Ritorno all'Egitto. L'Ebreo errante nel Manoscritto trovato a Saragozza di Jan Potocki

To better understand the meaning of the Wandering Jew as one of the characters of Potocki’s seminal novel Manuscript found in Saragossa it is necessary to be aware of the huge progress Potocki’s studies have done during the last twenty years. The critical edition of the three redactions of the novel has shown that the Wandering Jew has eventually disappeared from the last version of 1810. The question how it is so must remain open since no information from the author has survived. After reporting the state of research, the author suggests some more possible reasons and tries to establish the role of this being one of the first literary appearances of the Wandering Jew in literature in the context of the contemporary debate about the Egyptian origin of Jewish laws. Oddly enough, Potocki has chosen not to develop the story of the Wandering Jew after his encounter with Jesus, but to recreate the vicissitudes of his family until the third generation back. Also noteworthy is the fact that he is a Hellenising Jew from Alexandria. In fact, the recourse to Egypt in the 18th century is always an argument for natural religion. Further, the article explores possible connections with contemporary German spinozism and freemasonry.