Jews in an Illusion of Paradise
Dust and Ashes Volume Two-Falling out of Place and into History
Published on 3. October 2017
Book
Hardback
553 pages
978-1-5275-0021-1 (ISBN)
Description
These further six chapters of Jews in an Illusion of Paradise now focus on individual exemplary figures and clusters of poets, dramatists, critics, journalists, art historians-Jews whose achievements were once celebrated, but now are almost all but forgotten, not because of changes in aesthetic taste or style but because of social, political and other ideological issues. The book continues to examine the clash between their conscious and unconscious self-presentation as Jews in a culture that wilfully or inadvertently misunderstood or rejected this aspect of "otherness" the men and women represented from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. Whereas the first volume concentrated on the themes, images and rhetorical motifs of this awkward status of Jewish intellectuals and artists, here the ambiguous personalities and repressed anxieties of the exemplary figures are stressed. For millennia, Jews were considered outside of normal history, passive victims of persecution; then suddenly, with Emancipation, they fell into history and out of their mythical place in the scheme of things. Everything seemed to crumble into dust and ashes.
Reviews / Votes
'When I read Norman Simms' newest book Jews in an Illusion of Paradise, I sensed how thoroughly he had captured the notion and slippery functioning of delusional anti-Semitic thinking through excavating the unconscious' seemingly marginalia, which is not marginal nor trivial at all. [...] For those of us who have been not only studying the phenomena for a long time but have experienced anti-Semitism first hand, will also find Jews in an Illusion of Paradise an insightful enhancing experience which functions as an antidote in part for the pain and suffering already known that no Jew is immune from anti-Semitism. Should he or she think so, Simms shows how this is not only merely wishful thinking but thinking that may be deadly in the long run.'Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, PhDFellow, American Center for DemocracyFamily Security Matters, 09.03.2017'Simms' work clarifies our comprehension about attacks on objective standards of truth, history and evidence. He draws our attention to the perverted parallels between ancient and contemporary bigotry, whether they are ancient blood libels or the equivalent reincarnation - false equivalencies used at the United Nations, or biased media and political defamation of the Jewish State in lieu of Shylock or Dreyfus. [...] An Illusion of Paradise is a subtle and deep analysis of how artists, with a collective group fantasy, would experience betrayal and annihilation. Simms brings a realistic view that anti-Semitism is always lurking in the shadows.'shalom.kiwi, 04.04.2017More details
Edition
Unabridged edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Newcastle upon Tyne
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Unabridged edition
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 148 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5275-0021-1 (9781527500211)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Norman Simms
Jews in an Illusion of Paradise
Dust and Ashes Volume Two-Falling out of Place and into History
E-Book
01/2018
1st Edition
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
€247.99
Available for download
Person
Norman Simms, during his academic career, has taught in New Zealand for more than forty years, as well as in Canada, France and Israel. He was one of the founding editors of the journal Mentalities/Mentalites. His latest books include a series of three studies on Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus.