Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England

Author / Editor
Julius, Anthony.

Title
Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England

Published
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Physical Description
lviii, 811 pp.

Description
Julius defines anti-Semitism and describes its history and politics in England. Literary anti-Semitism has "distinct tropes and themes, deployed without respect for genre boundaries." The "master trope" of "a well intentioned Christian place in peril by a sinister Jew or Jews" underlies PrT as well as Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice," Dickens's "Oliver Twist," and many other works. Despite Chaucer's "humane and skeptical sentiments," PrT canonized the blood-libel legend and stands at the head of an authoritative tradition of its acceptance.

Chaucer Subjects
Prioress and Her Tale
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion