 Title page of an 1851 edition | |
| Author | Eugène Sue |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Juif errant |
| Language | French |
Publication date | 1844 |
| Publication place | France |
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The Wandering Jew (French:Le Juif errant) is an 1844 novel by the French writerEugène Sue.
It tells the story of the descendants of a persecutedHuguenot whose fortune had been entrusted to a Jewish banker for 150 years. Scattered across the globe, they have inherited medals instructing them to reunite in Paris on 13 February 1832 to claim the fortune. While theJesuit Order manipulates events and places obstacles in their paths, they are protected by theWandering Jew and his sister, who are cursed to ensure the family's survival.
Combining adventure, mystery and social criticism,The Wandering Jew was one of the greatest literary successes of France at the time and helped establish the popularity of thefeuilleton genre. Sue's secondserial novel afterThe Mysteries of Paris, it was originally published from June 1844 to August 1845 inLe Constitutionnel and subsequently released in volumes. The left-leaning newspaper greatly benefited from the novel's instant success, with a readership rising from 3,600 to 23,600.
Two figures cry out to each other across theBering Straits. One is theWandering Jew, the other his sister,Hérodiade. Wherever the Wandering Jew goes, thecholera epidemic follows in his wake.[1]
The siblings are condemned to wander the Earth until the entire Rennepont family has disappeared from the Earth, as Hérodiade's descendants are also the descendants of Marius de Rennepont,Huguenots persecuted underLouis XIV by theJesuits. The siblings are compelled to eternally protect that family.
The Renneponts, meanwhile, are unaware that their protectors exist.
The family lost its position and most of its wealth during the French persecution of theProtestants (after therevocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685). A small fortune was given to aJewish banker before the Renneponts dispersed all over Europe and Asia, and this fortune has grown into a huge sum, because of compound interest. In 1682, each Rennepont got a bronze medal telling them to meet back in Paris 150 years later, at which time the fortune will be divided among the surviving members. So much time has passed, however, that almost none of the still-living Renneponts have any idea why they need to come to Paris. They nevertheless set out from India, Siberia, America, France, and elsewhere to make their way to rue Saint-François No. 3 in Paris by 13 February 1832.
The members of the family are not only dispersed all over the world, but also all over the social ladder, as laborers, factory owners and the independently wealthy. In India, one Rennepont is a prince.
The Jesuits have heard of this huge fortune and want to have it. Jesuit Père d'Aigrigny is in charge of obtaining the money for theSociety of Jesus and dispossessing the Renneponts. Their plan is to have only the unwitting Gabriel Rennepont, the Jesuit missionary, show up to claim the fortune. Since he is a monk and can have no possessions of his own, the fortune will go to the Jesuits. Gabriel entered the order because his pious mother, manipulated by the Jesuits, persuaded him to become a member.
The Jesuits have spies all over the world and use them to put obstacles in the paths of the Renneponts as they make their way back to Paris.
The principal obstacles are as follows:
Only Gabriel shows up to the meeting, but at the last minute Hérodiade makes an appearance. She goes to a drawer and pulls out acodicil that explains that the parties have three and a half months from 13 February to present themselves. Upon this turn of events, d'Aigrigny is fired, and Jesuit Rodin replaces him. He decides to use cholera to annihilate some of the Renneponts. He maneuvers Rose, Blanche, and Jacques in front of the cholera epidemic and rids himself of them.
With François Hardy, Rodin shows him how Hardy's best friend has betrayed him. He also arranges for Hardy's mistress to leave for the Americas, and has Hardy's factory burn to the ground (all this on the same day). Hardy takes refuge among the Jesuits, who persuade him to enter their order.
Knowing that Djalma is in love with Adrienne, the Jesuits make him think that she has been unfaithful, and he poisons himself. While Djalma dies slowly, Adrienne finds out what he has done and poison herself with his bottle, too.
On the day of the second meeting, none of the Renneponts show up (Gabriel having quit the Jesuits), and Rodin alone presents himself. But Samuel, the guardian of the house, realizes the injustices that have taken place. He brings the coffins of all the Renneponts back to show Rodin his wickedness and burns the testament that would have given Rodin access to the money.
Gabriel and Hardy die as a matter of course, which means that the Wandering Jew and Hérodiade can finally rest in peace. Together, they joyfully encounter their final "death".
The Wandering Jew was a serially published novel which attained great popularity in Paris and beyond. According to historianJohn McGreevy, the novel was intensely and deliberately "anti-Catholic".[2] Its publication, and that of its predecessorThe Mysteries of Paris, greatly increased the circulation of the magazines in which they were published; in addition, they are held to have influenced legislation on theJesuits, and caused a general "jesuitophobie".Antonio Bresciani'sL'Ebreo di Verona (The Jew of Verona, 1850) was intended as an answer to Sue'sThe Wandering Jew. The novel is over 1,400 pages long. An opera,Le Juif errant, byFromental Halévy, was based on elements of the novel.
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