Synopses & Reviews
The once dominant role played by the art of aphorism in the various genres of European literature is a thing of the past. The present study sets out to show why traditional contemporary aphoristic writing is frequently derivative and how the poet Elazar Benyo tz breaks with the conventions prevailing in it. Of significance here, as in the much broader currents of contemporary philosophy, is the way in which the individual 'other' attains a new status over and against the 'self' in Benyo tz' work. Whereas in traditional aphoristic writing the 'other' is largely addressed via the unmasking of collective clich s, Benyo tz draws upon the individualising elements of aphoristic discourse to achieve an individualisation of the 'other'.
Synopsis
This book-series, initiated in 1992, has an interdisciplinary orientation; it is published in English and German and comprises research monographs, collections of essays and editions of source texts dealing with German-Jewish literary and cultural history, in particular from the period covering the 18th to 20th centuries.
The closer definition of the term German-Jewish applied to literature and culture is an integral part of its historical development. Primarily, the decisive factor is that from the middle of the 18th century German gradually became the language of choice for Jews, and Jewish authors started writing in German, rather than Yiddish or Hebrew, even when they were articulating Jewish themes. This process is directly connected an historical change in mentality and social factors which led to a gradual opening towards a non-Jewish environment, which in its turn was becoming more open. In the Enlightenment, German society becomes the standard of reference - initially for an intellectual elite. Against this background, the term German-Jewish literature refers to the literary work of Jewish authors writing in German to the extent that explicit or implicit Jewish themes, motifs, modes of thought or models can be identified in them.
From the beginning of the 19th century at the latest, however, the image of Jews in the work of non-Jewish writers, determined mainly by anti-Semitism, becomes a factor in German-Jewish literature. There is a tension between Jewish writers' authentic reference to Jewish traditions or existence and the anti-Semitic marking and discrimination against everything Jewish which determines the overall development of the history of German-Jewish literature and culture. This series provides an appropriate forum for research into the whole problematic area.
Synopsis
Ihre einst dominante Rolle in den Gattungssystemen der europ ischen Literatur hat die literarische Aphoristik eingeb t. Diese Studie will begr nden, warum zeitgen ssische Aphoristik traditioneller Art oft epigonal ist, und zeigen, wie der Dichter Elazar Benyo tz mit ihren Konventionen bricht. Denn wie in ungleich breiteren Str mungen der j ngeren Philosophie wird in Benyo tz' Werk der individuelle 'Andere' gegen ber dem 'Selbst' aufgewertet. Wird 'der Andere' in der traditionellen Aphoristik vorwiegend ber die Entlarvung kollektiver Klischees angesprochen, so nutzt Benyo tz dieses Individualisierende aphoristischer Rede zu einer Individualisierung 'des Anderen'.
Synopsis
Die 1992 gegr ndete Buchreihe ist interdisziplin r ausgerichtet; sie umfasst wissenschaftliche Monographien, Aufsatzsammlungen und kommentierte Quelleneditionen vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. Der Begriff deutsch-j dische Literatur bzw. Kultur verweist auf Werke j discher Autoren in deutscher Sprache, insoweit j dische Aspekte erkennbar sind. Aber auch das h ufig vom Antisemitismus gepr gte Judenbild nichtj discher Autoren wird zu einem Faktor der literarisch vermittelten deutsch-j dischen Beziehungsgeschichte. Der Erforschung des gesamten Problemfelds bietet die Reihe ein angemessenes Forum.