Language and Translation in 20th Century German-Jewish Thought

This seminar will discuss selected writings on language and translation theory by German-Jewish 20th century thinkers: Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Walter Benjamin, Gershom Scholem, and Hannah Arendt as well as their (self-)translations from Hebrew (Rosenzweig, Scholem), Yiddish (Scholem), French (Benjamin), and English (Arendt). The seminar will close with a discussion of Paul Celan’s Meridian speech. The guiding questions will be: What role does the Jewish tradition and experience play in those thinkers’ thought on language and translation before and after the Shoah? Can one speak of a ‘Jewish’ theory of language and translation? This course will be taught by Max Kade Distinguished Visiting Professor, Caroline Sauter (U of Frankfurt)