Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Boyarin, Daniel

Titel

UNHEROIC CONDUCT: THE RISE OF HETEROSEXUALITY AND THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH MAN

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A Vol in the series, Critical Studies in Jewish Literature, Culture, and Society (Daniel Boyarin & Chana Kronfeld, general editors), investigates the gentle rabbi as the male ideal & the prime object of female desire in traditional Jewish society, drawing on an analysis of ancient & modern Talmudic Jewish texts. It is argued that this traditional idealized Ashkenazi Jewish male, while "unmanned," was not desexualized, offers a compelling model in the search for a feminist reconstruction of male subjectivity. It is shown that, in mainstream Western culture since the Roman times, masculinity has been figured in terms of dominance & aggressiveness. In contrast to this representation, in premodern Jewish culture, the ideal Jewish male was feminized, which allowed Jewish culture to assert its identity over & against dominant Roman representations. The idealized Jewish male rabbi is taken to have occupied a unique cultural position not inhabitable by Christian monks, who, because they were always opposed to the Christian Knight, constituted a distinctive genderless category. It is suggested that this representation of Jewish masculinity was not wholly positive, but had many detrimental consequences for Jewish women. The structure of rabbinic male domination of women is described, & the reconstruction of Jewish masculinity in the 19th century under the pressure of enforced heterosexuality is traced, especially as this process occurred in turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria. This rendering is accomplished with focus on two Jewish males, Sigmund Freud & Theodor Herzl. It is concluded that the heterosexualization of Jewish culture has implied a significant loss for both men & women. The book contains a Prologue, Introduction, & 8 Chpts with Notes in II PARTS. 16 Illustrations, 469 References. D. M. Smith