Yiddish Writers in Weimar Berlin: A Fugitive Modernism

394 Pages·2021·1.815 MB·English

by  Marc Caplan

YIDDISH WRITERS IN
WEIMAR BERLIN
German Jewish Cultures
Editorial Board:
Matthew Handelman, Michigan State University
Iris Idelson-Shein, Ben-Gurion University
Samuel Spinner, Johns Hopkins University
Joshua Teplitsky, Stony Brook University
Kerry Wallach, Gettysburg College
Sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute London
YIDDISH WRITERS IN
WEIMAR BERLIN
A FUGITIVE MODERNISM
k
MARC CAPLAN
Indiana University Press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.org
© 2021 by Marc Caplan
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2021
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Caplan, Marc, author.
Title: Yiddish writers in Weimar Berlin : a fugitive modernism / Marc
Caplan.
Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2021. | Series:
German Jewish cultures | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020021767 (print) | LCCN 2020021768 (ebook) | ISBN
9780253051981 (hardback) | ISBN 9780253052001 (paperback) | ISBN
9780253051998 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Yiddish literature—Germany—Berlin—History and criticism.
| Yiddish literature—20th century—History and criticism. |
Jews—Germany—Berlin—Intellectual life—20th century. | Modernism
(Literature)—Germany—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC PJ5143 .C37 2021 (print) | LCC PJ5143 (ebook) | DDC
839/.100943115—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020021767
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020021768
Dedicated to refugees everywhere—wherever they come from and
wherever they find themselves

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Weimar and Now 1
Part I. Spectral Empires: Landscapes, Nation-States,
and the Homelessness of Weimar Modernism
1. A Past Become Space: Alfred Döblin and Dovid Bergelson
in Poland, the Soviet Union—and Berlin 41
2. At the Crossroads of the Twentieth Century: Neue
Sachlichkeit and Dovid Bergelson’s Berlin Stories 91
Part II. Melancholic Conspiracies: Masks, Masques, and
Baroque Aesthetics in Yiddish and German Modernism
3. Watch the Throne: The Baroque, the Gothic, and
Symbolism in Der Nister’s Early Stories 147
4. Harold Lloyd and the Hermit: Popular Culture,
Gothic Aesthetics, and the End of Der Nister’s
Symbolist Career 192
Part III. Apocalyptic Origins: The Politics of Nostalgia in
German and Yiddish Modernism
5. Arrested Development: Fragmentation, Apocalypse,
and the Pursuit of Origins in Joseph Roth’s
Representation of Eastern Europe 267
6. Moyshe Kulbak’s Berlin Writings: Here, There,
Everywhere (Nowhere) 303
Conclusion: Origin Is the Goal 340
Selected Bibliography 355
Index 371

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The venerable Reb Shmuel Yosef of Buczacz says, in the
name of Reb Hemdat of Szybusz, “He who quotes a statement in
the name of its author brings about Redemption to the world, but
those who write many books and do not attribute their material to
its originators delay Redemption.” As an author of books, accord-
ingly, it is my pleasure to hasten the Redemption somewhat by
acknowledging the many institutions, teachers, and loved ones
who were instrumental in the construction and completion of
this book. First and foremost, I wish to thank my publisher, Dee
Mortensen, and my production editor, Ashante Thomas, for their
expertise in shepherding this book into print. Thank you, addi-
tionally, to David Hulsey and Pete Feely for their help with the
book design and copyediting of this volume. Thank you to my
friends Sam Spinner and Kerry Wallach for sponsoring this title
in their book series and for being such marvelous colleagues over
the long years of our mutual and respective friendship. Thank
you furthermore to the two anonymous reviewers who offered
equal measures of encouragement and constructive criticism
of my work to clarify and improve it—I hope I will have occa-
sion to thank you both in person at some point in the future.
Thank you to Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson for graciously providing
ix