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Chapter 4
JEWISH SPACES OF RETREAT AT
THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
d
In the second and third chapters, I discussed the conception of Jewishness that
appears in Jewish Volkssänger plays, as well Albert Hirsch’s life and theatrical
work. My analysis highlights how the representation of Jewishness takes prec-
edent over its content, that is, what defi nes it. I have demonstrated how one
cannot tie Jewishness to concrete, universal attributes. Rather, Jewishness reveals
itself in a diff erentiation that comes to the fore in a performative way. I have
shown how diff
erence is inclusive, meaning that, in principle, non-Jews could
also potentially adopt the related attributes (see chapter 5).
In the following section of the study, I explore a form of Jewish diff
erentiation
that is grounded in content matter, which I illustrate on the basis of concrete
conceptions of space and time. Th
is form of diff erentiation abrogates the notion
of the fl
uidity of diff
erence, without essentializing it. Th
at is to say, these notions
of time and place are determined by context. To outline them, we must expand
our study beyond popular Jewish stage entertainment and take into account lit-
erary and artistic works by Jews as well. I thereby situate my thesis that (at least
some) Viennese Jews at the turn of the twentieth century shared a specifi c Jewish
understanding of time and space within a wider framework.
Retreating into the Past
When Claude Monet and his fellow painters, who would later become known
as Impressionists, turned to plein-air painting, they were still seen as eccentric.
However, they were certainly not the fi
rst to set up their canvases outside to
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Entangled Entertainers
Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Title
- Entangled Entertainers
- Subtitle
- Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Author
- Klaus Hödl
- Publisher
- Berghahn Books
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-031-7
- Size
- 14.86 x 23.2 cm
- Pages
- 196
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
- International
Table of contents
- Introduction 1
- 1. Jews in Viennese Popular Culture around 1900 as Research Topic 13
- 2. Jewish Volkssänger and Musical Performers in Vienna around 1900 44
- 3. Jewishness and the Viennese Volkssänger 78
- 4. Jewish Spaces of Retreat at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 121
- 5. From Difference to Similarity 148
- Conclusion 163
- Bibliography 166
- Index 179