Golems in the New World
Keywords:
Golems, James Sturm, Golem’s Mighty Swing, The Silence of Malka, Jorge Zentner and Rubén Pellejero, graphic novelsAbstract
This essay considers the ways that the legend of the Jewish Golem has been used in two recent graphic novels. The original legends of the Golem presented him as a creature that would protect the Jews of Prague against anti- Semitism and persecution in the 16th century, while leaving open the possibility that he could return again in the future. Both James Sturm’s The Golem’s Mighty Swing and Jorge Zentner and Rubén Pellejero’s The Silence of Malka make use of many of the original tropes of the Golem narrative, but by making significant changes to the story including location, time period, and even what a Golem is, the texts offer new ways of understanding the Golem legend. These narratives suggest that despite immense progress for global Jewry since the 16th century, a Golem – albeit a new one – is still needed to protect Jews, sometimes even from themselves
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