Manja Herrmann – författare

Wilhelm Herzberg’s novel Jewish Family Papers, which was first published under a pseudonym in 1868, was one of the bestselling German-Jewish books of the nineteenth century. Its numerous editions, reviews, and translations – into Dutch, English, and Hebrew – are ample proof of its impact. Herzberg’s Jewish Family Papers picks up on some of the most central contemporary philosophical, religious, and social debates and discusses aspects such as emancipation, antisemitism, Jewishness and Judaism, nationalism, and the Christian religion and culture, as well as gender roles. So far, however, the novel has not received the scholarly attention it so assuredly deserves. This bilingual volume is the first attempt to acknowledge how this outstanding source can contribute to our understanding of German-Jewish literature and culture in the nineteenth century and beyond. Through interdisciplinary readings, it will discuss this forgotten bestseller, embedding it within various contemporary discourses: religion, literature, emancipation, nationalism, culture, transnationalism, gender, theology, and philosophy.

Wilhelm Herzberg’s novel Jewish Family Papers, which was first published under a pseudonym in 1868, was one of the bestselling German-Jewish books of the nineteenth century. Its numerous editions, reviews, and translations – into Dutch, English, and Hebrew – are ample proof of its impact. Herzberg’s Jewish Family Papers picks up on some of the most central contemporary philosophical, religious, and social debates and discusses aspects such as emancipation, antisemitism, Jewishness and Judaism, nationalism, and the Christian religion and culture, as well as gender roles. So far, however, the novel has not received the scholarly attention it so assuredly deserves. This bilingual volume is the first attempt to acknowledge how this outstanding source can contribute to our understanding of German-Jewish literature and culture in the nineteenth century and beyond. Through interdisciplinary readings, it will discuss this forgotten bestseller, embedding it within various contemporary discourses: religion, literature, emancipation, nationalism, culture, transnationalism, gender, theology, and philosophy.

Das Konzept der Authentizität ist eines der zentralsten der Neuzeit. Die kulturhistorische Studie untersucht die Vorstellungen von einem „authentischen jüdischen Selbst“ und einem „authentischen Judentum“ im frühen deutschen zionistischen Diskurs. Entgegen der konventionellen Sicht, authentisch Jüdisches in die geo-kulturelle Einheit „Osten“ zu verorten, belegt sie das Vorhandensein distinkter jüdischer Authentizität im deutschsprachigen Raum. Die Darstellung beginnt mit der Veröffentlichung von Rom und Jerusalem von Moses Hess (1862) und reicht bis in das zweite Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts. Diese Epoche ist besonders interessant, da in ihr die entscheidenden Begriffe für die Konstruktion einer deutsch-zionistischen Authentizität geprägt wurden. Die Konzepte von Authentizität kreisen um die Themen Antisemitismus, Emanzipation und Anerkennung, wurden jedoch auch politisiert und geschlechtsspezifisch ausgerichtet.