Book
Open Access
The Destruction of Jerusalem in Nineteenth-Century German Culture
-
Axel Stähler
-
Funded by:
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur
Languages:
English, German
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
This book explores in a comparative approach the astounding medial variety and intermedial interleaving of cultural engagements with the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple by the Romans in nineteenth-century Germany. Its main argument is that the pervasive discursive presence of the historical occurrence constitutes a significant but so far largely neglected arena for the negotiation of shifting German and Jewish imaginaries in which both German and Jewish creative minds engaged. Interpreted as pivotal not only for the progression of the history of salvation but also of universal history and responding to such decisive socio-cultural and political developments as the Kulturkampf and the rise of nationalism and antisemitism, the profusion of cultural engagements with the subject reveals its frequently contradictory polyvalence in the tense atmosphere of national unification, the negotiation of religious and national identities, and the positioning of the Jewish other; but also as a vehicle of Jewish self-definition and self-assertion in a period of proliferating antisemitism. The book addresses a broad readership of scholars of the culture of the nineteenth century, of intermediality, and of antisemitism.
Author / Editor information
Axel Stähler, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Reviews
“This magisterial study links the development of cultural attitudes in 19th-century Germany to shifting trends in German and Jewish imaginaries of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in the first century. It is, to say the least, an extremely ambitious and worthy project. The use of the destruction of Jerusalem so brilliantly interwoven by Stähler is a quintessential example of how a past event plays an outsize role in configuring the position of the Jews in a foreign environment. (…) Stähler’s project is a tour de force that will be important to scholars in modern European cultural production.” – Jacob Lassner, Phillip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor Emeritus of Jewish Civilization in the departments of History and Religion of Northwestern University, USA.
Topics
-
Download PDFOpen Access
Frontmatter
I -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Acknowledgments
-
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Abbreviations
-
Download PDFOpen Access
Contents
V -
Download PDFOpen Access
Introduction: Representations of the Destruction of Jerusalem in Nineteenth-Century German Music, Art, and Literature
1 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Chapter I The Jews and the Destruction of Jerusalem in German Art and Oratorios of the Nineteenth Century
17 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Digression I Straddling Cultures: Pierson
145 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Chapter II Inspiration from Abroad: The Destruction of Jerusalem and the English Precedent
156 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Digression II Vice in all its Ugliness: Rittershausen
254 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Chapter III The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Trajectory of Ahasuerus: Fleeing the Conflagration or Seeking it?
267 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Digression III The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First World War: Krane
314 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Chapter IV The Destruction of Jerusalem as a Battleground in the Culture War
318 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Digression IV Contest of the Gods and Contesting the Gods―The Extension of the Kulturkampf and the Rise of Humanity: Schneeberger
492 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Chapter V The Destruction of Jerusalem in the German Jewish Literary Imagination
502 -
Download PDFOpen Access
Digression V Berenice: belle juive, juive fatale, juive bestiale
656 -
Requires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Works Cited
-
Download PDFOpen Access
Index
741
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 14, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111662954
Hardcover published on:
August 14, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111540085
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
16
Main content:
806
Illustrations:
37
Audience(s) for this book
Literary studies scholars, music scholars, scholars in the fields of antisemitism, the 19th century and cultural history
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
Safety & product resources
-
Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
