Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left
Jean Amery (Author), Marlene Gallner (Edited by), Alvin H. Rosenfeld (Foreword by), Lars Fischer (Translated by)
9780253058768
Paperback / softback, published 4 January 2022
124 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.7 cm, 0.2 kg
From the late '60s on, Améry was a frequent presence in Germany's press and was often on the radio, a living reminder of what so many Germans wanted to repress. Now Indiana University Press has issued Améry's Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left, which contains Améry's polemic for Israel, and against the German left's endorsement of Palestinian terror. These vital works continue to haunt us, as Améry would have wanted. Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left is a personal life-wrenching collection of writings by Jean Améry Améry saw leftist antisemitism as dangerous not so much because of antisemitic intentions but because the new moral masquerade of anti-Zionism turns antisemitic content into something virtuous and respectable. Améry develops an illuminating triangle viewpoint as he examines the interrelationship between antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and the New Left. In his critique of "virtuous antisemitism" (also: "latent antisemitism"), he unmasks its dangers and emphasizes the importance of vigilance in the face of changing ideologies. It is a valuable and frustrating collection. It is valuable because Améry is an important voice from the Left—critical of his colleagues for their moral, ethical, and intellectual failures particularly relating to Jews and Israel. It is frustrating because Améry sees Jew hate/antisemitism as "ineradicable."
In April 1945, Jean Améry was liberated from the Bergen Belsen concentration camp. A Jewish and political prisoner, he had been brutally tortured by the Nazis, and had also survived both Auschwitz and other infamous camps. His experiences during the Holocaust were made famous by his book At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Survivor of Auschwitz and Its Realities. Essays on Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the Left features a collection of essays by Améry translated into English for the first time. Although written between 1966 and 1978, Améry's insights remain fresh and contemporary, and showcase the power of his thought. Originally written when leftwing antisemitism was first on the rise, Améry's searing prose interrogates the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism and challenges the international left to confront its failure to think critically and reflectively.
Foreword
Introduction
Essays
1. On the Impossible Obligation to Be a Jew
2. Between Vietnam and Israel
3. Virtuous Antisemitism
4. The New Left's Approach to "Zionism"
5. Jews, Leftists, Leftist Jews
6. The New Antisemitism
7. Shylock, Kitsch, and Its Hazards
8. Virtuous Antisemitism
9. The Limits of Solidarity
10. My Jewishness
Epilogue
Note on Sources
Biographical Timeline
Contributor Biographies
Index