Ambivalent Readings of World Literature: Goethe in the Writings of German-Jewish Readers in Mandate Palestine/Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article explores the ways in which German-Jewish émigré readers in Mandate Palestine/Israel referred to the idea of world literature, and to Goethe as its most prominent proponent, in order to advocate for the continuous significance of ‘German’ literature in spite of the break with tradition that the genocide of European Jewry caused. World literature emerges as a Kassiber, a coded message, enabling German-Jewish readers to hold on to familiar literary texts (and the particular memories tied to them) by adapting them to new ideological contexts as well as to new linguistic and cultural settings.