German Studies Seminar
Feb 02, 2024
3:00pm–5:00pm
At the Newberry – B-82
Galicia as a Literary Idea: The Writings of Joseph Roth and Soma Morgenstern
GALICIA AS A LITERARY IDEA: THE WRITINGS OF JOSEPH ROTH AND SOMA MORGENSTERN
This paper is the introduction to a book that explores Galicia as a literary idea in the writings of Joseph Roth (1894-1939) and Soma Morgenstern (1890-1976). Moving away from the dominant mode of treating Galicia as a positive or negative myth—“Galicia felix” or “Half-Asia”—I introduce the concept of the literary idea to explore what Galicia means for these modern German-language Jewish writers. Roth and Morgenstern were born in Galicia and moved west to Vienna, Paris, and New York as adults, yet they returned repeatedly to Galicia in their fictional and non-fictional writings. Their literary engagement with Galicia allowed them to explore a variety of pressing questions about Jewish modernity, including Zionism, assimilation and acculturation, rising antisemitism and fascism, and the place of traditional forms of observance and education. Yet Galicia is not the answer to these questions; Roth and Morgenstern do not advocate for or themselves pursue a path of return to the east. Rather, Galicia is a complex, ambivalent, and fluid literary idea through which these writers articulate the struggle to find meaning and hope in traditional Jewishness in a modernizing world.
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This event is free, but all participants must register in advance. Space is limited, so please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.