Evolving Jewish Identities in German Culture: Borders and Crossings

Jewish identity in German culture remains in a critical state of flux. Analyzing its construction and perception in public discourse, the contributors of this volume discuss the works of a number of authors—from Kafka to new writers such as Irene Dische and Maxim Biller. In addition, topics covered include: American-Jewish writers in Germany, minority culture, homosexuality, and Jewish magazines.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Sander L. Gilman Introduction Drawing Borders: Cutting and Binding Communities Regeneration of the Volkskörper and the Jew's Body: The German Körperkulter Movement at the Turn of the Century by Christopher Kenway The Palimpsestic Identity: Residual Discourses on Jews Exemplified by German Notgeld by Sonja M. Hedgepeth Reconciliation before Auschwitz: The Weimar Jewish Experience in Popular Fiction from the Israelitisches Familienblatt by David Brenner Binding Together by Cutting Apart: Circumcision, Kafka, and Minority Discourse by Stephen Taubeneck Bridges and Gulfs: Intergenerational Ruptures and Connections From Big Daddy to Small Literature: On Taking Kafka at His Word by Scott Spector "A Frosty Hall of Mirrors": Father Knows Best in Franz Kafka and Nadine Gordimer by Iris Bruce Narrative Strategies to Disclose Pious Lies in the Works of Irene Dische by Diana Orendi Through a Distant Lens: Cultural Displacement, Connection, and Disconnection in the Writing of Maxim Biller by Linda E. Feldman Redrawing Borders: Redefining Jewish Identity "My Ears Repeat": Interpretive Supplementarity in Esther Dischereit's Novel Joëmis Tisch: Eine judische Geschichte by Sabine I. Gölz Zapping Jews, Zapping Turks: Microchip Murder and Identity Slippage by Linda E. Feldman The New Expatriates--Three American-Jewish Writers in Germany Today by Diana Orendi An Entrepreneur of Victimhood: Jewish Identity in the Confessions of a Stasi Informant by Denis Sweet Further Reading Index

About the Author :
LINDA E. FELDMAN is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. She has published works on the portrayals of Jews and women in the writings of the H.J.C. von Grimmelshausen and is currently completing a monograph on the memoirs of Glückel von Hameln. DIANA ORENDI is Associate Professor of German and Comparative Studies at Cleveland State University. She is currently developing courses on non-western literature and pursuing research interests in Holocaust studies, film studies, and issues of German-American literary relations. Her publications include a biography of Rahel Sanzara, whose novel Das Verlorene Kind she re-edited.