The Jewish Self-Portrait in European and American Literature

Description

The articles in this collection originated from an international symposium at the University of Haifa and centre around a major topic in German, European and American literature, i.e. the way in which Jewish self-definition, both positive and negative, has materialized as a product of the tensions between secular culture and society on the one hand, and Jewish tradition and religion on the other. The broad range of authors (most of them of German-speaking origin) necessarily results in an almost equally broad range of answers to this central question. The volume is dedicated to the memory of the Israeli literary scholar Chaim Shoham. Dedication Introduction Fichtenbaums Palmentraum. Ein Heine-Gedicht als Chiffre deutsch-jüdischer Identitätssuche “Verkannte Brüder”. Jüdische George-Rezeption Franz Werfel zwischen Selbstdarstellung und Wunschvorstellung Die Jugendliteratur als Sozialisationsagentur Kafka as Kabbalist Kafka’s Jewish Identity: A Contemplative World-view Images of the Jew and Judaism: Kafka and the “Prager Kreis” Some Remarks Concerning Kafka the Jew Betrayal and Redemption: The Transcendent Jew in the Works of Kazantzakis, Joyce and Bellow The Dying of the Light: American Jewish Self-Portrayal in Henry Roth and Robert Mezey Is Peter Kien a Jew? A Reading of Elias Canetti’s Auto-da-fé in its Historical Context Versteckte Unglücke und Freisetzen von Erinnerung. Zeichen des Selbstverständnisses sozialistischer Autoren jüdischer Herkunft in der deutschen Literatur nach 1945 Das Krumme und das Gerade. Überlegungen zu Alexander Granachs Autobiographie Da geht ein Mensch Károly Pap’s Vision of the Jews Self-Portrait of the Jew – The Reflection on the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewish Poets Today Wieviel Heimat braucht der Mensch? Aspects of Jewish self-determination in the works of Jean Améry and Primo Levi The Blind Spot of Jewish Self-Identity in the Work of M. J. Berdyczewski “Posing the Problem of Utopia”: Stefan Heym and Schwanenberg Benjamin Fondane: Portrait of a Jew and a Poet Peter Weiss: Das Selbstporträt eines wandernden Juden Verzeichnis der Autoren Personenregister