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The Modernist Imagination

The Modernist Imagination

Warren Breckman | Peter E. Gordon | A. Dirk Moses | Samuel Moyn

(2008)

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Abstract

Some of the most exciting and innovative work in the humanities currently takes place at the intersection of intellectual history and critical theory. Just as critical theorists are becoming more aware of the historicity of theory, contemporary practitioners of modern intellectual history are recognizing their potential contributions to theoretical discourse. No one has done more than Martin Jay to realize the possibilities for mutual enrichment between intellectual history and critical theory. This carefully selected collection of essays addresses central questions and current practices of intellectual history and asks how the legacy of critical theory has influenced scholarship across a wide range of scholarly disciplines. In honor of Martin Jay's unparalleled achievements, this volume includes work from some of the most prominent contemporary scholars in the humanities and social sciences.


"This volume illustrates what it means to do intellectual history and demonstrates why intellectual history remains important, especially in the context of... the ‘political history of ideas’."  ·  German Studies Review

“Each essay, in its own right, is accomplished, well written, and highly engaging (even when one disagrees with its claims).”  ·  H-German


Peter E. Gordon is Professor of European History at Harvard University.


Warren Breckman is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and executive editor of the Journal of the History of Ideas.


A. Dirk Moses is Chair of Global and Colonial History at the European University Institute, Florence / University of Sydney.


Samuel Moyn is Professor of European History at Columbia University.

Elliot Neaman is Professor of European History at the University of San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Title page-The Modernist Imagination i
Contents v
Figures vii
Preface viii
Martin Jay and the Dialectics of Intellectual History xi
Part I-Intellectual History 1
The Kiss of Lamourette 3
Selves Without Qualities? 24
Liberty and the \"Coming-Into-Being\" of Natural Law 55
The Artwork Beyond Itself 77
Marxism and Alterity 99
The Return of the King 117
Paradign Shift 137
Part II-Violence, Memory, Identity 149
Memory Culture at an Impasse 151
Against Grandiloquence 162
Paris, Capital of Anti-Fascism 183
Toward a Critique of Violence 210
Democratization, Turks, and the Burden of German History 242
West German Generations and the Gewaltfrage 268
Part III-Critical Theory and Global Politics 297
From \"The Dialectic of Enlightenment\" to \"The Origins of Totalitarianism\" and the Genocide Covention 299
The Anti-Totalitarian Ledt between Morality and Politics 331
Sovereign Equality vs. Imperial Right 346
The Myths of Modern Identity as Ersatz Ideologies 368
Part IV-Coda 383
Ten Questions for Martin Jay 385
Publications of Martin Jay 393
Doctoral Students Directed by Martin Jay 404
Contributors 405
Index 410