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Jean Améry

Beyond the Mind's Limits

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Explores the relationship between torture and suicide using the particular case study of Jean Améry
  • Moves beyond expected content to discuss the healing process and ways to prevent similar cases in the future
  • Sheds light on the connection to surviving torture and eventual suicide

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
  2. The Mind: Torture and Consequences

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 103-103
    2. Torture and Torturers

      • Eran Fish
      Pages 105-118
    3. Torture: Reading Améry, Rereading Jewish Law

      • Amos Israel-Vleeschhouwer
      Pages 119-140
    4. Total Destruction: The Case of Jean Améry

      • Yochai Ataria
      Pages 141-157
    5. Language in Exile, Exile in Language

      • Dana Amir
      Pages 159-169

About this book

This volume explores themes originating from the work of Jean Améry (1912–1978), a Holocaust survivor and essayist—mainly, ethics and the past, torture and its implications, death and suicide. The volume is interdisciplinary, bringing together contributions from philosophy, psychology, law, and literary studies to illuminate each of the topics from more than one angle. Each essay is a novel contribution, shedding new light on the relevant subject matter and on Jean Améry's unique perspective. The ensuing picture is rich and multifaceted, uncovering unforeseen traits of Amery's thought, and surprising correlations that have so far been under-researched. It invites further studies of the Holocaust and its consequences to take their cue from non-neutral first person reflections.


Editors and Affiliations

  • Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel

    Yochai Ataria, Eli Pitcovski

  • Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Amit Kravitz

About the editors

Yochai Ataria is Senior Lecturer at Tel-Hai College, Israel. He is the author of The Structural Trauma of Western Culture (2017), Body Disownership in Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (2018), The Mathematics of Trauma (in Hebrew, 2014), Not in our Brain (in Hebrew, 2019). He also co-edited the Interdisciplinary Handbook of Culture and Trauma (2016); Kafka: New Perspectives (in Hebrew, 2013); The End of the Human Era (in Hebrew, 2016); 2001: A Space Odyssey – 50th Anniversary (in Hebrew, 2019)

Amit Kravitz teaches philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. He has published papers in Kant-Studien, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Philosophisches Jahrbuch, and the Journal for the History of Ideas.  He was also the co-editor of Der Begriff des Judentums in der klassischen deutschen Philosophie (2018, with Dr. Jörg Noller).

Eli Pitcovski is Lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel. His main fields of interest are epistemology, philosophy of representation and ontology, including the metaphysics of death. He has published in The Journal of Philosophy (“Normal Knowledge,” 2018, with Andrew Peet), Analysis (“Lost in Transmission,” 2017 with Andrew Peet), and Synthese (“Getting the Big Picture,” 2017).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Jean Améry

  • Book Subtitle: Beyond the Mind's Limits

  • Editors: Yochai Ataria, Amit Kravitz, Eli Pitcovski

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28095-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-28094-9Published: 25 November 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-28097-0Published: 25 November 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-28095-6Published: 13 November 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 345

  • Topics: Clinical Psychology, Emotion, Psychoanalysis, Victimology, History of Psychology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access