Rahel Varnhagen a Portrait

1913. With an introduction by Havelock Ellis. Varnhagen lived during the crucial period of assimilation in Germany, when it seemed imperative for Jews to escape their Jewishness. From the Preface: The following pages are not a study in literary history; no search has been made for new authorities, and no stress is laid on literal accuracy in the case of the sources that have been used. Such a work was within neither the aim nor the compass of this book. My aim has been to give a portrait of the greatest woman the Jewish race has produced; to my mind also the greatest woman Germany can call her daughter. Contents: Origin; Personality; Love; Religion; Fellow-feeling; Social Life; Goethe; Sense of Beauty; and Letters.