The Legend of the Wandering Jew

When Christ, wearied by the heavy burden of the cross, leaned for a moment against a stranger's doorway, the stranger drove him away and cried, "Walk faster!" To this, Christ replied, "I go, but you will walk until I come again!" So began the legend of the Wandering Jew, which has recurred in many forms of literature and folklore ever since. George K. Anderson, in a book first published in 1965 and immediately hailed as a classic, traces this enduring legend through the ages, from St. John through the Middle Ages to Shelley, Eugène Sue, and the antisemitism of Hitler to recent movies and novels. Though the main elements of the legend are a constant, Anderson shows how changes in emphasis and meaning reflect civilization’s shifting concerns and attitudes over time.