Simon, Sunka

English

Works

Swarthmore College 
Works 
 
 
German Studies Faculty Works 
 
 
2002 
 
Review Of "German Studies In The 
Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of 
Memory, Identity, And Ethnicity" Edited 
By A. Del Caro And J. Ward 
 
Sunka Simon 
Swarthmore College, ssimon1@swarthmore.edu 
 
Let us know how access to this work benefits you. 
 
Follow this and additional works at: http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-german 
 Part of the German Language and Literature Commons 
 
 
Recommended Citation 
Sunka Simon. (2002). "Review Of "German Studies In The Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of Memory, 
Identity, And Ethnicity" Edited By A. Del Caro And J. Ward". Colloquia Germanica. Volume 35, Issue 3/4. 
376-377. 
http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-german/8 
 
This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Swarthmore College Libraries. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in German Studies Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of 
Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. 
Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG
 
 
Review
Reviewed Work(s): German Studies in the Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory,
Identity, and Ethnicity by Adrian Del Caro and  Janet Ward
Review by: Sunka Simon
Source: Colloquia Germanica, Vol. 35, No. 3/4 (2002), pp. 376-377
Published by: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23982001
Accessed: 17-08-2017 14:16 UTC
 
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
 
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Colloquia Germanica
This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
376 Besprechungen I Reviews 
Jews in Austria; he does not embed the Holocaust in a deeper understanding of Aus-
trian fascism, however. It is therefore wise that this «workbook» leaves so much 
room in the margins for reader notes: there is much to be added. 
Center for Public Intellectuals, Chicago Cary Nathenson 
ADRIAN DEL CARO AND ]ANET WARD (Eds.): German Studies in the Post-Holocaust 
Age: The Politics of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity. Boulder: UP of Colorado, 
2000. v + 244 pp.$ 55. 
Published as the selected conference proceedings of a symposium held at the Univer-
sity of Colorado in Boulder in 1995, the twenty-three articles in this anthology pro-
vide both the uninitiated and the expert with a quick glimpse of the ongoing, multi-
faceted memory debate in German Studies. While the editors' choice to divide the 
volume into four sections - Cultural Philosophy and Ideologies of Identity, Post-
Holocaust Identity Debates, Poetry and Images after Auschwitz, and Sites of Meta-
German Multiplicity - is a well-intentioned attempt to organize the necessarily co-
dependent approaches towards Post-Holocaust identity and memory construction, 
the result shows up its own structural problems. What appears under «Identity De-
bates,» namely Todd Herzog' s deftly argued exploration of «Germans and Jews after 
the Fall of the Wall: The Promises and Problems of Hybridity,» Susann Samples' es-
sential but somewhat belated introduction to the struggle of and for Afro-German 
identities (for a comparison, see Women in German Yearbook 9, 1994), and Ruth-
Ellen B. J oeres' critical reflection of the uneasy relationship between German Studies 
and Feminism, speaks much more to «sites of meta-German multiplicity» than any of 
the articles devoted to Swiss, Austrian, and Norwegian national literatures about the 
Nazi legacy that appear under that rubric. 
In this fourth section, two articles seem equally out of place. Kari Grimstad's as-
sessment of the development of Canadian German Studies, which appears here as the 
lone representative of disciplinary history, could have initiated a welcome chapter on 
cross-cultural investigations of Post-Holocaust German Studies as a discipline ( espe-
cially since the anthology features an impressive culturally diverse cross-section 
of German Studies scholars). Subsequently, Thomas Nolden's elaboration of the 
project of anaesthetics in contemporary Jewish literature could have instead add-
ed important theoretical stimulus to the third section, «Poetry and Images after 
Auschwitz.» All in all, the question of «belonging» is less one of editorial displace-
ment but one of structural tensions that actually replay some of the articles' argu-
ments about identity and identification on its surface. This becomes especially 
poignant considering Adrian Del Caro's provocative insistence on the overly sim-
plistic identification of German language speakers with «being German» (113). Mak-
ing an important culturally complex argument both in the foreword and in his article 
on Celan's antithetical use of his Muttersprache, Del Caro's gesture is preempted by 
his own volume's reduction of anything «meta-German» to national boundaries of 
non-German German, while feminist, ethnic, racial, and national hybrid formations 
are categorized as and by «identity debates.» 
This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
FRIEDRICH SENGLE: Moderne deutsche Lyrik. Von Nietzsche bis Enzensberger (1875-
1975). Mit einem Nachwort von Manfred Windfuhr. Ed. Gabriele Schneider. 
Beitrage zur neueren Literatur-Geschichte 179. Heidelberg: Winter, 2001. 414 pp. 
€31. 
Der Leser, der an dieses Buch mit den Erwartungen herantritt, die auf dem von 
Friedrich Sengle verfaBten Standardwerk iiber die Literatur der Biedermeierzeit ba-
sieren, wird in mehrfacher Weise gezwungen, diese zu revidieren, um dem Buch ge-
recht zu werden. Denn zum einen handelt es sich dabei um die V orlage zu Sengles 
Vorlesung «Moderne deutsche Lyrik», die er im Zeitraum von 1952 bis 1975 mehr-
fach gehalten hat. Aus dem Vortragsduktus erklaren sich einfacher Satzbau, leicht 
verstandliche Sprachebene und personliche W ertungen. Sengle tritt auch nicht als 
Experte iiber die Moderne im allgemeinen oder iiber die moderne Lyrik im beson-
deren auf. Stattdessen laBt er die Dichter sprechen, stellt sich den lyrischen Texten 
und bekennt sich zu der Vorlaufigkeit vieler seiner Urteile, wodurch der Leser ge-
zwungen wird, sie selbst zu iiberpriifen. Auch folgt Sengles Modernitatsbegriff 
nicht dem iiblichen Verfahren, die Epoche der letzten hundert J ahre aus der Perspek-
tive eines selbst gesetzten Hohepunkts als MaBstab oder Einstufungsprinzip zu be-
urteilen (394). Stattdessen sieht Sengle in dem standigen Bemiihen um einen «Aus-
gleich zwischen Literaturrevolution und Tradition» ein echtes Wertungskriterium 
und verbindet damit die Hoffnung, daB als Folge auf das «hemmungslose Expe-
rimentieren, [das] for die erste Jahrhunderthalfte auf allen Gebieten der Kunst be-
zeichnend [ist], das MaB, die Menschlichkeit und Tradition wieder etwas gelten>> 
(199). Unter alien literarischen Gattungen halt Sengle die Lyrik fur geradezu pra-
destiniert, trotz des allgemeinen Zwangs zu Esoterik und Exklusivitat von moderner 
Despite the genre-typical shortcomings of edited conference papers, this antholo-
gy features several gems in addition to some of those mentioned above: Rainer Her-
ing' s solidly researched article on the anti-Semitism of the German Judiciary opens 
up an archive for anyone interested in continuity studies; Erk Grimm's witty com-
parative analysis of Durs Griinbein' s, Dan Pagis' s, and Thomas Kling' s poems estab-
lishes a dialogue on «personal memories and the <cool memories> of media» (129); 
Kathrin Bower's lucid investigation of the «displacement of true Trauerarbeit» by 
the «discourse about mourning and memory» (137-38) marks a long overdue self-re-
flection of Post-Holocaust German Studies' infatuation with memory projects; and 
Janet Ward's expert reading of the lure of Riefenstahl's Nazi iconography is an in-
spired precursor to her impressive Weimar Surfaces (2001). While readers will surely 
enjoy Alexander Honold's bio-literary comparison of Peter Weiss and Uwe John-
son, the article ends too abruptly to account for the difference in historical reflection, 
a fate that the anthology shares as a whole, but which should send eager German 
Studies, History and Memory scholars, and Post-Holocaust literature students out in 
search of more extensive works by the featured authors and their colleagues across 
the globe. 
Besprechungenl Reviews 377 
Swarthmore College SunkaSimon 


Review Of  German Studies In The Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of Memory, Identity, And Ethnicity  Edited By A. Del Caro And J. Ward

Swarthmore College Works   German Studies Faculty Works   2002  Review Of "German Studies In The Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of Memory, Identity, And Ethnicity" Edited By A. Del Caro And J. Ward  Sunka Simon Swarthmore College, ssimon1@swarthmore.edu  Let us know how access to this work benefits you.  Follow this and additional works at: http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-german  Part of the German Language and Literature Commons   Recommended Citation Sunka Simon. (2002). "Review Of "German Studies In The Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of Memory, Identity, And Ethnicity" Edited By A. Del Caro And J. Ward". Colloquia Germanica. Volume 35, Issue 3/4. 376-377. http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-german/8  This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Swarthmore College Libraries. It has been accepted for inclusion in German Studies Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG  ReviewReviewed Work(s): German Studies in the Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory,Identity, and Ethnicity by Adrian Del Caro and  Janet WardReview by: Sunka SimonSource: Colloquia Germanica, Vol. 35, No. 3/4 (2002), pp. 376-377Published by: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KGStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23982001Accessed: 17-08-2017 14:16 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a widerange of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity andfacilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available athttp://about.jstor.org/termsNarr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Colloquia GermanicaThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termsThis content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms376 Besprechungen I Reviews Jews in Austria; he does not embed the Holocaust in a deeper understanding of Aus-trian fascism, however. It is therefore wise that this «workbook» leaves so much room in the margins for reader notes: there is much to be added. Center for Public Intellectuals, Chicago Cary Nathenson ADRIAN DEL CARO AND ]ANET WARD (Eds.): German Studies in the Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity. Boulder: UP of Colorado, 2000. v + 244 pp.$ 55. Published as the selected conference proceedings of a symposium held at the Univer-sity of Colorado in Boulder in 1995, the twenty-three articles in this anthology pro-vide both the uninitiated and the expert with a quick glimpse of the ongoing, multi-faceted memory debate in German Studies. While the editors' choice to divide the volume into four sections - Cultural Philosophy and Ideologies of Identity, Post-Holocaust Identity Debates, Poetry and Images after Auschwitz, and Sites of Meta-German Multiplicity - is a well-intentioned attempt to organize the necessarily co-dependent approaches towards Post-Holocaust identity and memory construction, the result shows up its own structural problems. What appears under «Identity De-bates,» namely Todd Herzog' s deftly argued exploration of «Germans and Jews after the Fall of the Wall: The Promises and Problems of Hybridity,» Susann Samples' es-sential but somewhat belated introduction to the struggle of and for Afro-German identities (for a comparison, see Women in German Yearbook 9, 1994), and Ruth-Ellen B. J oeres' critical reflection of the uneasy relationship between German Studies and Feminism, speaks much more to «sites of meta-German multiplicity» than any of the articles devoted to Swiss, Austrian, and Norwegian national literatures about the Nazi legacy that appear under that rubric. In this fourth section, two articles seem equally out of place. Kari Grimstad's as-sessment of the development of Canadian German Studies, which appears here as the lone representative of disciplinary history, could have initiated a welcome chapter on cross-cultural investigations of Post-Holocaust German Studies as a discipline ( espe-cially since the anthology features an impressive culturally diverse cross-section of German Studies scholars). Subsequently, Thomas Nolden's elaboration of the project of anaesthetics in contemporary Jewish literature could have instead add-ed important theoretical stimulus to the third section, «Poetry and Images after Auschwitz.» All in all, the question of «belonging» is less one of editorial displace-ment but one of structural tensions that actually replay some of the articles' argu-ments about identity and identification on its surface. This becomes especially poignant considering Adrian Del Caro's provocative insistence on the overly sim-plistic identification of German language speakers with «being German» (113). Mak-ing an important culturally complex argument both in the foreword and in his article on Celan's antithetical use of his Muttersprache, Del Caro's gesture is preempted by his own volume's reduction of anything «meta-German» to national boundaries of non-German German, while feminist, ethnic, racial, and national hybrid formations are categorized as and by «identity debates.» This content downloaded from 130.58.65.13 on Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:41 UTCAll use subject to http://about.jstor.org/termsFRIEDRICH SENGLE: Moderne deutsche Lyrik. Von Nietzsche bis Enzensberger (1875-1975). Mit einem Nachwort von Manfred Windfuhr. Ed. Gabriele Schneider. Beitrage zur neueren Literatur-Geschichte 179. Heidelberg: Winter, 2001. 414 pp. €31. Der Leser, der an dieses Buch mit den Erwartungen herantritt, die auf dem von Friedrich Sengle verfaBten Standardwerk iiber die Literatur der Biedermeierzeit ba-sieren, wird in mehrfacher Weise gezwungen, diese zu revidieren, um dem Buch ge-recht zu werden. Denn zum einen handelt es sich dabei um die V orlage zu Sengles Vorlesung «Moderne deutsche Lyrik», die er im Zeitraum von 1952 bis 1975 mehr-fach gehalten hat. Aus dem Vortragsduktus erklaren sich einfacher Satzbau, leicht verstandliche Sprachebene und personliche W ertungen. Sengle tritt auch nicht als Experte iiber die Moderne im allgemeinen oder iiber die moderne Lyrik im beson-deren auf. Stattdessen laBt er die Dichter sprechen, stellt sich den lyrischen Texten und bekennt sich zu der Vorlaufigkeit vieler seiner Urteile, wodurch der Leser ge-zwungen wird, sie selbst zu iiberpriifen. Auch folgt Sengles Modernitatsbegriff nicht dem iiblichen Verfahren, die Epoche der letzten hundert J ahre aus der Perspek-tive eines selbst gesetzten Hohepunkts als MaBstab oder Einstufungsprinzip zu be-urteilen (394). Stattdessen sieht Sengle in dem standigen Bemiihen um einen «Aus-gleich zwischen Literaturrevolution und Tradition» ein echtes Wertungskriterium und verbindet damit die Hoffnung, daB als Folge auf das «hemmungslose Expe-rimentieren, [das] for die erste Jahrhunderthalfte auf allen Gebieten der Kunst be-zeichnend [ist], das MaB, die Menschlichkeit und Tradition wieder etwas gelten>> (199). Unter alien literarischen Gattungen halt Sengle die Lyrik fur geradezu pra-destiniert, trotz des allgemeinen Zwangs zu Esoterik und Exklusivitat von moderner Despite the genre-typical shortcomings of edited conference papers, this antholo-gy features several gems in addition to some of those mentioned above: Rainer Her-ing' s solidly researched article on the anti-Semitism of the German Judiciary opens up an archive for anyone interested in continuity studies; Erk Grimm's witty com-parative analysis of Durs Griinbein' s, Dan Pagis' s, and Thomas Kling' s poems estab-lishes a dialogue on «personal memories and the <cool memories> of media» (129); Kathrin Bower's lucid investigation of the «displacement of true Trauerarbeit» by the «discourse about mourning and memory» (137-38) marks a long overdue self-re-flection of Post-Holocaust German Studies' infatuation with memory projects; and Janet Ward's expert reading of the lure of Riefenstahl's Nazi iconography is an in-spired precursor to her impressive Weimar Surfaces (2001). While readers will surely enjoy Alexander Honold's bio-literary comparison of Peter Weiss and Uwe John-son, the article ends too abruptly to account for the difference in historical reflection, a fate that the anthology shares as a whole, but which should send eager German Studies, History and Memory scholars, and Post-Holocaust literature students out in search of more extensive works by the featured authors and their colleagues across the globe. Besprechungenl Reviews 377 Swarthmore College SunkaSimon 

https://works.swarthmore.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&amp;context=fac-german

Review Of German Studies In The Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics Of Memory, Identity, And Ethnicity Edited By A. Del Caro And J. Ward

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