The Eternal Jew

Vermeylen, August, 1872-1945Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 153K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Der Ewige Jude by August VermeylenAuthor: Vermeylen, August, 1872-1945,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Dec 20, 2014

Editor's review

Der Ewige Jude is a work written in German by the Belgian author August Vermeylen, its title drawing on the traditional motif of the "Eternal Jew" in European culture. The free electronic edition from Project Gutenberg brings this German-language text back into readers' view. Its value lies at the level of literary history: Vermeylen belonged to the European cultural context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the work bears traces of symbolism interwoven with national narrative, making it suitable for readers studying German literature, Belgian literature, or the evolution of the "Eternal Jew" motif. The text is not long, but its allusions and historical references are dense, so readers should first understand the origins of this motif in Christian culture. As a public-domain e-book, it is better suited to scholarly and comparative reading than to casual reading for plot.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of German literature and Belgian literary history
Readers interested in the evolution of the "Eternal Jew" motif in European literature
Comparative literature researchers who need a free German original for textual analysis
Readers with German reading ability and an interest in late nineteenth-century European culture

Not a good fit for

Readers who only want light fiction and have no interest in literary motif studies
Readers whose German is insufficient to handle the original text for now
People sensitive to religious and national themes who wish to avoid such topics

Reading tips

Before reading, first learn the basic origins of the "Eternal Jew" motif in the Christian tradition.
Understand the work's symbolic techniques in light of Vermeylen's life and the context of Belgian literature.
When doing close reading, mark recurring images and compare their similarities and differences with German works of the same period.
If citing it in a paper, verify the specific edition information and page numbers; avoid quoting secondhand from an electronic text alone.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What does the title "Der Ewige Jude" refer to?

It derives from the legendary motif in European Christian culture about the Jew condemned to wander without rest, later used by many writers as a symbolic title. This book borrows this motif for its literary expression, and readers need to understand its meaning in light of the legend's background.

Can I read this book without knowing German?

The original text is in German, and the available materials do not mention a Chinese translation. If you do not know German, you can first consult research literature on Vermeylen and this work, or read related commentary to understand its content, then decide whether to read the original with the help of reference works.

Is this book a novel or a scholarly work?

The materials indicate it is a literary work, classified under language and literature. The sources do not elaborate on specific genre details; readers may treat it as a literary text with symbolic and intellectual qualities rather than a systematic scholarly treatise.

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About the author

Vermeylen, August, 1872-1945 Author · Belgian · 1872–1945

August Vermeylen (1872–1945) was a Belgian Flemish writer, critic and politician. Throughout his life he worked to modernize Flemish literature, arguing that Flemish-language writing should be deepened in thought and raised in artistic quality through a broad European outlook; he played an important role in the Flemish cultural movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His representative work, Two Friends, explores friendship, ideals and personal growth in delicate prose, reflecting his concern with the inner life of the individual. The library also holds Der Ewige Jude, indicating that his writing likewise drew on legendary and symbolic subjects. Details of his biography are limited in publicly available sources, and existing accounts center on his literary criticism, cultural advocacy and fiction.