The Elusiveness of Tolerance: The "Jewish Question" From Lessing to the Napoleonic Wars

Peter Erspamer explores the 'Jewish question' in German literature from Lessing’s Nathan der Weise in 1779 to Sessa’s Unser Verkehr in 1815. He analyzes the transition from an enlightened emancipatory literature advocating tolerance in the late eighteenth century to an anti-Semitic literature with nationalistic overtones in the early nineteenth century.

Erspamer examines Nathan in light of Lessing’s attempts to distance himself from the excesses of his own Christian in-group through pariah i...