The Jew in literature: the hated self

This paper discusses the special psychological and sociological qualities of the Jew in the literature of novels, plays and short stories. From Shakespeare to Hemingway, the Jew has been assigned a special place in the psyche of the authors here described, reflecting the ongoing cultural bias as it became internalized in the selves of the authors quoted. The Jew of Shakespeare's "Shylock" reflects the 16th century bias of Shakespeare and is at a distance--although with interesting similarities--to the Jew of Hemingway. Two psychological facets of anti-Semitism in literature are primarily discussed: the group-self perception of the Jew as stereotype persona, identified over time with specific peculiarities, and the psychological perceptions (in the quoted literature) to the internalized group-percept.