Joseph Cohen - Böcker

Cohen takes an in-depth critical look at three novelists and two poets who stand at the forefront of contemporary Israeli literature, and whose works have been widely read, studied, and admired in the Western world. The critiques examine all English translations of these Israeli writers' major works from the beginning of their careers up to the present. Cohen demonstrates the vitality and virtuosity of the so-called New Wave Israeli writers whose sources and influences are as ancient as the stories of the Hebrew Bible and as modern as the interiorization of reality found in Proust, Faulkner, Woolf, and Joyce; and the literary adaptation of relativity found in Borges, Lowry, and Durrell.Complementing the critiques are interviews with the five Israeli writers. The issues discussed-the relation of politics and literature, the influence of literature on life, the role of the writer in society, the moral responsibility of the writer-combine with the essays to provide comprehensive insight into the contemporary Israeli psyche.

Invited to answer questions about his relationship to Judaism, Jacques Derrida spoke through Franz Kafka: "As for myself, I could imagine another Abraham."From the experience of a summons that surprises us and prompts the query "Who, me?" Derrida explores the movement between growing up Jewish, "becoming Jewish," and "Jewish being" or existence. His essay "The Other Abraham" appears here in English for the first time. We no longer confront "Judaism" but "judeity," multiple Judaisms and Jewishnesses, manifold ways of being and writing as a Jew—in Derrida's case, as a French-speaking Algerian deprived of, then restored to French nationality in the 1940s. What is it to be a Jew and a philosopher? How has the notion of "Jewish identity" been written into and across Jewish literature, Jewish thought, and Jewish languages? Here distinguished scholars address these questions, contrasting Derrida's thought with philosophical predecessors such as Rosenzweig, Levinas, Celan, and Scholem, and tracing confluences between deconstruction and Kabbalah. Derrida's relationship to the universalist aspirations in contemporary theology is also discussed, and his late autobiographical writings are evaluated. This multifaceted volume aims to open the question of Jewishness, above all, to hold it open as a question, though not one of practical or theoretical identity. As much a contestation of identity as a profound reflection on what it means today to seek, elude, and finally to wrestle with the significance of "being-jew," Judeities invites us to revisit the human condition in the twenty-first century.

Invited to answer questions about his relationship to Judaism, Jacques Derrida spoke through Franz Kafka: "As for myself, I could imagine another Abraham."From the experience of a summons that surprises us and prompts the query "Who, me?" Derrida explores the movement between growing up Jewish, "becoming Jewish," and "Jewish being" or existence. His essay "The Other Abraham" appears here in English for the first time. We no longer confront "Judaism" but "judeity," multiple Judaisms and Jewishnesses, manifold ways of being and writing as a Jew—in Derrida's case, as a French-speaking Algerian deprived of, then restored to French nationality in the 1940s. What is it to be a Jew and a philosopher? How has the notion of "Jewish identity" been written into and across Jewish literature, Jewish thought, and Jewish languages? Here distinguished scholars address these questions, contrasting Derrida's thought with philosophical predecessors such as Rosenzweig, Levinas, Celan, and Scholem, and tracing confluences between deconstruction and Kabbalah. Derrida's relationship to the universalist aspirations in contemporary theology is also discussed, and his late autobiographical writings are evaluated. This multifaceted volume aims to open the question of Jewishness, above all, to hold it open as a question, though not one of practical or theoretical identity. As much a contestation of identity as a profound reflection on what it means today to seek, elude, and finally to wrestle with the significance of "being-jew," Judeities invites us to revisit the human condition in the twenty-first century.

While his work speaks very powerfully to the contemporary age, the language of Emmanuel Levinas can seem difficult to approach.This dictionary gives the reader access to the terms he used to build his arguments, including those he employed idiosyncratically and invented. It also includes terms from phenomenology to which he gave new meanings, and which focused his critique of Western philosophy. By including original French words as well as the English, The Levinas Dictionary makes the work of this central figure in 20th-century philosophy more easily readable in translation.Each term explored belongs to one or more of three periods of the work he regarded as properly philosophical: 1) pre-1940; 2) 1940-1960, including the writing of his magnum opus Totality and Infinity and 3) 1960-1995, including his second great work, Otherwise than Being. Entries show how the terms appear, develop, or mutate over the course of his work in the phenomenology of radical ethics.Including an intellectual biography and a chronology of Levinas’ life and work, a list of primary sources in French and English, as well as secondary sources and a glossary, The Levinas Dictionary will provide a broad and far-reaching introduction to a thinker whose work has only become more relevant to contemporary theory and practice.

While his work speaks very powerfully to the contemporary age, the language of Emmanuel Levinas can seem difficult to approach.This dictionary gives the reader access to the terms he used to build his arguments, including those he employed idiosyncratically and invented. It also includes terms from phenomenology to which he gave new meanings, and which focused his critique of Western philosophy. By including original French words as well as the English, The Levinas Dictionary makes the work of this central figure in 20th-century philosophy more easily readable in translation.Each term explored belongs to one or more of three periods of the work he regarded as properly philosophical: 1) pre-1940; 2) 1940-1960, including the writing of his magnum opus Totality and Infinity and 3) 1960-1995, including his second great work, Otherwise than Being. Entries show how the terms appear, develop, or mutate over the course of his work in the phenomenology of radical ethics.Including an intellectual biography and a chronology of Levinas’ life and work, a list of primary sources in French and English, as well as secondary sources and a glossary, The Levinas Dictionary will provide a broad and far-reaching introduction to a thinker whose work has only become more relevant to contemporary theory and practice.

The Husserl Dictionary is a comprehensive and accessible guide to the world of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. Meticulously researched and extensively cross-referenced, this unique book covers all his major works, ideas and influences and provides a firm grounding in the central themes of Husserls thought. Students will discover a wealth of useful information, analysis and criticism. A-Z entries include clear definitions of all the key terms used in Husserls writings and detailed synopses of his key works. The Dictionary also includes entries on Husserls major philosophical influences, including Brentano, Hume, Dilthey, Frege, and Kant, and those he influenced, such as Gadamer, Heidegger, Levinas, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. It covers everything that is essential to a sound understanding of Husserls phenomenology, offering clear and accessible explanations of often complex terminology. The Husserl Dictionary is the ideal resource for anyone reading or studying Husserl, Phenomenology or Modern European Philosophy more generally.

This is a dictionary of the key terms and concepts in Husserl's philosophy, his major works and philosophical influences. "The Husserl Dictionary" is a guide to the world of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. Meticulously researched and extensively cross-referenced, this unique book covers all his major works, ideas and influences and provides a firm grounding in the central themes of Husserl's thought. Students will discover a wealth of useful information, analysis and criticism. A-Z entries include clear definitions of all the key terms used in Husserl's writings and detailed synopses of his key works. The Dictionary also includes entries on Husserl's major philosophical influences, including Brentano, Hume, Dilthey, Frege, and Kant, and those he influenced, such as Gadamer, Heidegger, Levinas, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. It covers everything that is essential to a sound understanding of Husserl's phenomenology, offering clear and accessible explanations of often complex terminology. "The Husserl Dictionary" is the ideal resource for anyone reading or studying Husserl, Phenomenology or Modern European Philosophy more generally.The "Continuum Philosophy Dictionaries" offer clear and accessible guides to the work of some of the more challenging thinkers in the history of philosophy. A-Z entries provide clear definitions of key terminology, synopses of key works, and details of each thinker's major themes, ideas and philosophical influences. The Dictionaries are the ideal resource for anyone reading or studying these key philosophers.