of Šabbetay Şevi and Jesus in order to investigate on the dynamics of belonging and exclusion, which characterise Jewish life in Germany. The Jewish boy Agathon, who is the main protagonist in the second part of the book, rises to be the Messiah of a new sensual and earthly religion. The present contribution takes furthermore the issue of messianism up in the context of the Wissenschaft des Judentums and of Lou Andreas-Salomés essay Jesus der Jude.
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