Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend

About this book

John Gross's fascinating and original study examines the influence of Shakespeare's character Shylock over the centuries, including how others such as Proust, James, and T. S. Eliot wrote about him, and how the Nazis misused him to whip up hatred. Gross handles his subject with urbane intelligence and wit, and provides a deeply interesting case study of the ambiguous relations between literature and historical reality.