Studies in Antisemitism

Inventing the Jew follows the evolution of stereotypes of Jews from the level of traditional Romanian and other Central-East European cultures (their legends, fairy tales, ballads, carols, anecdotes, superstitions, and iconographic representations) to that of "e;high"e; cultures (including literature, essays, journalism, and sociopolitical writings), showing how motifs specific to "e;folkloric antisemitism"e; migrated to "e;intellectual antisemitism."e; This comparative perspective also highlights how the images of Jews have differed from that of other "e;strangers"e; such as Hungarians, Germans, Roma, Turks, Armenians, and Greeks. The gap between the conception of the "e;imaginary Jew"e; and the "e;real Jew"e; is a cultural distance that differs over time and place, here seen through the lens of cultural anthropology. Stereotypes of the "e;generic Jew"e; were not exclusively negative, and are described in five chapters depicting physical, occupational, moral and intellectual, mythical and magical, and religious portraits of "e;the Jew."e;