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Series:   Elements in the Gothic

The Eternal Wanderer

Christian Negotiations in the Gothic Mode

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

Mary Going
Mary Going
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield

Summary

The Eternal Wanderer: Christian Negotiations in the Gothic Mode provides new ways of reading the Gothicisation of the Wandering Jew. It argues that early Gothic writing conjured iterations of this figure that reimagine and revise him, adding Gothic layers to a popular Christian myth that refuses to die. Drawing on the work of Carol Margaret Davison, Lisa Lampert-Weissig and Galit Hasan-Roken and Alan Dundes, whose studies trace the myth's development across history, folklore and literature, this Element studies the figure as an antisemitic, palimpsestic Derridean spectre and establishes early Gothic writing as a significant development in his continued spectral existence. By reading the production of the Wandering Jew in conversation with his historical and theological contexts, and employing theoretical traditions of spectralisation according to Jacques Derrida and Steven F. Kruger, this Element provides a dedicated account of Gothic iterations of this figure and examines its alchemical, Faustian and theological figurations.
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Keywords

Wandering JewGothicChristianityProtestantfolklore
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in the Gothic
Online ISBN: 9781009151412
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 30 January 2025

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The Eternal Wanderer
  • Mary Going, University of Sheffield
  • Online ISBN: 9781009151412
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The Eternal Wanderer
  • Mary Going, University of Sheffield
  • Online ISBN: 9781009151412
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The Eternal Wanderer
  • Mary Going, University of Sheffield
  • Online ISBN: 9781009151412
Available formats
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