Roll over image to zoom in
Jew Süss
£14.40
“The Book; yes, their Book. They had no state, holding them together, no country, no soil, no king, no form of life in common. If, in spite of this, they were one, more one than all the other peoples of the world, it was the Book that sweated them into unity. Brown, white, black, yellow Jews, large and small, splendid and in rags, godless and pious, they might crouch and dream all their lives in a quiet room, or fare splendidly in a radiant, golden whirlwind over the earth, but sunk deep in all of them was the lesson of the Book. Manifold is the world, but it is vain and fleeting as wind; but one and only is the God of Israel, the everlasting, the infinite, the Jehovah.” -Jud Süss, 1925. When Feuchtwanger’s two best known novels “Jew Süss” (“Power”) and “Ugly Duchess” were first translated into English in the 1920s, they caused a tremendous sensation in England and then in America. The critics all hailed Feuchtwanger as the master of the historical novel—the peer of Dumas and Scott but written with the psychology of our own day. “Jew Süss,” set in the 18th century Germany (at the time consisting of numerous fragmented independent states), deals with an identity crisis: in order to gain social power, the novel’s protagonist attempts to forsake his Jewish heritage and becomes assimilated into the mainstream of German culture. More than that, Süss finds himself being in the position of potential kingmaker. Brilliant, attractive and with an insatiable lust for power, he practically ruled the Duke and his court, pandering to the vices of dissolute nobility, mounting through his intrigues to dizzying heights of power. Süss’s only vulnerable spot, however, is his precious, exquisite, gentle daughter, Naomi. When her beauty became exposed to the beastliness of the Duke, tragedy came swiftly after.
Read more
Additional information
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| File size | 1616 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 434 pages |
by Amazon Customer
Not finished yet, but a masterpiece…
by Thomas Oscar Gerrard
Really exceptional use of English – a very worthy translation. It gave a valuable insight into life at the time, in particular the role of Jewish people in Germany, and how prevalent was the abuse of women by men in positions of authority. It must have been very similar in Britain.
by Gabriel
This hardback edition of the famous novel has enabled me to discard the old and tattered paperback copy with which I have been stuck for many years. Many thanks indeed to the supplier!
by -tjm-
I bought my copy in a second hand bookshop on the Charing cross road, London. Very impressed. Traces the rise and fall of the Finance Minister to the German state of Wurttemberg, Joseph Oppenheimer, under the rule of the dissolute Karl Alexander. This book was adapted for the big screen by the Nazis who gave it an anti-semitic slant, but the writer Feuchtwanger, was Jewish and, if anything, the book is pro-semitic, and treats Oppenheimer sympathetically as he gradually falls out of favour with his Gentile employer. This is a classic novel from the mid 20th Century, which predates the atrocities of the Second World War, and, to an extent, anticipates the mind set that prompted them.
by D. Heaney
Excellently written; Feuchtwanger paints a marvellous picture of mittel Europe in the 18th century and the machinations of courtesans, princes, financiers and the rest!
I imagine the jew, Suss as the first Rothchild.
Interestingly the Nazis made a propoganda film of the same name where Jew Suss is vilified as base, detestable and loathsome. Whereas for me, Feuchtwanger shows a nobility of purpose and culture in Suss and of Judaism generally.
The Nazis banned the book and Feuchtwanger was fortunate to escape to the USA where he wrote Josephus, the Jewish War, which I heartily recommend
by daveyp.
Never mind the Mills & Boon cover, this book is both a marvellous piece of story-telling (although not entirely fictional, being based on a real-life historical episode) and great literature. If you seek a novel that paints people in black and white then this is not the book for you. But not in grey either, it is far too colourful a book for that.
Jew Suss himself is a tragic figure…masterful but chronically flawed; both raised up and brought down by his own ambition and greed. A lover of power, of money and of women, he shamelessly uses and abuses all of these and in so doing makes himself many deadly enemies.
The closest that the novel gets to a hero, and here the word is stretched to the limit, is Rabbi Gabriel, the kabbalist. This gruff and surly man, coming and going without announcement or warning, is a seeker out of hidden paths, forced to sojourn in this troubled world, but whose mind is set upon ancient mysteries and arcane secrets.
The villain of the story is Duke Karl Alexander, an elemental man, unable to show restraint or control his passions. Yet even he is a victim of circumstances, troubled as he is by a recurring dream in which he finds himself hand in hand with Jew Suss and Rabbi Gabriel, shuffling along in a strange dance.
In this mysterious cosmic dance, so I suspect, lies the key to what our lives are really about, as to why we are really here. Or if not the key, then at least a clue. As both Duke Karl Alexander and Jew Suss discover to their cost, we cannot escape from this dance, even if we want to.
by Lada
The story of a successful Jewish royal accountant in fuedal Germany is not just a great intriguing plot. It is also a guide to different corners of Jewish culture, religion, and social struggle at the early stage of Jewish-Christian co-existence.
Jew Suss has to make a choice; which will he choose: personal interest and ambitions or Jewish tradition and the family? Being a serious figure in the state he was still not able to predict certain things, which forced his choice. And although he was the best accountant in the entire country he hasn’t worked out the price of life values.