Jens Mattern , Gabriel Motzkin , Shimon Sandbank (review)

Abstract

MLR, 99.3, 2004 845 examine memory through Monikova's own analysis of Borges, and in Die Fassade; Prague in her essays and fiction is also studied; and Mansbriigge brings in Monikova herself in the finalsection on the posthumous Der Taumel, reading the textthrough the lens ofthe author's awareness that her illness was fatal. The section on Monikova'sTV film,which is largely unknown, benefits most from Mansbriigge's rather descriptive approach, which can seem long-winded in the case of more familiar texts and themes. Mansbriigge supplies much background information, and she is particularly good at chasing up intertextual references. However, frequently the facts and theories she rehearses are only tangential or unnecessary foran informed reader. Sections defining idiosyncrasy and giving a potted history of the Prague Spring, forexample, do not ad? vance the analysis much. Mansbriigge is also over-enthusiastic in her use of footnotes: as she explains in a footnote (!) early on, she consciously chose to take this approach, which as a result often distracts?not least visibly?from the thread of her argument. While deliberately not an introduction to the author herself, this is a useful, if over-explained, introduction to issues of authorship, writing, and memory raised by Monikova's work, whose particular strength is in providing links between the prose texts and less well-known other works. Jesus College, Oxford Lyn Marven Judisches Denken in einer Welt ohne Gott: Festschriftfiir Stephane Moses. Ed. by Jens Mattern, Gabriel Motzkin, and Shimon Sandbank. Berlin: Vorwerk 8. 2000. 270 pp. ?35. ISBN 3-930916-34-7 (pbk). The essays gathered in this multilingual Festschrift (English, French, German) are a tribute to a remarkable career. Stephane Moses was born in Berlin in 1931; his family fled Nazi persecution, moving to French Morocco in 1937. Moses studied German literature and, afteremigrating to Israel in 1969, became the firsthead ofthe German department at the Hebrew University and founded the Franz Rosenzweig Research Center for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History. The twenty contribu? tions from scholars in Israel, Germany, France, and the US reflectnot only Moses's life-stations, but also his passionate concerns: the complex, demanding intersections of Judaism and twentieth-century thought, the relation between Jews and European culture in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the challenging, rewarding words of writers like Jean Paul and Paul Celan. It is fittingthat many of the essays explore themes related to Moses's major work, a study of Walter Benjamin, Gershom Scholem, and Franz Rosenzweig. Bernhard Casper compares Rosenzweig with Heidegger's late thought, focusing on their differing notions of Ereignis. Paul Mendes-Flohr lucidly explains Rosenzweig's insis? tence on the validity of the miracle as a category for modern thought. Moshe Idel's contribution brings clarity to the question of Kabbalah and its influence on Benjamin and Scholem's theories of language. Sigrid Weigel contrasts notions of divine order and human order in Benjamin's essay on Goethe's Wahlverwandschaften. Christoph Schmidt explores Benjaminian themes in Carl Schmitt's views on aesthetics and politics. Schmitt also looms large in Gabriel Motzkin's essay on 'political theology'. Contemporary French thought is particularly well represented. Julia Kristeva, in? spired by Stephane Moses, finds new possibilities for politics in a psychoanalytic reading of Hannah Arendt. In a complementary essay, Carola Hilfrich underscores post-Holocaust themes in the work of Helene Cixous. Jens Mattern examines the tensions between philosophy and Jewish faith in the thought of Emmanuel Levinas. Two articles offerdetailed readings of poems by Celan. Werner Hamacher illustrates Celan's poetic practice by tracing his transformations of Benj amin' s Kafka essay 846 Reviews in the poem Aus dem Moorboden'. Inspired by Maurice Blanchot, Shimon Sandbank suggests an alternative to Peter Szondi's influential interpretation of 'Engfiihrung'. Klaus Briegleb offersa very sophisticated textual and theological analysis of a contro? versial passage in Heine. Stephane Moses's interests are also echoed in essays on the structure of Jewish tradition and cultural memory (Pierre Bouretz) and on Hermann Cohen (Reiner Munk). Later essays focus on the German-Israeli writers Tuvia Riibner (Alexander von Bormann) and Ludwig Strauss (Hans Otto Horch). Sander Gilman's article offersan abrupt change in tone that is somehow...