Howard Jacobson’s Shylock Is My Name and the Badiou-Agamben Debate on Paul the Apostle

ABSTRACT:This essay analyzes Howard Jacobson’s Shylock Is My Name in light of theoretical debates on Paul the Apostle between Alain Badiou and Giorgio Agamben. Badiou argues that with his debate on the Jewish laws Paul tackled the exclusive Jewish identity by creating a radical universality. However, like Agamben, Jacobson emphasizes that Paul’s theology does not resolve the irreducible differences that reside in Jewish identity, along with the Jews’ own right to exist in their own distinctive ways.