Jewish-German Identity in the Orientalist Literature of Else Lasker-Schüler, Friedrich Wolf, and Franz Werfel

by Donna K. Heizer

First study of Jewish-German Orientalist literature as revealed in the works of three important twentieth-century authors.

This pioneering volume is the first to examine the phenomenon of Jewish-German orientalist literature. For many Jewish-German authors of the twentieth-century, the Orient represented an imaginative space where they could analyse their position as Jews in German society, and come to terms with a divided identity. Here, representations of Muslims and Islamicate cultures in the works of popular and respected authors who were nevertheless often seen as Jewish,Oriental 'others' by the German-speaking societies in which they lived are explored. Lasker-Schüler's Die Nächte Tino von Bagdads (1907) and Der Prinz von Theben (1912) create a timeless Orient filled with visionaryartists like herself, while Wolf's Ein Oratorium (1922) depicts the Orient as the birthplace of the message of justice espoused by through it Wolf reaches a new understanding of his position as a progressive Jew in a war-torn German society. In Werfel's Die vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh (1933), the author uses the conflict between Turks and Armenians to explore his own religiosity.

126 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 1996