The legend of the wandering Jew as part of the literary personality of F.M. Grimm

Correspondence of F.M. Grimm (1723-1807) with N.P. and S.P. Rumiantsev is an under examinated source that provides important information on life and work of this figure of the Enlightenment and sheds light on some questions which are not treated in Correspondance Littéraire and his correspondence with Catherine the Great. One of these questions is Grimm’s cosmopolitanism, with Grimm being often referred to as cosmopolite idéal du siècle des Lumières. However his letters to the Counts Rumiantsev reveal the complexity of self-reflexion on his national identity. Evanescence of his position and lack of his own place in the world lead him to disturbing conclusions which are present in the image of Wandering Jew. In this article we are studying popular and literary traditions which influenced his perception of the topic and how his anxiety is shown from the perspective of the myth. The main source of Grimm’s insight is German popular legend of Ahasuerus widely represented in protestant community from the beginning of 17th century. Taking after the Wandering Jew Grimm adopts some characteristic elements of the myth: lamentation about his endless wandering and eternal life, with dream about the peace or death. In the meantime, the influence of sentimental tendencies makes him reinterpret the legend as a private story of a lonely man at the mercy of the fate. He concentrates on details and appeals to the compassion leaving aside all the cosmically grandiose meaning of the myth. Grimm creates an amalgam of elements and variations of different epochs which reflects the evolution of the image in the 18th century, a transition period from popular legend to tragic figure of the Romantic era.