Language:
English
Year of publication:
1994
Titel der Quelle:
Comparative Literature
Angaben zur Quelle:
46,1 (1994) 1-39
Keywords:
Arnold, Matthew,
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
Abstract:
Discusses Arnold's views on culture and contemporary society as expressed in the essay "Hebraism and Hellenism" in his collection "Culture and Anarchy" (1869). Examines the influence on his thought of the philhellenism and neohumanism which developed in Germany from the second half of the 18th century, focusing on the works of Hegel and Heine, and notes the historical connection between German philhellenism and anti-Judaism. The identification of the Germans with the Hellenes was an essential aspect of the struggle for the German soul against "Hebraism" (i.e. Judeo-Christian monotheism, spirituality and dualism) in the 19th century. Hegel constantly contrasts the Greeks and the Jews, invariably to the disadvantage of the latter; for Heine, the two are in an unending and unresolvable dialectical relationship. Arnold believed it was possible to find a golden mean that would accommodate both. He resisted the anti-Judaic tendencies evident in continental scholarship, but he did show a preference for "Hellenism" which could incorporate the positive aspects of "Hebraism."
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