IIIa. Reading Lafferty Through Rosenfeld and Marcus
Updated: Sep 15
"Rita, did you know that the Jews believe that the Jews are a handsome people," Cecelia Ching Brass jibed. "Really. And how odd it is. I found it out, quite by accident from a chance remark of Julius here. The implications of it open up an entirely new fantasy world, a world in which the Jews really are handsome, and everything likewise is upside-down." "I'm not sure what the Chinese think about the Chinese," Julius said, "but I have heard that the Irish really do believe that the Irish are handsome. But then the Irish have always lived in a fantasy world in which indeed everything is upside-down. But the belief that the Irish are handsome is the origin of the golden lie, that blatant falsehood. Odd, odd, odd, that such a delusion should take hold of a people, and how odd that you should abet it, Rita." In a Green Tree
I continue to reflect on Belloc and to think about the nature of Lafferty's antisemitism. What is proving to be useful are academic frameworks. One of the best recent books on the history of the topic is Ivan G. Marcus's How the West Became Antisemitic (Princeton UP, 2024). "Chapter Nine, Antisemitisms: Medieval and Modern" is worth reading and can be found here:
I’ll wrap up by outlining the chapter and explaining how I’d contextualize the quote from In a Green Tree that begins this post.
Also helpful are academic typologies of antisemitism, one of the best being Deciphering the New Antisemitism (Indiana UP, 2015). It offers the following typology:
I would characterize Belloc’s antisemitism in the following manner:
Lafferty:
Outline of chapter:
