On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred

Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-691-11922-9
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 221 mm, Gewicht: 358 g

Today, the term "Jewish self-hatred" often denotes a treasonous brand of Jewish self-loathing, and is frequently used as a smear, such as when it is applied to politically moderate Jews who are critical of Israel. In On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred, Paul Reitter demonstrates that the concept of Jewish self-hatred once had decidedly positive connotations. He traces the genesis of the term to Anton Kuh, a Viennese-Jewish journalist who coined it in the aftermath of World War I, and shows how the German-Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing came, in 1930, to write a book that popularized "Jewish self-hatred." Reitter contends that, as Kuh and Lessing used it, the concept of Jewish self-hatred described a complex and possibly redemptive way of being Jewish. Paradoxically, Jews could show the world how to get past the blight of self-hatred only by embracing their own, singularly advanced self-critical tendencies--their "Jewish self-hatred." Provocative and elegantly argued, On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred challenges widely held notions about the history and meaning of this idea, and explains why its history is so badly misrepresented today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reitter, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien: Literatur & Kunst
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums außerhalb Israels/Palästinas
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums Geschichte des Judentums: Moderne & Gegenwart
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien Jüdische Identität & Biographien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte des Judentums (Diaspora)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1

Part One: Genealogical Imperatives 5

Part Two: The Birth of "Jewish Self-Hatred" and the Spirit of Interwar Europe 45

Part Three: Prominence: The Making of Theodor Lessing?s Book Jewish Self-Hatred

75

Conclusion 121

Notes 127

Select Bibliography 155

Index 161

Acknowledgments 165

Über Autor(innen)

Reitter, Paul
Paul Reitter is associate professor of Germanic languages and literatures at Ohio State University. He is the author of "The Anti-Journalist: Karl Kraus" and "Jewish Self-Fashioning in Fin-de-Siècle Europe".