Before he was twenty years old, Louisiana-born Victor SŽjour expatriated himself to Paris, where his acclaimed dramas would appear alongside those of Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. SŽjour's mother was a free woman of color and his father was Haitian. SŽjour grew up a free Creole of color in antebellum New Orleans, but was deeply affected by the alienation and discrimination he encountered as a person of mixed descent. SŽjour's inventive transposition of the discrimination of mid-nineteenth-century America to other historical incidents of racial persecution was a device in his fiction and drama, creating a provocative and political metaphor for those whose lives blur the lines of racial and religious identity. Now, for the first time, two of SŽjour's plays, The Jew of Seville and The Fortune-Teller, have been translated from the French for contemporary audiences. The Jew of Seville, a five-act verse drama first performed in 1844, is the story of Jacob Eliacin, a Jew, during the Spanish Inquisition. Eliacin had been humiliated and beaten by the uncle of his Christian lover, Bianca. The couple had fled to Greece, where Bianca had died in childbirth. Eliacin, who amassed great wealth, had assumed the name DiŽgarias, and had raised daughter InŽs a Christian. Twenty years later, as the play opens, DiŽgarias is now a prominent member of the court at Seville, where InŽs encounters and is seduced by Don Juan in a sham marriage. When he discovers Don Juan's treachery DiŽgarias demands that the nobleman marry his daughter. But a self-serving Moor reveals the truth of DiŽgarias' identity to Don Juan, who then publicly refuses to marry a Jew's daughter. After this humiliation, DiŽgarias retreats to plot revenge which will have dire consequences for InŽs. With a stirring verse translation by Norman R. Shapiro and a thoroughly engaging introduction by M. Lynn Weiss, The Jew of Seville is an important and provocative addition to the non-English writings of American-born authors, a historical drama that highlights the discrimination not only of SŽjour's time but of ours as well.

The Jew of Seville

Reference

Shapiro, Norman R.

Sejour, Victor

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

University of Illinois Press

Before he was twenty years old, Louisiana-born Victor SŽjour expatriated himself to Paris, where his acclaimed dramas would appear alongside those of Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. His mother a free woman of color, his father of Haitian descent, SŽjour grew up a free Creole of color in antebellum New Orleans, but was deeply affected by the alienation and discrimination he encountered as a person of mixed descent. SŽjour's inventive transposition of the discrimination of mid-nineteenth-century America to other historical incidents of racial persecution was a device in his fiction and drama, creating a provocative and political metaphor for those whose lives blur the lines of racial and religious identity. Now, for the first time, two of SŽjour's plays, The Jew of Seville and The Fortune-Teller, have been translated from the French for contemporary audiences. The Fortune-Teller was first performed in French in 1859, just one year after six-year-old Edgardo Mortara was removed from his Jewish home by the Bologna inquisitor after being baptized by a maid. The inquisitor, supported by Pope Pious IX, vowed not to return the boy until his parents converted to Catholicism. In Sejour's touching rendering of the Mortara case, the infant girl NoŽmi is taken from her Jewish family after being baptized by a wet nurse. Seventeen years later, NoŽmi's widowed and wealthy mother GemŽa masquerades as a poor fortune-teller in search of NoŽmi, who, she suspects, is living with the Catholic Lomellini family, under the name Paola. In exchange for money to pay her husband's ransom, Bianca Lomellini reveals to GemŽa that Paola is indeed the long-lost NoŽmi. Neither Jew nor Christian, torn between mothers, names, and homes, the young woman grapples with an anomalous identity, testing the bonds of both nature and nurture. With a stirring translation by Norman R. Shapiro and a thoroughly engaging introduction by M. Lynn Weiss, The Fortune-Teller is an important and provocative addition to the non-English writings of American-born authors, a historical drama that highlights the discrimination not only of SŽjour's time, but of ours as well.

The Fortune-Teller

Humor & Entertainment

<p>Penned by a francophone native of Louisiana of African descent, 'The Fortune-Teller' is Victor Sejour's retelling of Edgardo Mortara's removal from his home by the Bologna inquisitor."</p>

'The Jew of Seville' tells the story of Jacob Eliacin, a Jew, during the Spanish Inquisition. Eliacin masquerades as a Christian and becomes a prominent member of the court at Seville, but his background is revealed following his daughter's seduction at the hands of Don Juan.

The Jew of Seville (Louisiana Heritage)

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

Second Line Press

<p>Penned by Victor Sejour (1817-1874), a francophone Creole native of Louisiana of African descent, The Fortune-Teller (ital) was first performed in French in 1859, just one year after six-year-old Edgardo Mortara was removed from his Jewish home by the Bologna inquisitor after being baptized by a maid. The inquisitor, supported by Pope Pius IX, vowed not to return the boy until his parents converted to Catholicism. In Victor Sejour's touching rendering of the Mortara case, the infant girl Noemi (accent over e) is taken from her Jewish family after being baptized by a wet nurse. Seventeen years later, Noemi's widowed and wealthy mother Gemea (accent over 2nd e) masquerades as a poor fortune-teller in search of Noemi. Featuring a stirring translation by Shapiro and a thoroughly engaging introduction by Weiss, this provocative and important historical drama, written by a Creole "free person" of color, highlights the discrimination not only of Sejour's time, but of ours as well. This is a new and revised edition of a book originally published by the university of Illinois.Also available: Sejour's The Jew of Seville, translated by Norman R. Shapiro with an introduction by M. Lynn Weiss</p>

The Fortune Teller (Louisiana Heritage)

Genre Fiction

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sejour, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sejour, Victor

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sejour, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Jew of Seville

The Fortune-Teller

The Fortune-Teller

The Jew of Seville

The Jew of Seville (Louisiana Heritage)

The Fortune Teller (Louisiana Heritage)