‘The Jew that Shakespeare Drew’: Unintended Consequences of Representation and the Call for Authorial Responsibility in Depictions of Jews during the Long Eighteenth-Century

The Jew Beauties, Woodcut, 1806, courtesy of Laurie & Whittle, 53, Fleet Street, London

We are pleased to announce that PhD Candidate (University of Ottawa) Aaron Kaiserman will be the next speaker in the CORAL series. On October 24 at 11 am, Aaron will be presenting his paper "'The Jew that Shakespeare Drew’: Unintended Consequences of Representation and the Call for Authorial Responsibility in Depictions of Jews during the Long Eighteenth-Century.'"

Aaron's talk will demonstrate how self-conscious efforts to rehabilitate Jews in fiction during the eighteenth century and the Romantic period provide insight into how the responsibilities of authorship were being reinterpreted at the time. To instruct and delight alone seemed no longer enough when a novelist or playwright could be accused (sometimes by him or herself) of unintentionally promoting harmful ideas about the Jewish people through thoughtless caricatures, and recognition of the problem of stereotyping in turn forced British authors to think more carefully about interfaith and intercultural politics in their work

 

Join us on October 24th at 11 am in Dunton Tower, Room 1811 for what is sure to be an enlightening talk! Vegetarian snacks and refreshments will be served.

This talk will be co-sponsored by the English Department (http://www.carleton.ca/english/) and by the Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies (http://carleton.ca/jewishstudies/).  Thanks to their joint generosity, expect some opulent refreshments!