British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 3: From Late Victorian Fantasy to Tolkien

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At least one major Victorian fantasy writer, George MacDonald, was at times quite warm toward the Jews, and a landmark of British literary philosemitism, George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, was published in 1876. Nevertheless, among the writers of late Victorian fantastic fiction, negative stereotypes of Jews outweigh positive representations, a trend that continued into the twentieth-century. … Continue reading British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 3: From Late Victorian Fantasy to Tolkien

Disraeli’s Jewish Fantasy Novel (British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 2)

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In my last post I talked about Almamen, the protagonist of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1838 historical romance Leila, or the Seige of Granada. A fiery Jewish nationalist born in the wrong era, Almamen is a gifted political strategist, driven and charismatic. One suspects that there a bit of Benjamin Disraeli in Almamen. The future prime minister … Continue reading Disraeli’s Jewish Fantasy Novel (British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 2)

British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 1

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Tolkien’s dwarves, as has often been pointed out, are based on the Jews. While the band that shows up at the home of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit has roots in northern European sources such as the Poetic Edda, Tolkien also gives Thorin Oakenshield and company a story of exile and a powerful yearning to … Continue reading British Fantasy and the Jewish Question, pt. 1

Diana Wynne Jones’s The Homeward Bounders and the Wandering Jew in Fantasy Literature

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In Diana Wynne Jones’s 1981 children’s fantasy The Homeward Bounders, the 12 year old main character Jamie meets the Wandering Jew. A homeless man with filthy clothes and hair, he appears sprawled out in a city park. “His watery black eyes gleamed with a mad light,” we read, “and his nose stuck out from below … Continue reading Diana Wynne Jones’s The Homeward Bounders and the Wandering Jew in Fantasy Literature

Jews and Politics in the Bartimaeus Series

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King Solomon’s genies periodically escape their bottles in fantasy literature, but never more irrepressibly than in Jonathan Stroud’s bestselling Bartimaeus series for young readers. These books, a trilogy published from 2003 to 2005, followed by a 2010 prequel, provide rollicking fun, driven by the irreverent narration of their demon protagonist--who frequently punctuates the text with … Continue reading Jews and Politics in the Bartimaeus Series

King Solomon, from the Bible to the Pulps

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One Occult Jew deserves separate consideration. In both medieval legend and modern fantasy, the greatest of all Jewish magicians is without question Solomon, the famously wise king of biblical Israel. Son of the charismatic King David, the real-life Solomon ruled the prosperous and powerful Israelite kingdom for four decades at the height of its regional … Continue reading King Solomon, from the Bible to the Pulps

The Occult Jew, pt. 8

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The final post in the series (though I will return to the topic). In the 1990s the occult returned to fantasy literature. An increasing number of works of fantasy, including many of that decade’s most accomplished, feature secret societies, ritual magic, arcane academies, motifs and ideas drawn from Renaissance hermeticism, and historical and urban environments … Continue reading The Occult Jew, pt. 8

The Occult Jew, pt. 7

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The most welcome appearance of the Occult Jew during the period of the fantasy genre's consolidation occurs in John Bellairs’ The Face in the Frost (1969). One of my favorite fantasy novels, this book mixes Tolkienian fantasy and occult motifs. Its two heroes, both good-natured wizards, bear names that index, not norse eddas or fairytales, … Continue reading The Occult Jew, pt. 7

The Occult Jew, pt. 6

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In the second half of the twentieth century, the occult migrated to the horror genre where, especially following the success of Ira Levin’s canny Rosemary’s Baby (1967), it narrowed to a concern with satanism. (One of Levin’s satanists is Jewish, but this is because the book portrays a 1960s New York City where the occult, … Continue reading The Occult Jew, pt. 6

The Occult Jew, pt. 5

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The great contrast to Lewis and Tolkien, in both his enthusiastic embrace of the occult and his extensive use of the trope of the Occult Jew, was their friend Charles Williams. Williams was a poet, a popular speaker on literature, the author of works on Christian theology and witchcraft, a religious dramatist, and an influential … Continue reading The Occult Jew, pt. 5