The Stereotyped Jew

About the Book

“The Jewish Stereotype in English Literature” traces the origins and evolution of hateful images of Jews in the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, and others in English literature, as a way of understanding why anti-Semitism exists today. Where did the stereotype of the greedy Jewish moneylender come from? Did William Shakespeare create a Jewish villain because of a hatred for Jewish people? Did he know any Jewish people? What prompted Charles Dickens to rewrite parts of his already-popular novel, Oliver Twist, in order to remove anti-Semitic references? These and other questions are explored in “The Jewish Stereotype in English Literature.”

About the Author

John Egan was born in 1922 in Hammond, Indiana, of a French mother and American father, and raised in an ethnically diverse area of Chicago. A Pearl Harbor survivor, he received a BA in business administration after the war from Mexico City College, and raised four children with his first wife while teaching school in various countries of Europe. While teaching in England he earned an MA in English Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Now retired, he and his second wife, Pat, divide their time between the United Kingdom and California.