Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks

The question I wish to address in this essay is really quite simple: Given the fact that there are "Jews" who seem to play a major role in contemporary German "Kultur" (at least that narrower definition of culture, meaning the production of cultural artifacts, such as books—a fie...

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Main Author: Sander L. Gilman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: New Prairie Press 1989-08-01
Series:Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
Online Access:http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol13/iss2/5
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author Sander L. Gilman
author_facet Sander L. Gilman
author_sort Sander L. Gilman
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description The question I wish to address in this essay is really quite simple: Given the fact that there are "Jews" who seem to play a major role in contemporary German "Kultur" (at least that narrower definition of culture, meaning the production of cultural artifacts, such as books—a field which, at least for Englemann, was one of the certain indicators of a Jewish component in prewar German culture)—what happened to these "Jews" (or at least the category of the "Jewish writer") in postwar discussions of culture? Or more simply: who lulled the remaining Jews in contemporary German culture and why? Why is it not possible to speak about "German-Jews" in the contemporary criticism about German culture? And, more to the point, what is the impact of this denial on those who (quite often ambivalently) see (or have been forced to see) themselves as "Germans" and "Jews," but not as both simultaneously.
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spelling doaj.art-465c971fcda04e81a76e8677af16e9372022-12-22T01:41:12ZengNew Prairie PressStudies in 20th & 21st Century Literature2334-44151989-08-0113210.4148/2334-4415.12335609171Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author SpeaksSander L. GilmanThe question I wish to address in this essay is really quite simple: Given the fact that there are "Jews" who seem to play a major role in contemporary German "Kultur" (at least that narrower definition of culture, meaning the production of cultural artifacts, such as books—a field which, at least for Englemann, was one of the certain indicators of a Jewish component in prewar German culture)—what happened to these "Jews" (or at least the category of the "Jewish writer") in postwar discussions of culture? Or more simply: who lulled the remaining Jews in contemporary German culture and why? Why is it not possible to speak about "German-Jews" in the contemporary criticism about German culture? And, more to the point, what is the impact of this denial on those who (quite often ambivalently) see (or have been forced to see) themselves as "Germans" and "Jews," but not as both simultaneously.http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol13/iss2/5
spellingShingle Sander L. Gilman
Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
title Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
title_full Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
title_fullStr Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
title_full_unstemmed Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
title_short Jewish Writers in Contemporary Germany: The Dead Author Speaks
title_sort jewish writers in contemporary germany the dead author speaks
url http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol13/iss2/5
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