Jephta and his daughter

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Jephtha's daughter. Painting by Jacques Joseph Tissot (around 1900, Jewish Museum, New York)

Jephta and his daughter is the last novel by Lion Feuchtwanger . It was published in 1957 . The thematic basis of the novel is the Old Testament story of Jiftach . In it he returns for the last time (after early dramatic works, the Jud-Suss novel, the Josephus trilogy and the Jewess of Toledo ) to the literary reflection of the history of the Jewish people. Feuchtwanger writes:

This is of course not a 'biblical' novel. My endeavor was to give my book such historicity based on the broader knowledge of our time. In this sense, but only in this, Jephta should be a biblical novel.

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Jephta, Gilead's illegitimate son and a gentile woman who was stolen on a war campaign, is prophesied of a great future: he was promised that he would unite the tribes of Israel and lead the war victoriously. His ambition prompts him to sacrifice his dearest possessions to his god Yahweh . As it turns out, this is his daughter. Alone and eaten away by the bitter guilt that his ambition brought upon him, he finally rules Israel as a judge :

He had shed his best, most own blood for a god who was not. Jephta the hero, Jephta the fool. No god had helped him, Ephraim had helped him. And for this he had killed the daughter, the dear, the lovely one. He had spilled the best, reddest blood in his body for nothing.

reception

The novel met with a subdued response when it appeared. Especially Feuchtwanger's attempt to lean on the language of the Bible met with rejection. Joachim Kaiser criticized on December 14, 1957: "The novel fluctuates between inappropriate jargon and insubstantial archaicism."

But not only the criticism was negative, Arnold Zweig , Feuchtwanger's long-time friend, also wrote to him: “Just you Jephta, dearest Feuchtwanger, […], unfortunately, it doesn't concern us very much.” And Katia Mann says: “Remaining In spite of everything, I could not sympathize with your hero. "

expenditure

Musical editing

  • Wolfgang Stockmeier : Jefta and his daughter. Oratorical scenes for solos, choir and orchestra. Based on a text by Lion Feuchtwanger. Plant 296 (1995). Score: Möseler, Wolfenbüttel 1995

literature

  • Arnold Pistiak: The Legacy of the Historical Poet. Notes on “Jephta and his daughter”. In: Pól O'Dochartaigh et al. (Ed.) Refuge and reality: Feuchtwanger and the European émigrés in California. Rodopi, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 90-420-1945-X , pp. 19-29
  • Wilhelm von Sternburg : Lion Feuchtwanger. A German writer's life. Athenaeum, Königstein / Ts. 1984, ISBN 3-7610-8350-5 . New edition: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-7466-1416-3 , p. 311

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted in Pistiak: The legacy of the historical poet. P. 19
  2. ↑ The Jewess of Toledo. Jephta and his daughter. Two novels. Structure, Berlin 1962, p. 714
  3. ↑ Quoted in von Sternburg: Feuchtwanger. P. 311
  4. ↑ Zweig to Feuchtwanger, March 31, 1958. In: Harold von Hofe (Ed.): Correspondence 1933-1958: Arnold Zweig - Lion Feuchtwanger. Berlin 1984. Vol. 2, p. 381
  5. ↑ Katia Mann to Feuchtwanger, August 6, 1958. In: von Hofe, Washburn (ed.): Correspondence with friends 1933 - 1958. Berlin 1991. Vol. 1, p. 206