# Fagin the Jew > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Fagin_the_Jew > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Fagin_the_Jew.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagin_the_Jew > Source revision: 1333497293 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 2003 graphic novel by Will Eisner Cover of *Fagin the Jew* by Will Eisner. ***Fagin the Jew*** is a [graphic novel](/source/Graphic_novel) by American cartoonist [Will Eisner](/source/Will_Eisner).[1] In this book, Eisner retells the story of [Fagin](/source/Fagin) from [Charles Dickens](/source/Charles_Dickens)' *[Oliver Twist](/source/Oliver_Twist)* from [Fagin's point of view](/source/Revisionism_(fictional)). Eisner portrays Fagin as a distressed and complex character, and tells the story of his life and his place in the [Ashkenazic](/source/Ashkenazi) community of [London](/source/London) in the [first person](/source/Grammatical_person), with many illustrations. The book was written in response to Eisner's belief that much classic literature contains [anti-Semitic](/source/Anti-Semitism) 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 [hanged](/source/Hanging), in which Fagin tells his life story and pleads for a more understanding portrayal by Dickens. The book was published by [Doubleday](/source/Doubleday_(publisher)) in 2003. A tenth anniversary edition was published by [Dark Horse](/source/Dark_Horse_Comics) in 2013.[2] ## Reception In his 2008 *500 Essential Graphic Novels*, comics scholar Gene Kannenberg Jr. praised it as "skillfully executed, thought provoking, and enlightening".[3] *[New Internationalist](/source/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."[4] *[Publishers Weekly](/source/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".[5] *[Booklist](/source/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](/source/John_Gardner_(American_writer))'s *[Grendel](/source/Grendel_(novel))*.[6] ## See also - [History of the Jews in England](/source/History_of_the_Jews_in_England) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Eisner, Will (2003). *Fagin the Jew*. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-385-51009-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-385-51009-8). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Fagin the Jew 10th Anniversary HC :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics"](http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/22-570/Fagin-the-Jew-10th-Anniversary-HC). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Kannenberg_3-0)** [500 Essential Graphic Novels](https://archive.org/details/500essentialgrap0000kann/page/223/mode/2up), by Gene Kannenberg Jr.; published August 25, 2008, by [Harper Design](/source/Harper_Design) (via [archive.org](/source/Archive.org)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-NewInt_4-0)** [Fagin the Jew](https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=dff923d1-519e-4841-bddb-bbc6d400fe51%40redis), reviewed by John Stuart Clark, in *[New Internationalist](/source/New_Internationalist)*; March 2006 issue; p. 18 1. **[^](#cite_ref-PW_5-0)** [Fagin the Jew](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-51009-7), reviewed at *[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly)*; published November 17, 2003; retrieved April 27, 2022 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Booklist_6-0)** *Fagin the Jew*, reviewed by Gordon Flagg, at *[Booklist](/source/Booklist)*; by Gordon Flagg; published September 1, 2003, by the [American Library Association](/source/American_Library_Association); retrieved May 3, 2022 ## External links - [Fagin the Jew](http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/graphicnovels/fagin.html) at [Random House](/source/Random_House) - [Fagin the Jew](http://www.willeisner.com/library/fagin-the-jew.html) at [Will Eisner.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20110313172639/http://www.willeisner.com/) - [review by Adi Tantimedh](http://www.artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=11&tid=450) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20060214210145/http://www.artbomb.net/detail.jsp?gid=11&tid=450) 2006-02-14 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) - Andrew D. Arnold (September 19, 2003). ["Never Too Late"](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,488263,00.html). *Time magazine*. - [Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies newsletter, December 2003](https://web.archive.org/web/20051103065511/http://www.wymaninstitute.org/news/2003-12-02-update.php) (included brief discussion of *Fagin the Jew*) - ["Eisner pioneered the adult graphic novel" by Shlomo Schwartzberg from the *Canadian Jewish News*, September 2004](https://web.archive.org/web/20050117025314/http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=4264&s=1) v t e Will Eisner Books Fiction A Contract with God (1978) Life on Another Planet (1983) The Dreamer (1985) The Dreamer (1986) A Life Force (1988) To the Heart of the Storm (1991) Dropsie Avenue (1995) A Family Matter (1998) Fagin the Jew (2003) Non-fiction Comics and Sequential Art (1985) Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative (1996) The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2005) Characters The Spirit Spirit Ebony White Ellen Dolan Octopus Other Archie O'Toole Black Condor Blackhawk Doll Man Flame John Law Lady Luck Mr. Mystic Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Uncle Sam Wonder Man Publications PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly v t e Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist Characters Oliver Twist Bill Sikes Fagin Mr Brownlow Nancy Rose Maylie Monks The Artful Dodger Charley Bates Mr Sowerberry Mr. Bumble Film adaptations 1909 1912 (American) 1912 (British) 1916 1922 1933 1948 Oliver! (1968) 1974 Las Aventuras de Oliver Twist (1987) 2005 Film retellings Manik (1961) Chitti Tammudu (1962) Oliver & Company (1988) Twisted (1996) Twist (2003) Boy Called Twist (2004) Twist (2021) TV adaptations 1962 TV serial 1982 American–British TV film 1982 Australian TV film 1985 TV serial Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist (1996 TV series) 1997 TV film 1999 TV series 2007 TV series Stage adaptations Oliver Twist (1905) Oliver! (1960) Songs "As Long as He Needs Me" "Consider Yourself" "Food, Glorious Food" "I'd Do Anything" "Oliver!" "Oom-Pah-Pah" "Where Is Love?" "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" "Be Back Soon" "Reviewing the Situation" Related Oliver! (1962 original Broadway cast recording) Oliver! (soundtrack to the 1968 film) Oliver & Company (soundtrack to Oliver & Company) Escape of the Artful Dodger (2001 TV series retelling) Fagin the Jew (2003 graphic novel) Oliver and the Artful Dodger (1972 TV film) I'd Do Anything (2008 TV series) Dodger (2022 TV series) The Artful Dodger (2023 TV series) Authority control databases Open Library --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fagin the Jew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagin_the_Jew) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagin_the_Jew?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.