This book-series, initiated in 1992, has an interdisciplinary orientation; it comprises research monographs, collections of essays and annotated editions from the 18th century to the present.

The term German-Jewish literature refers to the literary work of Jewish authors writing in German to the extent that Jewish aspects can be identified in these. However, the image of Jews among non-Jewish authors, often determined by anti-Semitism, is also a factor in the history of German-Jewish relations as reflected in literature. This series provides an appropriate forum for research into the whole problematic area.

Die 1992 gegründete Buchreihe ist interdisziplinär ausgerichtet; sie umfasst wissenschaftliche Monographien, Aufsatzsammlungen und kommentierte Quelleneditionen vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. Der Begriff deutsch-jüdische Literatur bzw. Kultur verweist auf Werke jüdischer Autoren in deutscher Sprache, insoweit jüdische Aspekte erkennbar sind. Aber auch das häufig vom Antisemitismus geprägte Judenbild nichtjüdischer Autoren wird zu einem Faktor der literarisch vermittelten deutsch-jüdischen Beziehungsgeschichte. Der Erforschung des gesamten Problemfelds bietet die Reihe ein angemessenes Forum.

Inhalt: Vorwort. - Klaus Reichert, Zur Geschichte der christlichen Kabbala. - Rivka Horwitz, Mendelssohn und die Kabbala. - Christoph Schulte, Kabbala in Salomon Maimons Lebensgeschichte. - Roland Goetschel, Samuel David Luzzatto, ein antikabbalistischer Romantiker. - Eveline Goodman-Thau, Golem, Adam oder Antichrist. Kabbalistische Hintergründe der Golemlegende in der jüdischen und deutschen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts. - Andreas Kilcher, Die Kabbala als Trope im ästhetischen Diskurs der Frühromantik. - Wolfgang Neuser, Theoretischer Hintergrund für die Rezeption der Kabbala in der Romantik. Am Beispiel von Novalis' »Die Lehrlinge zu Sais«. - Gunnar Och, »Gewisse Zauberbilder der jüdischen Kabbala.« Zur Aneignung kabbalistischer Stoffe bei Achim von Arnim und Clemens Brentano. - Detlef Kremer, Kabbalistische Signaturen. Sprachmagie als Brennpunkt romantischer Imagination bei E.T.A. Hoffmann und Achim von Arnim. - Hans Dieter Zimmermann, Kabbalistische Einflüsse bei Friedrich Hölderlin? - Christoph Daxelmüller, Kabbala und Kabbalistik in der Volksliteratur.

This book-series, initiated in 1992, has an interdisciplinary orientation; it is published in English and German and comprises research monographs, collections of essays and editions of source texts dealing with German-Jewish literary and cultural history, in particular from the period covering the 18th to 20th centuries.

The closer definition of the term German-Jewish applied to literature and culture is an integral part of its historical development. Primarily, the decisive factor is that from the middle of the 18th century German gradually became the language of choice for Jews, and Jewish authors started writing in German, rather than Yiddish or Hebrew, even when they were articulating Jewish themes. This process is directly connected an historical change in mentality and social factors which led to a gradual opening towards a non-Jewish environment, which in its turn was becoming more open. In the Enlightenment, German society becomes the standard of reference – initially for an intellectual elite. Against this background, the term German-Jewish literature refers to the literary work of Jewish authors writing in German to the extent that explicit or implicit Jewish themes, motifs, modes of thought or models can be identified in them.
From the beginning of the 19th century at the latest, however, the image of Jews in the work of non-Jewish writers, determined mainly by anti-Semitism, becomes a factor in German-Jewish literature. There is a tension between Jewish writers’ authentic reference to Jewish traditions or existence and the anti-Semitic marking and discrimination against everything Jewish which determines the overall development of the history of German-Jewish literature and culture. This series provides an appropriate forum for research into the whole problematic area.