Cosmopolitanisms and the Jews (Social History, Popular Culture, And Politics In Germany)

Cosmopolitanisms and the Jews adds significantly to contemporary scholarship on cosmopolitanism by making the experience of Jews central to the discussion, as it traces the evolution of Jewish cosmopolitanism over the last two centuries. The book sets out from an exploration of the nature and cultural-political implications of the shifting perceptions of Jewish mobility and fluidity around 1800, when modern cosmopolitanist discourse arose. Through a series of case studies, the authors analyze the historical and discursive junctures that mark the central paradigm shifts in the Jewish self-image, from the Wandering Jew to the rootless parasite, the cosmopolitan, and the socialist internationalist. Chapters analyze the tensions and dualisms in the constructed relationship between cosmopolitanism and the Jews at particular historical junctures between 1800 and the present, and probe into the relationship between earlier anti-Semitic discourses on Jewish cosmopolitanism and Stalinist rhetoric. Cosmopolitanisms and the Jews adds significantly to contemporary scholarship on cosmopolitanism by making the experience of Jews central to the discussion. It offers the first conceptual history of the image and participation of Jews in modern German-speaking cosmopolitanist thought, exploring the nature and cultural-political implications of the shifting perceptions of Jewish mobility and fluidity from around 1800, when modern cosmopolitanist discourse arose. Through a series of case studies, the authors analyze the historical and discursive junctures that mark the central paradigm shifts in the Jewish self-image, from the Wandering Jew to the rootless parasite, the cosmopolitan, and the socialist internationalist. Chapters analyze the tensions and dualisms in the constructed relationship between cosmopolitanism and the Jews at particular historical junctures over two centuries, and probe the relationship between earlier anti-Semitic discourses on Jewish cosmopolitanism and Stalinist rhetoric. The book will be of interest to scholars in German Studies, Jewish studies, literature, history and the history of ideas, as well as anyone interested in the history and culture of German-speaking Jews. Book jacket This study adds to contemporary scholarship on cosmopolitanism by making the experience of Jews central to the discussion, as it traces the evolution of Jewish cosmopolitanism over the last two centuries. Through a series of case studies, the authors analyse the historical and discursive junctures that mark the central paradigm shifts in the Jewish self-image.