Fagin the Jew

Cover of Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner.

Fagin the Jew is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Will Eisner.

In this book, Eisner retells the story of Fagin from Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist from 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 Ashkenazic community of London in the first person, with many illustrations. The book was written in response to Eisner's belief that much classic literature contains anti-Semitic stereotypes, including Dickens's 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, in which Fagin tells his life story and pleads for a more understanding portrayal by Dickens.

The book was published by Doubleday in 2003. A tenth anniversary edition was published by Dark Horse in 2013.

See also

• History of the Jews in England

External links

• Fagin the Jew at Random House
• Fagin the Jew at Will Eisner.com
• review by Adi Tantimedh
• Andrew D. Arnold (September 19, 2003). "Never Too Late". Time magazine.
• Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies newsletter, December 2003 (included brief discussion of Fagin the Jew)
• "Eisner pioneered the adult graphic novel" by Shlomo Schwartzberg from the Canadian Jewish News, September 2004