David A. Brenner examines how Jews in Central Europe developed one
of the first "ethnic" or "minority" cultures in modernity. Not
exclusively "German" or "Jewish," the experiences of
German-speaking Jewry in the decades prior to the Third Reich and
the Holocaust were also negotiated in encounters with popular
culture, particularly the novel, the drama and mass media. Despite
recent scholarship, the misconception persists that Jewish Germans
were bent on assimilation. Although subject to compulsion, they did
not become solely "German," much less "European." Yet their
behavior and values were by no means exclusively "Jewish," as the
Nazis or other anti-Semites would have it. Rather, the German Jews
achieved a peculiar synthesis between 1890 and 1933, developing a
culture that was not only "middle-class" but also "ethnic." In
particular, they reinvented Judaic traditions by way of a
hybridized culture. Based on research in German, Israeli and
American archives, German-Jewish Popular Culture before the
Holocaust addresses many of the genres in which a specifically
German-Jewish identity was performed, from the Yiddish theatre and
Zionist humour all the way to sensationalist memoirs and Kafka's
own kitsch. This middle-class ethnic identity encompassed and went
beyond religious confession and identity politics. In focusing
principally on German-Jewish popular culture, this groundbreaking
book introduces the beginnings of "ethnicity" as we know it and
live it today.
General
Imprint: |
Routledge
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
Routledge Jewish Studies Series |
Release date: |
March 2014 |
First published: |
2008 |
Authors: |
David A. Brenner
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156 x 11mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
128 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-138-78008-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
1-138-78008-1 |
Barcode: |
9781138780088 |
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