Revisiting the Jewish Question

Élisabeth Roudinesco is a historian, a director of studies at the University of Paris-VII, and the author of numerous landmark books including Jacques Lacan & Co.: A History of Psychoanalysis in France, 1925-1985.

"If, as Joyce wrote, history is a nightmare from which we are trying to awake, this is even truer of the 'Jewish question' – a nightmare made up of myths and prejudice leading to anti-Semitism and to ancient but persistent wars of religion, such as those opposing Arabs and Israelis. By adopting a French focus when revisiting these issues as treated by Marx, Freud, Sartre and Arendt, Roudinesco brilliantly cleans the picture of its fog of obfuscation. Thanks to her intimate knowledge of the facts and actors, we are shown a path to a new understanding; hopefully, it will lead to an awakening."Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania "Élisabeth Roudinesco probes the toxic topic of Jew-hatred, ancient, mediaeval and newer, and of modern political anti-Semitism, trying to draw a clear distinction between them; adding to this, she analyses the recent phenomenon – of a totally different character – of anti-Zionism and/or the legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and its politics. The outcome is courageous and timely in its argument for universal and enlightened jewishness; it also offers a highly rich and diverse reading which is full of compelling twists and unexpected, refreshing deliberations."Idith Zertal, University of Basel

• Acknowledgements viiIntroduction 11 Our First Parents 62 The Shadow of the Camps and the Smoke of the Ovens 263 Promised Land, Conquered Land 494 Universal Jew, Territorial Jew 685 Genocide between Memory and Negation 936 A Great and Destructive Madness 1247 Inquisitorial Figures 151Notes 186Index 232