After a brief presentation of the interdisciplinary Research Project (University of Pisa) dedicated to the myth of the Wandering Jew and, more generally, to Jewish homelessness, this paper proposes an analysis of the German cheapbook Ahasver-Volksbuch (1602), the Kurtze Beschreibung und Erzehlung eines Juden mit Namen Ahasverus (“A Brief Description and Narration Regarding a Jew Named Ahasuerus”). Specific relevance is attributed to the narrative structure and literary strategies of the pamphlet, whose publication marks the divide between the medieval exploration of the legend and its modern literary reelaboration. It will be shown how the Volksbuch focuses not only on the character of Ahasuerus but on the effects he causes on those who meet and talk to him. Particular attention is paid to the text’s ambivalence which, over the centuries, has fuelled both anti-Jewish readings of the story and sympathetic reworkings of the character that made possible the later Jewish appropriation of the myth.
Il progetto di ricerca "L'Ebreo errante" e la struttura narrativa del Volksbuch di Ahasverus (1602)
Serena Grazzini
2022-01-01
Abstract
After a brief presentation of the interdisciplinary Research Project (University of Pisa) dedicated to the myth of the Wandering Jew and, more generally, to Jewish homelessness, this paper proposes an analysis of the German cheapbook Ahasver-Volksbuch (1602), the Kurtze Beschreibung und Erzehlung eines Juden mit Namen Ahasverus (“A Brief Description and Narration Regarding a Jew Named Ahasuerus”). Specific relevance is attributed to the narrative structure and literary strategies of the pamphlet, whose publication marks the divide between the medieval exploration of the legend and its modern literary reelaboration. It will be shown how the Volksbuch focuses not only on the character of Ahasuerus but on the effects he causes on those who meet and talk to him. Particular attention is paid to the text’s ambivalence which, over the centuries, has fuelled both anti-Jewish readings of the story and sympathetic reworkings of the character that made possible the later Jewish appropriation of the myth.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
