The Jew's Daughter

Reviews / Votes

Sicher makes the interesting choice of focusing on two related literary tropes: the "Jew" and the "Jew's Daughter." In this relationship as it is depicted in poetry, song, drama, art, architecture, and literature, Sicher presents a compelling argument for "how the narrative of the Jew and his daughter informs discourses about gender, sexuality, race, and nationhood in European societies from the eleventh to the twenty-first centuries" (2). He does this through a comparative, interdisciplinary analysis of various texts. This analysis is also informed by historical anecdotes.... Sicher's text is an impressive presentation of research from many times and places that serves to support and illustrate his thesis well. * Reading Religion * The present book is a multifaceted, deeply historically imbued narrative about the pervasive motif in European culture of "the Jew's daughter". . . . The Jew's Daughter is a literary tour de force; its scope is impressive. . . it is a large-scale historical descriptive overview. * The European Legacy - Toward New Paradigms * Sicher is an attentive and creative reader, and he repeatedly points out telling details and narrative structures that enrich our understanding of his sources. This book is impressive, moreover, not only on account of Sicher's astute critical sensibility, but also due to the sheer number of examples that he manages to weave together into a coherent unity. . . . On the whole, The Jew's Daughter is an important book that succeeds remarkably well at bringing a complex but critically essential literary motif into clear focus, and Sicher's subtle and provocative close readings and hints at broader questions will undoubtedly serve as a valuable foundation for future studies. * Nashim * This is an excellent study that will remain a milestone in an age of ever- proliferating cultural histories. What makes it so is not only its enthralling topic nor the impressive range of material marshalled by its author but also its rigorous analysis and perceptive interpretation and the compelling narrative spun from it all. . . . The Jew's Daughter should have a significant impact not only on Jewish cultural studies, gender studies, and comparative literature but also on the study of the various national literatures encompassed by the book's comprehensive approach. * Comparative Literature Studies * The Jew's Daughter . . . has plentiful detail on texts from Britain, Germany, and France. It gives, usefully, an account of Jews in Europe, beginning with the death of Hugh of Lincoln, an incident probably best known through Chaucer's reference in the Prioress's Tale. It deals with the figure of the Jew and his daughter; then, too, it specializes in the symbolic place given to the beautiful Jewess. In these respects, Sicher is informative, comprehensive, and interesting. . . . Sicher's work is ambitious though nicely unpretentious and generous. * Modern Language Review * Ugly Jewish father; beautiful daughter with a Christian boyfriend-what could possibly go wrong? Efraim Sicher has written an original as well as exhaustive study of one of the core images of anti-Semitism. How is Jewishness in the eye of the anti-Semite gendered and how does the conversion of the daughter (think Shylock's Jessica) herald the victory of Christianity over Judaism? A must read in our age of renewed anti-Semitism and misogyny! -- Sander L. Gilman, author of "Are Racists Crazy? How Prejudice, Racism, and Antisemitism Became Markers of Insanity" (2016) This exhaustively researched study, the scholarship of which ranges over literary works from the 13th to early 20th century, is a definitive guide to how the cultural icon of "the Beautiful Jewess" became a primary ground of European "objectification based on hostile stereotyping . . . that constructs gender difference along racialized lines." The Jew's Daughter is destined to become an essential work for scholars of Jewish Cultural Studies, Gender Theory, and Critical Race Studies alike. -- Neil Davison, author of "Jewishness and Masculinity from the Modern to the Postmodern" Sicher makes a powerful argument about the role of the father-daughter pairing as a centerpiece in the construction of Jewish representation. More than an analysis of conversion or anti-Semitism, this study leads us on an encyclopedic journey across time and space to explore an understudied pattern of constructed Jewish difference. The Jew and his daughter, Sicher demonstrates, have an impressive history of shaping discourses of gender, sexuality, race, and nation throughout Europe. -- Heidi Kaufman, University of Oregon