Jack Zipes, (University of Minnesota Emeritus) Presents: Never-Ending Tales: Antisemitism, Jewish Creative Resistance, and a Literature of Hope

The “Jewish Question,” hotly debated in nineteenth-century Europe, asked what non-Jews should do with Jews after their so-called “emancipation.” Should Jews be accepted as full citizens or were they too dangerous? That question stamped Jewish identity negatively, but Jewish responses to the Question reveal possibilities that Jews will always be able to survive pernicious misinformation. This lecture will demonstrate how Jewish folk narratives and fantasy writing between 1870 and the 1930s, a period in which Jewish and especially Yiddish literature blossomed, enable us to grasp the dilemmas of Jews who seek to identify themselves by themselves– yet also want to become fully assimilated under hostile conditions in various nation-states. These tales, written largely for a Jewish readership and usually with a self-deprecating humor and ironic twist, stress the necessity of hope—despite worldwide antisemitism—for the survival of Jews and their traditions, no matter how diverse they may seem.

Bio: Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, is a founding father of Fairy Tale Studies, seeing fairy tales as agents of socialization and as deeply revealing about the historical moment of their telling. He is the author, co-author, or editor of over 70 books, most recently Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales (2023) and Never-Ending Tales: Stories from the Golden Age of Jewish Literature (2025). Zipes also engages in community outreach; he is a regular storyteller in public schools and founded “Neighborhood Bridges” in collaboration with the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, which serves over 700 children annually.

Cosponsors: Center for Austrian Studies, Center for German and European Studies, Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Department of English, Department of German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch, Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies, University of St. Thomas