Through detailed in-depth exegeses of Proust's literary texts (A la Recherche du temps perdu
Jean Santeuil and Contre Sainte-Beuve) Judaism in Marcel Proust: Anti-Semitism
Philo-Semitism and Judaic Perspectives in Art explains anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism as
present in actual French literary texts. Unlike other studies about Proust and Judaism the
narrative in this book is in English the focus is on the actual French texts not on Proust's
biography. Primary Judaic sources such as the Hebrew Bible the Babylonian Talmud Moses
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah and Rashi's commentaries illuminate Proust's texts and skillfully
demonstrate their anti-Semitic and philo-Semitic subtexts. The principal Proustian themes that
are examined in depth include first of all the anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism of the
characters as informed by Jean-Paul Sartre's Réflexions sur la queston juive second Christian
interpretations of Judaic biblical references and their anti-Semitic connotations as well as
the philo-Semitic references to the Hebrew Bible and to Judaic culture and ritual contained in
the Proust texts third the importance of references to art in Proust's texts and their Judaic
significance. Written in a lively clear and accessible style Judaism in Marcel Proust
engages the reader both Proustophile and Proust scholar alike. It would be an excellent choice
for the reading list of courses on Proust as well as for French history and social psychology
courses on anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism relating to the Dreyfus case and the Belle Epoque.
