Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-186) and index
Contents
The beginnings of the tolerance debate -- Jewish identity in a changing world -- Emancipatory drama after Lessing -- Myths of ethnic homogeneity : anti-Semitic literature after 1800 -- Concluding remarks : beyond the tolerance debate
Summary
Analyzing literary works - from Lessing's "Nathan der Weise" (1779) to Sessa's "Unser Verkehr" (1812/15) - and political and philosophical tracts, shows the transition from an enlightened, emancipatory literature to an antisemitic literature in the early 19th century. The ideology of tolerance failed because of its internal contradictions. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)