March 3 , 2006

 NORMAN – From the 1830s to World War I, German-Jewish literature and popular culture encompassed two main themes. The Jewish historical novel showcased the grandeurs of the ancient Jewish world before the Spanish Inquisition, and the ghetto tale typically idealized the world of the Jewish ghetto that was quickly fading from memory.

Jonathan Hess, director of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and professor of German at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will discuss his research of these two prominent forms of German-Jewish literature in a presentation titled “Out of the Ghetto? The Politics of Nostalgia in German-Jewish Popular Culture.”

The free, public lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9, in 140 Kaufman Hall, 780 Van Vleet Oval, on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus.  A reception will follow the presentation.

Hess is a leading scholar in the field of 18th- and 19th-century German-Jewish culture.  His last book, Germans, Jews and the Claims of Modernity, which dealt with the heated issue of Jewish emancipation, was cited by Choice magazine as an outstanding academic title for 2003.  Through this work, Hess earned grants from numerous organizations, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Hess’ current book project, tentatively titled Fictions of a German-Jewish Public: Popular Literature and the Making of German-Jewish Identity, 1837-1914, explores the roles that literature played in reconstructing the Jewish past and how it relates to modern-day Germany.

Before becoming a professor at UNC in 1993, Hess earned his doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, his master of arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and his bachelor of arts from Yale University in 1987.  Hess’ research and teaching interests focus on German culture and intellectual and literary history from the 18th- century on, with particular interests in both German-Jewish studies and the legacy of the Enlightenment.    

This lecture is being presented as the sixth in a series of faculty colloquia in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics.  The faculty colloquium consists of eight lectures for the academic year, which cover diverse topics in the areas of German, Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Russian and French literature.

“The Faculty Colloquia series is a long-standing institution that over the years has contributed a great deal to the strong intellectual community in our diverse department,” said Karin Schutjer, adviser in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics.  “It showcases exciting new research by our own departmental colleagues, by colleagues in related fields at OU and by leading scholars at other institutions.”

The colloquium is made possible through the financial support of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Modern Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Judaic Studies Program, Graduate College and Honors College.  For more information or accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Schutjer at (405) 325-6181 or kschutjer@ou.edu.