Q & A with Susan Gubar
In her new book, Judas: A Biography, Susan Gubar, IU Distinguished Professor of English, delves into how Judas became a symbol of the Jewish people by analyzing how he personifies a composite Judeo-Christianity that illuminates ambivalent relationships between Christians and Jews as well as changing attitudes toward the body, blood and money; greed and hypocrisy; suicide and repentance; and homosexuality and divinity. A pioneering feminist and culture critic, Gubar's books include Poetry After Auschwitz and Rooms of Our Own, and she is co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Literature. Here, Gubar talks about how she decided to write about Judas -- with a book publication date just in time for Easter -- and what she hopes readers can gain from her reflections.
To read the review of Judas: A Biography from the April 4 edition of the New York Times Review of Books, go to this web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/books/review/Kirsch-t.html?ref=books.
Susan Gubar
Q: What inspired you to write about Judas?
A: While I was working on a book entitled Poetry After Auschwitz, I encountered the view that Christian anti-Semitism generated the genocide in Germany. Some Jewish studies scholars view Judas as nothing but the epitome of Christian anti-Semitism. Yet when I looked at Christian-authored scholarship and theology about Judas, the Twelfth Apostle was credited with facilitating the crucifixion but also the resurrection. In short, there was much disagreement about who Judas was, what he did, why, with what results. That enigma drew me to study the history of Judas from the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament through medieval legend, Renaissance painting, 19th-century poetry, and 20th-century fiction and film.
Q: Did you learn anything that surprised you about Judas -- or people's perceptions of him -- during research for this book?
A: I found it surprising how often the four authors of the Gospels disagree about Judas' character and fate. Although Matthew describes his repentance and suicide, for instance, Luke believes he was possessed by Satan, and he died by bursting open with his bowels gushing out.Although Mark, Matthew, and Luke mention a kiss of betrayal, John's Judas does not kiss Jesus at all. I also found it surprising that the medieval pariah-Judas who is faulted for every conceivable anal and oral crime morphs in Renaissance paintings into Jesus' kindred spirit and soul mate. These contradictory portraits of Judas continue up to the present day.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from reading this?
A: Of course, I believe that is very important to understand how anti-Semitic stereotypes fuel violence against innocent people, and Judas, unfortunately, contributed to violence against Jews. But I also believe that on a profound level -- when we keep in mind that all the players in the Passion are Jewish -- Judas reflects humanity's concern with wrongdoing. Through Judas, we understand our propensity for wrongdoing, vacillation and betrayal as well as our wish to disavow that capacity. Judas reflects humanity's disgust and self-disgust, our grief and nausea about our capacity for inflicting pain.
Q: When you learned of the NY Times 2009 Editors' Choice designation, what was your reaction -- what does this mean to you?
A: I am always pleased at publicity, especially good publicity!I hope that the book reaches a wide audience because it was written for Jews as well as Christians, believers and non-believers, and especially those interested in the ways in which great paintings and great literary texts change our ideas about Judeo-Christianity. Indeed, Judas -- the only apostle to work with Jesus as well as with the Temple -- can be viewed as a figure of the hyphen that appears in the term Judeo-Christianity.
