E-book: Eternal Wanderer: Christian Negotiations in the Gothic Mode

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 several iterations of this figure that reimagine and revise him while adding Gothic layers to a popular Christian myth that refuses to die. Drawing on the work of Hasan-Roken and Dundes (1986), Davison (2006) and Lampert-Weissing (2016), whose studies trace the development of the myth across history, folklore and literature, this Element identifies the figure as a palimpsestic Derridean spectre and establishes early Gothic writing as an important development in his continued spectral existence. By reading the production of the Wandering Jew in conversation with his historical contexts and theological underpinnings, and employing theoretical traditions of spectralization (Derrida 2006; Kruger 2006), this Element provides a dedicated account of Gothic iterations of this figure and examines its alchemical, Faustian and theological figurations.

The Eternal Wanderer: Christian Negotiations in the Gothic Mode provides new ways of reading the Gothicisation of the Wandering Jew. By reading the production with historical and theological underpinnings, this Element provides a dedicated account of Gothic iterations of this figure and examines its alchemical, Faustian and theological figurations.