French Literature Reviews - 2026

W. Asholt and Cl. Delphis, Jean-Richard Bloch or In Search of the Known World: Jerusalem and Berlin (1925-1928)
History, Politics and Society

Wolfgang Asholt and Claudine Delphis, Jean-Richard Bloch or In Search of the Known World: Jerusalem and Berlin (1925-1928)

Paris: Honoré Champion, "Bibliothèques d'études juives" series, 2010.

EAN 9782745320377

Price: 60 EUR

Publisher's description:

The Jewish Robinson; Mitropa or Central Europe.
These two intriguing essays by Jean-Richard Bloch (1884-1947), written during the 1920s following a trip to Jerusalem and then to Berlin, each invite us to rediscover a world we think we know: Zionism in Palestine and the Berlin of the Weimar Republic. At their origin were the inauguration of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925 and the staging of a play by Bloch at Piscator's theatre in 1928: on one hand, the establishment of a European Jewish university in a region where the State of Israel was just one possible future among others; on the other, an ultra-modern metropolis that, in the eyes of many visiting intellectuals, was set to become the model of a cultural crossroads.
Brought together here under the banner of utopia, these two cities—soon to be linked for the worse to the point of symbolizing the collapse of civilization that followed the Nazi catastrophe—remind us that other historical and cultural possibilities existed in Europe at the time. The author's personal correspondence accompanies these texts, offering a deeper understanding of this nascent century of extremes through the singular lens of a French, Jewish, left-wing writer who was a European at heart.

The interwar period witnessed intense intellectual engagement with the shifting geopolitical and cultural landscapes of Europe and the Middle East. Writers and critics frequently recorded their impressions of emerging political projects and metropolitan centers through essays, travel writing, and personal correspondence. This volume presents two essays by the French author Jean-Richard Bloch written during the 1920s following trips to Jerusalem and Berlin, accompanied by his personal correspondence. Readers interested in the intellectual history of the 1920s, Jewish studies, and the documentary literature of the European avant-garde may find this volume relevant.