LEADER 04467nam 2200733Ia 450 001 9910787520803321 005 20211217001227.0 010 $a0-8122-0875-7 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812208757 035 $a(CKB)2670000000418314 035 $a(OCoLC)859161155 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10748630 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001053176 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11695778 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001053176 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11113503 035 $a(PQKB)10966599 035 $a(OCoLC)868218818 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse26857 035 $a(DE-B1597)449613 035 $a(OCoLC)979834210 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812208757 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3442198 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10748630 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL682455 035 $a(OCoLC)898755139 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3442198 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000418314 100 $a20130903d2003 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe conversion of Herman the Jew$b[electronic resource] $eautobiography, history, and fiction in the twelfth cenutry /$fJean-Claude Schmitt, translated by Alex J. Novikoff 210 $aPhiladelphia $cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press$d2003 215 $a1 online resource (318 p.) 225 0 $aThe Middle Ages Series 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a1-322-51173-X 311 0 $a0-8122-2219-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tIntroduction --$tChapter 1. Fiction and Truth --$tChapter 2. Medieval Autobiography --$tChapter 3. The Dream and Its Interpretation --$tChapter 4. Conversion to Images --$tChapter 5. Baptism and Name --$tChapter 6. ''A New Era of Conversion'' --$tConclusion --$tExtract from the Vita of Godfried, Count of Cappenburg (c. 1150-1155) --$tHerman the Former Jew: Short Work on the Subject of His Conversion --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex --$tAcknowledgments 330 $aSometime toward the middle of the twelfth century, it is supposed, an otherwise obscure figure, born a Jew in Cologne and later ordained as a priest in Cappenberg in Westphalia, wrote a Latin account of his conversion to Christianity. Known as the Opusculum, this book purportedly by "Herman, the former Jew" may well be the first autobiography to be written in the West after the Confessions of Saint Augustine. It may also be something else entirely. In The Conversion of Herman the Jew the eminent French historian Jean-Claude Schmitt examines this singular text and the ways in which it has divided its readers. Where some have seen it as an authentic conversion narrative, others have asked whether it is not a complete fabrication forged by Christian clerics. For Schmitt the question is poorly posed. The work is at once true and fictional, and the search for its lone author-whether converted Jew or not-fruitless. Herman may well have existed and contributed to the writing of his life, but the Opusculum is a collective work, perhaps framed to meet a specific institutional agenda. With agility and erudition, Schmitt examines the text to explore its meaning within the society and culture of its period and its participation in both a Christian and Jewish imaginary. What can it tell us about autobiography and subjectivity, about the function of dreams and the legitimacy of religious images, about individual and collective conversion, and about names and identities? In The Conversion of Herman the Jew Schmitt masterfully seizes upon the debates surrounding the Opusculum (the text of which is newly translated for this volume) to ponder more fundamentally the ways in which historians think and write. 410 0$aMiddle Ages series. 606 $aChristian converts from Judaism 607 $aGermany$vBiography 610 $aCultural Studies. 610 $aHistory. 610 $aJewish Studies. 610 $aLiterature. 610 $aMedieval and Renaissance Studies. 610 $aReligion. 615 0$aChristian converts from Judaism. 676 $a248.2/46092 700 $aSchmitt$b Jean-Claude$f1946-$033807 701 $aNovikoff$b Alex J$01480449 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910787520803321 996 $aThe conversion of Herman the Jew$93697101 997 $aUNINA