Bidspirit auction | Excerpts from the Memoirs of

Excerpts from the Memoirs of Satan - An Early Novel with Antisemitic Motifs. Fine Edition Published in Leipzig - Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satans - News from the Memoirs of Satan by the German writer and poet Wilhelm Hauff, a deluxe edition published in 1927. Published by Zenith-Verlag Erich Stolpe in Leipzig. An early novel with antisemitic motifs. Extremely rare. A novel depicting Satan visiting the human world disguised as an intellectual and man of society, observing it from the sidelines while arriving at witty, sarcastic, and critical insights into the society, academia, and German culture of his time. Satan comes to the human world to examine human behavior and discovers that human society is so ridiculous, hypocritical, and hungry for power and money that at times it is difficult to determine who the real devil is. Throughout the novel, antisemitic stereotypes characteristic of the prevailing attitudes in early 19th-century Germany appear. Particularly notable is the section „Mein Besuch in Frankfurt“ („My Visit to Frankfurt“). There, the Jewish population is portrayed through a collection of physical, economic, and social stereotypes. Thus, for example, the narrator describes Jews as people whom ”one cannot fail to recognize” by a prominent nose, pointed elbows, bent knees, and the like, immediately associating them with wealth and money. Later, at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Jews are depicted as a group obsessively preoccupied with commerce, stocks, and profits; among others, figures such as Rothschild and other Jewish merchants appear within a highly caricatured portrayal. An economic stereotype of Jews also appears - the character of an old man named Simon is portrayed as someone who thinks of his daughter's marriage in terms of financial ”speculation” and expects the bridegroom to enrich him. In the first part, the figure of the Wandering Jew (Ewiger Jude) appears when Satan encounters him in Berlin. The author portrays him with ironic pity - his longing for a moment of repose and how he is condemned never to rest. Elsewhere in the narrative, Satan visits a ”Sabbath in Bornheim” and encounters the ”educated Jewish young lady, ” while criticizing the Jewish merchants. The book was originally published in two parts in 1825-1826; the present volume is a finely produced edition published in Leipzig in 1927, amid the resurgence of an antisemitic atmosphere in Germany at the time. The author, Wilhelm Hauff (1802–1827), was one of the prominent writers of the German Romantic movement. Although he died at the age of only 25, he left behind an extensive literary legacy that includes famous folk tales, historical novels, and poetry. Extremely rare. The 1927 edition does not appear in the WorldCat global library catalog. 247 [1] pages. Fine red binding with gilt lettering. Very good condition.