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Podcast: New Books in German Studies
Episode: Scott Spector, “Modernism Without Jews?: German Jewish Subjects and Histories” (Indiana UP, 2017)
Description: Was there anything particularly Modern about Modern Jews? Was there something characteristically Jewish about Modernism? In this episode, we hear from Scott Spector, professor of History and German Studies at the University of Michigan, who complicates these often-asked questions in his new book Modernism Without Jews?: German Jewish Subjects and Histories (Indian University Press, 2017). As we discuss, the title of this book is not an invitation to imagine an alternate history; rather, it is a provocation to notice how the key terms of this title get framed together in a variety of complicated, troubled, and sometimes dissonant ways — both by...