Romanticism/Judaica

An interdisciplinary collection of twelve essays, Romanticism/Judaica explores the four major areas of intersection: Nationalism and Diasporeanism, Religion and Anti-Semitism, Individualism and Assimilationism, and Criticism and Reflection. Chapters cover diasporeanism, Byron, Hyman Hurwitz and Coleridge, Solomon Maimon and Kant, Maria Polack, Grac

The twelve essays in Romanticism/Judaica explore the four major cultural strands that have converged from the French Revolution to the present. The first section, Nationalism and Diasporeanism, contains essays on the diasporean mentality of the Romantics, Byron's attitude towards nationalism, and Polish immigrant Hyman Hurwitz's attempt to gain acceptance among the British by having Coleridge translate his Hebrew elegy for Princess Charlotte. Essays of the second section, Religion and Anti-Semitism, deal with the complexities of Jewish/Christian relations in the Romantic Period. Specifically, they discuss philosopher Solomon Maimon's lack of response to Kant's anti-Semitism, novelist Maria Polack's use of Christian subject matter to combat anti-Semitism, and short-story writer Grace Aguilar's incorporation of the British Bible-centered Evangelical culture, along with various strands of British Romanticism. In the third section, Individualism and Assimilationism, essays consider different ways the Jews were assimilated into the dominant culture, specifically through the theater, sports and and post-Enlightenment philosophy. Finally, the volume concludes with Criticism and Reflection: a revaluation of earlier scholarship on Anglo-Jewish literature; the establishment of Harold Fisch's covenantal hermeneutics as a model for reading Keats; and an analysis of Lionel Trilling, M. H. Abrams, Harold Bloom and Geoffrey Hartman in terms of their Jewish origins, suggesting the further implications for Romanticism as a field.

Autorentext

Sheila A. Spector is an independent scholar who has devoted her career to exploring the intersection between Romanticism and Judaica.

Inhalt

Preface, Sheila A. Spector; Introduction: The Convergence of Romanticism and Judaica, Sheila A. Spector; Part 1 Nationalism and Diasporeanism; Chapter 1 Enactments of Exile and Diaspora in English Romantic Literature, Stuart Peterfreund; Chapter 2 Byron's Hebrew Melodies and the Musical Nation, Toby R. Benis; Chapter 3 Mourning, Translation, Pastoral: Hyman Hurwitz and Literary Authority, Karen Weisman; Part 2 Religion and Anti-Semitism; Chapter 4 Solomon Maimon and Immanuel Kant: The Question of Anti-Semitism, Stanley J. Spector; Chapter 5 England's Jewish Renaissance: Maria Polack's Fiction Without Romance (1830) in Context, Heidi Kaufman; Chapter 6 Grace Aguilar's Victorian Romanticism: Records of Israel (1844), Judith W. Page; Part 3 Individualism and Assimilationism; Chapter 7 The Jew on the Romantic Stage, Frederick Burwick; Chapter 8 A Performance of Difference: The Public Image of Daniel Mendoza, Mark L. Schoenfield; Chapter 9 Samuel David Luzzatto's Judaization of Rousseau, Sheila A. Spector; Part 4 Criticism and Reflection; Chapter 10 Rethinking Margin and Center in Anglo-Jewish Literature, Michael Scrivener; Chapter 11 "Shadowy Presences": Harold Fisch's Criticism and a Jewish Reading of Romanticism, Lloyd Davies; Chapter 12 Jewish Critics of Romanticism: Formal Predispositions, Jeffrey C. Robinson;