Four Jews on Parnassus—a Conversation: Benjamin, Adorno, Scholem, Schönberg

Carl Djerassi

Published by Columbia University Press 2008

Four Jews on Parnassus—a Conversation

Benjamin, Adorno, Scholem, Schönberg

Carl Djerassi
Illustrator: Gabriele Seethaler

https://doi.org/10.7312/djer14654

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book features a CD of rarely performed music, including a specially commissioned rap by Erik Weiner of Walter Benjamin's "Thesis on the Philosophy of History."

Theodor W. Adorno was the prototypical German Jewish non-Jew, Walter Benjamin vacillated between German Jew and Jewish German, Gershom Scholem was a committed Zionist, and Arnold Schönberg converted to Protestantism for professional reasons but later returned to Judaism. Carl Djerassi, himself a refugee from Hitler's Austria, dramatizes a dialogue between these four men in which they discuss fraternity, religious identity, and legacy as well as reveal aspects of their lives-notably their relations with their wives-that many have ignored, underemphasized, or misrepresented.

The desire for canonization and the process by which it is obtained are the underlying themes of this dialogue, with emphasis on Paul Klee's Angelus Novus (1920), a canonized work that resonated deeply with Benjamin, Adorno, and Scholem (and for which Djerassi and Gabrielle Seethaler present a revisionist and richly illustrated interpretation). Basing his dialogue on extensive archival research and interviews, Djerassi concludes with a daring speculation on the putative contents of Benjamin's famous briefcase, which disappeared upon his suicide.

Author / Editor information

Carl Djerassi, novelist, playwright, and emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University, is one of the few American scientists to have been awarded both the National Medal of Science (for the first synthesis of an oral contraceptive) and the National Medal of Technology. He has published an autobiography, a memoir, a collection of short stories, a poetry chapbook, five novels, and eight plays that have been staged all over the world.

Gabriele Seethaler, an Austrian biochemist who became a photographer and artist, began to fuse art and science in a project entitled Identity Genotype-Phenotype. The Viennese Gallery Heike Curtze has shown her work since 2000.

Reviews

These four titular mid-20th century Jewish intellectuals from Germany and Austria come back to life with vigor.

The prodigiously illustrated book is a readable treatment of an important subject.

Frederic Raphael:
A beautiful book.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
1. Four men Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Four wives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
3. One Angel (by Paul Klee) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
4. Four jews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
5. Benjamin’s Grip Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Biographical sketches Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Illustration Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Music for four jews on parnassus—a conversation by carl djerassi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Edition: with music CD
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 232
Illustrations
- Other: 118 illus.

eBook

Published: November 25, 2008
ISBN: 9780231518307