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SELF‐IDENTITY AND THE JEWISH BODY: ASSIMILATED GERMAN‐SPEAKING JEWISH AUTHORS ON TRADITIONAL JUDAISM

Almog, Yael

SELF‐IDENTITY AND THE JEWISH BODY: ASSIMILATED GERMAN‐SPEAKING JEWISH AUTHORS ON TRADITIONAL JUDAISM Thumbnail


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Abstract

This article investigates portrayals of traditional Judaism and observant Jews in writings by assimilated German-Jewish authors. It thus explores notions projected onto traditional Jews – and particularly the Jewish body – as elements immanent to Jewish cultural production. At the centre of the enquiry are Heinrich Heine's Hebräische Melodien (1851), Otto Weininger's Geschlecht und Charakter (1902) and Joseph Roth's Juden auf Wanderschaft (1927). These writings construct speakers or narrators who endeavour to depart from traditional Judaism while at the same time questioning the feasibility of this effort. Following this dynamic, the article proposes that Anthony Giddens’ notion of self-identity can elucidate the pre-occupation with the body in modern German-Jewish literature. This preoccupation illustrates individuals’ internalisation of social norms as well as their active rewriting of these same norms.

Citation

Almog, Y. (2023). SELF‐IDENTITY AND THE JEWISH BODY: ASSIMILATED GERMAN‐SPEAKING JEWISH AUTHORS ON TRADITIONAL JUDAISM. German Life and Letters, https://doi.org/10.1111/glal.12381

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 26, 2023
Online Publication Date May 21, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date May 22, 2023
Publicly Available Date May 22, 2023
Journal German Life and Letters
Print ISSN 0016-8777
Electronic ISSN 1468-0483
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/glal.12381
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1173962

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Authors. German Life and Letters published by Editorial Board of German Life and Letters and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.




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