The Best of Times; the Worst of Times
By: Sophie Lewis
Anthony Julius, Leon Wieseltier, chair: Jonathan Freedland
So neither speaker wanted to sit to the left of Jonathan Freedland – what did this suggest about their politics? Even before the official introductions, allegiances were in dispute and words were being weighed with more than usual care.
The theme of this evening’s discussion seemed to invite pessimism, but Anthony Julius went one step further, denying his ability to provide any answers at all. He then relented and allowed that the existence of many ‘jewries’ and conflicting messages from day to day drive us back on our sense of mood, rather than anything concrete, on which to assess the state of Jews in our times. His main image was that of a general fog – which he and Leon Wieseltier proceeded to blow to shreds with their succeeding comments.
In fact, Julius and Wieseltier worked in wonderfully fruitful counterpoint. Julius brought his lawyer’s perspective to bear on Anglo Jewry, splitting verbal hairs with the nicest regard for integrity I have ever seen, even at the (slight) risk of alienating his audience by sounding pompous, while Wieseltier provided a deeply felt and informed but more broadly humorous assessment of the peculiar position of American Jews. His one-liners lightened analyses that often tended towards the hopeless: while the Jews of Russia have much to worry about, American Jews are “the spoiled brats of Jewish history”, their anxiety, merely “recreational”. He and Julius agreed however that the decline of Jewish knowledge is a great and legitimate anxiety, throughout the world. For Wieseltier, knowledge of the language of Jewish scriptures is one key we should not lose. He told of Haitian president Aristide’s attempt to address the cream of American Jews in Hebrew and being obliged to switch to English: just one “pornographic story” of Jewish knowledge from Wieseltier’s extensive collection, he assured us.
The discussion moved from the impoverishment of ‘Jewish’ politics, through the idea of Israeli Jews’ freedom from anti-Semitism, and a rejection of the notion of Tony Judt’s so-called dissent and martyrdom, to return repeatedly to the importance of language. Both speakers denounced Jews’ “tin ear” to anti-Semitism and lurid style. Both ultimately returned to the impossibility of wholly answering the questions of our times, Julius tacitly behind Wieseltier when the latter pronounced: “I don’t believe in identities that add up”.
Sophie Lewis is the first UK director of American publishing house Dalkey Archive Press, seeking out great literature to publish from all over the world. She also translates French literary fiction and prose into English.
Anthony Julius, Leon Wieseltier, chair: Jonathan Freedland
So neither speaker wanted to sit to the left of Jonathan Freedland – what did this suggest about their politics? Even before the official introductions, allegiances were in dispute and words were being weighed with more than usual care.
The theme of this evening’s discussion seemed to invite pessimism, but Anthony Julius went one step further, denying his ability to provide any answers at all. He then relented and allowed that the existence of many ‘jewries’ and conflicting messages from day to day drive us back on our sense of mood, rather than anything concrete, on which to assess the state of Jews in our times. His main image was that of a general fog – which he and Leon Wieseltier proceeded to blow to shreds with their succeeding comments.
In fact, Julius and Wieseltier worked in wonderfully fruitful counterpoint. Julius brought his lawyer’s perspective to bear on Anglo Jewry, splitting verbal hairs with the nicest regard for integrity I have ever seen, even at the (slight) risk of alienating his audience by sounding pompous, while Wieseltier provided a deeply felt and informed but more broadly humorous assessment of the peculiar position of American Jews. His one-liners lightened analyses that often tended towards the hopeless: while the Jews of Russia have much to worry about, American Jews are “the spoiled brats of Jewish history”, their anxiety, merely “recreational”. He and Julius agreed however that the decline of Jewish knowledge is a great and legitimate anxiety, throughout the world. For Wieseltier, knowledge of the language of Jewish scriptures is one key we should not lose. He told of Haitian president Aristide’s attempt to address the cream of American Jews in Hebrew and being obliged to switch to English: just one “pornographic story” of Jewish knowledge from Wieseltier’s extensive collection, he assured us.
The discussion moved from the impoverishment of ‘Jewish’ politics, through the idea of Israeli Jews’ freedom from anti-Semitism, and a rejection of the notion of Tony Judt’s so-called dissent and martyrdom, to return repeatedly to the importance of language. Both speakers denounced Jews’ “tin ear” to anti-Semitism and lurid style. Both ultimately returned to the impossibility of wholly answering the questions of our times, Julius tacitly behind Wieseltier when the latter pronounced: “I don’t believe in identities that add up”.
Sophie Lewis is the first UK director of American publishing house Dalkey Archive Press, seeking out great literature to publish from all over the world. She also translates French literary fiction and prose into English.
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