I'm pretty sure that I have seen Jews in lots of historical fantasy, but it seems that you are asking about fantasy in general which is inspired but not set in medieval/dark age Europe.
Pretty much, yes. Since I tend not to read historical fantasy, too much like reading a text book :)
To which I would ask "How is the presence of Jews a necessary part of the romance of the period?
They're not necessary, and I totally understand not including them in any given book (there's lots of things from history which get ignored in any given book) It's the fact that they're never mentioned which is, to me, interesting. I mean I can understand if you're writing completely mythic arthurian stuff, but a lot of fantasy includes various less heroic stuff and steals ideas from real history to make things more interesting/real, so why is this particular bit so rarely stolen?
There is, indeed, a lot of racism in fantasy, but it is usually rather heroic.
My brain is trying to parse the concept of "heroic racism", but all I'm getting is a Klansman fighting a dragon.
Or perhaps it is that "essentialism" that you spoke of. Fantasy often portrays different groups as being different in their very essence, rather than for arbitrary reasons. Thus the "Jews" of such worlds are not humans.
Well, yes. I should have made it more clear: I'm mostly talking about fantasy which is just about humans, where the different "races" are just people. And I don't know if you've read my rants about the portrayal of race in sff, but while I personally understand the appeal of that sort of essentialism, and think it can be a useful tool for writing fantasy (Tolkein uses it well, imo), it can very easily turn into Old Skool racism with a veneer of metaphor, and it's something readers and writers of sff should keep an eye out for.
But that is just my opinion, which may be somewhat biased since I personally don't actually see what the fuss is really about.
I just think it's interesting. I like finding the stories that noone tells and asking why not.
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Pretty much, yes. Since I tend not to read historical fantasy, too much like reading a text book :)
To which I would ask "How is the presence of Jews a necessary part of the romance of the period?
They're not necessary, and I totally understand not including them in any given book (there's lots of things from history which get ignored in any given book) It's the fact that they're never mentioned which is, to me, interesting. I mean I can understand if you're writing completely mythic arthurian stuff, but a lot of fantasy includes various less heroic stuff and steals ideas from real history to make things more interesting/real, so why is this particular bit so rarely stolen?
There is, indeed, a lot of racism in fantasy, but it is usually rather heroic.
My brain is trying to parse the concept of "heroic racism", but all I'm getting is a Klansman fighting a dragon.
Or perhaps it is that "essentialism" that you spoke of. Fantasy often portrays different groups as being different in their very essence, rather than for arbitrary reasons. Thus the "Jews" of such worlds are not humans.
Well, yes. I should have made it more clear: I'm mostly talking about fantasy which is just about humans, where the different "races" are just people. And I don't know if you've read my rants about the portrayal of race in sff, but while I personally understand the appeal of that sort of essentialism, and think it can be a useful tool for writing fantasy (Tolkein uses it well, imo), it can very easily turn into Old Skool racism with a veneer of metaphor, and it's something readers and writers of sff should keep an eye out for.
But that is just my opinion, which may be somewhat biased since I personally don't actually see what the fuss is really about.
I just think it's interesting. I like finding the stories that noone tells and asking why not.