Figural Jew – Politics and Identity in Postwar French Thought (Religion and Postmodernism)

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pp. x 298.paperback edition “The rootless Jew, wandering disconnected from history, homeland, and nature, was often the target of early twentieth-century nationalist rhetoric aimed against modern culture. But after World War II, a number of prominent French philosophers recast this maligned figure in positive terms and in so doing transformed postwar conceptions of politics and identity. Sarah Hammerschlag explores this figure of the Jew from its prewar usage to its resuscitation by Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, and Jacques Derrida. Sartre and Levinas idealized the Jew’s rootlessness in order to rethink the foundations of political identity. Blanchot and Derrida, in turn, used the figure of the Jew to call into question the very nature of group identification. By chronicling this evolution in thinking, Hammerschlag ultimately reveals how the figural Jew can function as a critical mechanism that exposes the political dangers of mythic allegiance, whether couched in universalizing or particularizing terms. Both an intellectual history and a philosophical argument, “The Figural Jew” will set the agenda for all further consideration of Jewish identity, modern Jewish thought, and continental philosophy.”

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Book Information

ISBN 0226315126
ISBN13 9780226315126
Number of pages 298
Original Title Figural Jew – Politics and Identity in Postwar French Thought (Religion and Postmodernism)
Published Date 2010
Book Condition Very good
Jacket Condition No Dustjacket
Binding Paperback
Size 8vo
Place of Publication Chicago
Edition First edition
Category:
Author:
Publisher:

Description

pp. x 298.paperback edition “The rootless Jew, wandering disconnected from history, homeland, and nature, was often the target of early twentieth-century nationalist rhetoric aimed against modern culture. But after World War II, a number of prominent French philosophers recast this maligned figure in positive terms and in so doing transformed postwar conceptions of politics and identity. Sarah Hammerschlag explores this figure of the Jew from its prewar usage to its resuscitation by Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, and Jacques Derrida. Sartre and Levinas idealized the Jew’s rootlessness in order to rethink the foundations of political identity. Blanchot and Derrida, in turn, used the figure of the Jew to call into question the very nature of group identification. By chronicling this evolution in thinking, Hammerschlag ultimately reveals how the figural Jew can function as a critical mechanism that exposes the political dangers of mythic allegiance, whether couched in universalizing or particularizing terms. Both an intellectual history and a philosophical argument, “The Figural Jew” will set the agenda for all further consideration of Jewish identity, modern Jewish thought, and continental philosophy.”

Additional information

Weight 0.43 kg