Overview

For at least fifteen years, any keen observer of European society has been aware that antisemitism is no longer a matter of racial theory, nationalism, or exclusion of the 'other.' While in the past antisemites saw Jews as all too modern 'rootless cosmopolitans' (to use Stalin's expression), today's European antisemitism construes them as obsolete precisely because they are attached to their roots, their land, their community, their origin. The Jews are now perceived as a reactionary force that hinders the progress of humankind toward multiculturalism, understood as the peaceful, infinitely enriching coexistence of ethnicities, races, religions, and cultures within the same territory. The antisemite of yore viewed the Jews as an inferior race; today he views them as racist. By looking back to the emergence of a postwar theoretical discourse on trauma, memory, victims, suffering, the Holocaust and the Jews, Is Theory Good for the Jews? explores how 'French thought' is implicated in intellectual, literary and ideological components of the global and local upsurge of antisemitism. The author probes the legacy of Heidegger in France and exposes the shortcomings of radical social critique and postcolonial theory confronted to the challenge of Islamic terrorism and Jew hatred. This book is the first effort to analyze French responses that have regrettably played their part in generating the new antisemitism.

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9781789620498

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Reviews

'Bruno Chaouat's Is Theory Good for the Jews? is well-written, well-researched, and deeply felt. Chaouat is an established scholar and Professor at the University of Minnesota whose work is at the intersection of French literature and thought and Holocaust and Jewish Studies.' Brett Ashley Kaplan, University of Illinois, H-France Review 'It is a final, telling indictment of Theory that Chaouat's critique of it derives more political and moral insight from his detours into novels by Philip Roth, Boualem Sansal, and Michel Houellebecq than from any theoretical text he cites. One might have wished that Theory were today solely a matter of 1980s trivia, at most an exercise in period nostalgia like the television show Stranger Things, albeit scarier and less entertaining. Alas, as Chaouat's book shows, it is still very much with us.' Michael Weingrad, Jewish Review of Books 'In this startlingly lucid book, Bruno Chaouat asks why so many of the important theorists of our time, from Alain Badiou to Judith Butler, have failed to confront the problem of the 'new antisemitism.' A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of contemporary politics and critical theory.' Maurice Samuels, Yale University Reviews 'The reader will be fascinated by the deftness with which Chaouat triangulates such opppositions as Sephardic/Ashkenazi, Israelite/Juif, Jew of the flesh/Jew of the spirit, infinitely expanding Europe/infinitely expanding Jihad. This is a remarkable book. ' Professor Jeffrey Mehlman, Boston University

'Chaouat connects the history of postwar philosemitic theory to the history of postcolonial theory with fiery results. Among the book's merits is to have anticipated one way in which, on the fiftieth anniversary of the student uprising and general strike that roiled France in May 1968, the French are taking stock of present tumult against the backdrop of past upheaval.' Dorian Bell, Antisemitism Studies 'Bruno Chaouat's Is Theory Good for the Jews? is well-written, well-researched, and deeply felt. Chaouat is an established scholar and Professor at the University of Minnesota whose work is at the intersection of French literature and thought and Holocaust and Jewish Studies.' Brett Ashley Kaplan, University of Illinois, H-France Review 'It is a final, telling indictment of Theory that Chaouat's critique of it derives more political and moral insight from his detours into novels by Philip Roth, Boualem Sansal, and Michel Houellebecq than from any theoretical text he cites. One might have wished that Theory were today solely a matter of 1980s trivia, at most an exercise in period nostalgia like the television show Stranger Things, albeit scarier and less entertaining. Alas, as Chaouat's book shows, it is still very much with us.' Michael Weingrad, Jewish Review of Books 'In this startlingly lucid book, Bruno Chaouat asks why so many of the important theorists of our time, from Alain Badiou to Judith Butler, have failed to confront the problem of the 'new antisemitism.' A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of contemporary politics and critical theory.' Maurice Samuels, Yale University Reviews 'The reader will be fascinated by the deftness with which Chaouat triangulates such opppositions as Sephardic/Ashkenazi, Israelite/Juif, Jew of the flesh/Jew of the spirit, infinitely expanding Europe/infinitely expanding Jihad. This is a remarkable book. ' Professor Jeffrey Mehlman, Boston University

`Chaouat connects the history of postwar philosemitic theory to the history of postcolonial theory with fiery results. Among the book's merits is to have anticipated one way in which, on the fiftieth anniversary of the student uprising and general strike that roiled France in May 1968, the French are taking stock of present tumult against the backdrop of past upheaval.' Dorian Bell, Antisemitism Studies 'Bruno Chaouat's Is Theory Good for the Jews? is well-written, well-researched, and deeply felt. Chaouat is an established scholar and Professor at the University of Minnesota whose work is at the intersection of French literature and thought and Holocaust and Jewish Studies.' Brett Ashley Kaplan, University of Illinois, H-France Review 'It is a final, telling indictment of Theory that Chaouat's critique of it derives more political and moral insight from his detours into novels by Philip Roth, Boualem Sansal, and Michel Houellebecq than from any theoretical text he cites. One might have wished that Theory were today solely a matter of 1980s trivia, at most an exercise in period nostalgia like the television show Stranger Things, albeit scarier and less entertaining. Alas, as Chaouat's book shows, it is still very much with us.' Michael Weingrad, Jewish Review of Books 'In this startlingly lucid book, Bruno Chaouat asks why so many of the important theorists of our time, from Alain Badiou to Judith Butler, have failed to confront the problem of the 'new antisemitism.' A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of contemporary politics and critical theory.' Maurice Samuels, Yale University Reviews 'The reader will be fascinated by the deftness with which Chaouat triangulates such opppositions as Sephardic/Ashkenazi, Israelite/Juif, Jew of the flesh/Jew of the spirit, infinitely expanding Europe/infinitely expanding Jihad. This is a remarkable book. ' Professor Jeffrey Mehlman, Boston University

Author Information

Bruno Chaouat is Professor of French at the University of Minnesota.

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