German Literature between Faiths: Jew and Christian at Odds and in Harmony

Religion is a central concern of German literature in all centuries, and the canon looks different when this perspective is acknowledged. For example, Goethe’s fascination with evil is difficult to disentangle from the Holocaust, Moses Mendelssohn is as profound as the playwright who portrayed him, and «Princess Sabbath» deserves to be numbered among Heine’s more enchanting lyrics.
This essay collection posits, and tests, the hypothesis that German literature at its best is often an express...