{{Short description|2003 graphic novel by Will Eisner}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Fagin the Jew''}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} [[Image:Fagin the Jew cover.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Cover of ''Fagin the Jew'' by Will Eisner.]]
'''''Fagin the Jew''''' is a [[graphic novel]] by American cartoonist [[Will Eisner]].<ref>{{Cite book|isbn = 0-385-51009-8|title = Fagin the Jew|last1 = Eisner|first1 = Will|year = 2003}}</ref>
In this book, Eisner retells the story of [[Fagin]] from [[Charles Dickens]]' ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' from [[Revisionism (fictional)|Fagin's point of view]]. Eisner portrays Fagin as a distressed and complex character, and tells the story of his life and his place in the [[Ashkenazi]]c community of [[London]] in the [[Grammatical person|first person]], with many illustrations. The book was written in response to Eisner's belief that much classic literature contains [[Anti-Semitism|anti-Semitic]] stereotypes, including Dickens' portrayal of Fagin. Eisner has cast the story in the form of an interview between Fagin and Dickens, on the night before Fagin is to be [[hanging|hanged]], in which Fagin tells his life story and pleads for a more understanding portrayal by Dickens.
The book was published by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] in 2003. A tenth anniversary edition was published by [[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/22-570/Fagin-the-Jew-10th-Anniversary-HC|title = Fagin the Jew 10th Anniversary HC :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics}}</ref>
==Reception== In his 2008 ''500 Essential Graphic Novels'', comics scholar Gene Kannenberg Jr. praised it as "skillfully executed, thought provoking, and enlightening".<ref name=Kannenberg>[https://archive.org/details/500essentialgrap0000kann/page/223/mode/2up 500 Essential Graphic Novels], by Gene Kannenberg Jr.; published August 25, 2008, by [[Harper Design]] (via [[archive.org]])</ref>
''[[New Internationalist]]'' called the book "sensitive", and a "remind[er to] cartoonists of the power of their pens and their responsibility to distinguish between good and bad stereotyping."<ref name=NewInt>[https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=dff923d1-519e-4841-bddb-bbc6d400fe51%40redis Fagin the Jew], reviewed by John Stuart Clark, in ''[[New Internationalist]]''; March 2006 issue; p. 18</ref>
''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' lauded its illustrations as "gorgeously expressive", emphasizing that "no one can convey a story through body language like Eisner", but faulted the narrative as "err[ing] on the side of extreme coincidence and melodrama", with an "awkwardly simplified run-through of Dickens' plot" and a "constant stream of expository dialogue [that] becomes laughable".<ref name=PW>[https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-51009-7 Fagin the Jew], reviewed at ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''; published November 17, 2003; retrieved April 27, 2022</ref>
''[[Booklist]]'' likewise found the narrative "starkly melodramatic [and] agenda-driven", and "lack[ing] nuance", but nonetheless considered the book to be "heartfelt", and compared it to [[John Gardner (American writer)|John Gardner]]'s ''[[Grendel (novel)|Grendel]]''.<ref name=Booklist>''Fagin the Jew'', reviewed by Gordon Flagg, at ''[[Booklist]]''; by Gordon Flagg; published September 1, 2003, by the [[American Library Association]]; retrieved May 3, 2022</ref>
==See also== * [[History of the Jews in England]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/graphicnovels/fagin.html Fagin the Jew] at [[Random House]] * [http://www.willeisner.com/library/fagin-the-jew.html Fagin the Jew] at [https://web.archive.org/web/20110313172639/http://www.willeisner.com/ Will Eisner.com] * [http://www.artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=11&tid=450 review by Adi Tantimedh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214210145/http://www.artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=11&tid=450 |date=2006-02-14 }} * {{cite magazine | title = Never Too Late | author = Andrew D. Arnold | date = September 19, 2003 | url = http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,488263,00.html | work = Time magazine }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051103065511/http://www.wymaninstitute.org/news/2003-12-02-update.php Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies newsletter, December 2003] (included brief discussion of ''Fagin the Jew'') * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050117025314/http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=4264&s=1 "Eisner pioneered the adult graphic novel" by Shlomo Schwartzberg from the ''Canadian Jewish News'', September 2004]
{{Will Eisner}} {{Oliver Twist}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:2003 American novels]] [[Category:2003 graphic novels]] [[Category:American graphic novels]] [[Category:Works based on Oliver Twist]] [[Category:Comics based on works by Charles Dickens]] [[Category:Graphic novels set in London]] [[Category:Graphic novels set in the 19th century]] [[Category:Graphic novels about Jews and Judaism]] [[Category:Fiction about antisemitism]] [[Category:Cultural depictions of Charles Dickens]] [[Category:Opposition to antisemitism in the United States]] [[Category:Books by Will Eisner]] [[Category:Doubleday (publisher) books]]