German Intellectual History : Introduction to German-Jewish Thought and Literature

What is German-Jewish thought? Why are so many of the most influential thinkers of modernity German(-speaking) Jews? Think of Marx, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, and Arendt, not to mention writers like Kafka and Celan. In what sense can their writing and thinking meaningfully be described as “Jewish”? How was the position of minoritization conducive to such extraordinary critical insight and literary creativity? Topics to include: secularization, tolerance, and “the Jewish question”; messianism and eschatology; (anti-)Zionism; psychoanalysis and the Jewish joke. Readings from the Enlightenment to the present, with a focus on the 20th century. Most primary texts will be in German, with translations available for non-concentrators. Taught in English.