Corey Robin's Blog, page 15

A month before Election Day, I predicted…

A month before Election Day, I posted this on Facebook: As the last three days’ events around the failure of the Republicans and Trump to shape Congress’s most recent spending bill reveal, I got this prediction pretty much right. I should confess right off the bat that I do get a fair number of predictions wrong. Most painfully, I was sure Clinton would win in 2016, a prediction that my critics, understandably, have never let me or my readers forget. But one thing I did get completely right about Trump’s first term, before it even began, was that he would be a spectacularly weak president; failure, rather than success, would be his lot. The reason for that failure and that […]

The Jewish Question, but in reverse.

One of Marx’s most persistent points, from On the Jewish Question forward, is that despite the formal freedoms that we enjoy in a liberal state—the right to freedom of speech, for example, or freedom of religion—we are socially and in fact unfree. (As Bruno Leipold reports in his Citizen Marx, a lot of Marx’s evidence for this claim, particularly about religion, came from travelers’ reports to America, which Marx read assiduously.) That is what it means to live in a liberal society, says Marx: formally free, actually unfree. But lately I’ve been wondering whether we are not living in the reverse. Despite the efforts of right-wingers to bend the state in a repressive, less free direction, society seems more and […]

House of Exile: The Lives and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann

I’ve just finished reading Evelyn Juers’ House of Exile: The Lives and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann. The title is a little misleading. Though the book focuses on Heinrich (Thomas’s brother) and Nelly, it’s really a group portrait of a range of European writers and intellectuals from the Weimar era to World War II. And though it’s titled House of Exile, it opens with the back story to several of the writers and their relationships, prior to their exile from Nazi Europe. It also intersperses their story with that of other writers who never went into exile, like Virginia and Leonard Woolf. It’s not clear, throughout, whether it’s meant to be a group biography or a combination of […]

Why do—or did—economists read the ancient Greeks?

Three items that might be of interest. First, over at Balkinization, I participated in a symposium on Rogers Smith and Desmond King’s book America’s New Racial Battle Lines, which came out earlier this year. Rogers was my adviser in graduate school who taught me a lot of what I know about the American right. So I was thrilled to be invited to participate in this discussion, even if I disagree with some of his and King’s claims about where things stand with the right and racial politics in the US. From the conclusion to my post: While cultural battles are critical, it may be that they don’t require, on either side, new racial orders for their fighting. Existing languages, paradigms, […]

The Phony War

This blog has been offline for a while, mostly due to technical issues that I think have now been fixed; much thanks to Pea Lutz, whose work on the blog has been excellent and which I highly recommend. My apologies for the extended silence. I had been posting a lot on Facebook, so much of my commentary on politics and other matters is there. But I’m going to try to return to being more active here. One fascinating phenomenon that I’ve been noticing in the last couple of weeks is how, despite Trump’s winning the election, a fair amount of both reporting and commentary in the media has not only fallen silent on the question of his authoritarianism and/or fascism […]

Test

Polio in Gaza: A Jewish Fable

You probably have to be Jewish to appreciate the full and bitter irony of this sentence:

Nearly 11 months into a devastating war, a serious new challenge has emerged in Gaza: polio.

Growing up, there were two uncontested heroes in the Jewish-American pantheon: Sandy Koufax and Jonas Salk. If you were really in the know, you’d add a third: Albert Sabin.

Salk invented the polio vaccine, Sabin invented the oral polio vaccine.

Now Israel has contributed an entirely new entry to the history of polio.

It almost reads like a fable from Jewish literature. Except it’s not.

Syllabus for Politics Through Literature class

In two weeks, I start teaching. My class this fall is Politics Through Literature, which I’ve taught before but have made some big changes to. There are still seats available in the class. If you’re a student at Brooklyn College or any of the colleges in the CUNY system, or if you’re a student in the New York area (the class meets in person), you should sign up for the class. We meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:45.

The course readings are below; the syllabus is here.

I’ve decided to open the semester with a set of readings on sex and sickness—Amia Srinivasan’s essay on teaching pornography and Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor—and how our most personal experiences of the body are constructed through art, broadly defined.

We then move to a set of programmatic readings on politics and literature: one from Arendt, one from Sartre, and another from Thomas De Quincey. What distinguishes a political from a literary experience? What do the two activities have in common? How are the literary artist and the political actor engaged in a single enterprise? How not?

From there, we engage a series of ancient and modern literary texts about politics, the city, and the family—Aeschylus, Brecht, and Babel—refracted through one critical essay by Virginia Woolf and another by Walter Benjamin.

The last part of the course takes up the question of love and beauty. Helped along by readings from Plato, Nietzsche, Barbara Fields, Mary Wollstonecraft, and, again, Srinivasan, we conclude the course with Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

Though I’ve taught the course before, as I said, I think this semester may be the most exciting and interesting set of readings we’ve done. If you’re a student in the New York area and need help in signing up for the class, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at crobin@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

Course readings

Part I: Sex and Sickness

Week 1

8.28

Intro to class. No reading.

Week 2 (39 pages)

9.2

Labor Day. No class.

9.4

Amia Srinivasan, “Talking to My Students About Porn,” The Right to Sex (New York: Picador, 2021), pp. 33-71 [CR]

Week 3 (85 pages)

9.9

Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (New York: Anchor, 1978), pp. 3-42 [CR]

9.11

Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (New York: Anchor, 1978), pp. 43-87 [CR]Part II: Politics and Literature

Week 4 (55 pages)

9.16

Hannah Arendt, “Freedom and Politics, a Lecture,” Thinking Without a Banister, ed. Jerome Kohn (New York: Schocken, 2018), pp. 220-244 [CR]

9.18

Thomas De Quincey, “The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power, pp. 1-8 [CR]Jean-Paul Sartre, “Why Write?” “What is Literature?” and Other Essays (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 48-69 [CR]Part II: Ancients and Moderns

Week 5 (74 pages)

9.23

Aeschylus, Agamemnon, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 99-172

9.25

            No additional reading

Week 6 (54 pages)

9.30

Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 173-226

10.2

            Erev Rosh Hashanah. No class.

Week 7 (51 pages)

10.7

Aeschylus, The Eumenides, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 227-277

10.9

            No additional reading.

Week 8 (48 pages)

10.14

Columbus Day. No class. Monday classes will meet on Tuesday.

10.15

In-class midterm. No reading.

10.16

Virginia Woolf, Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown (London: Hogarth Press, 1924), pp. 3-24 [CR]Walter Benjamin, “The Storyteller,” in The Storyteller Essays, trans. Tess Lewis (New York: New York Review of Books, 2019), pp. 48-73 [CR]

Week 9 (93 pages)       

10.21

Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children, trans. Eric Bentley (New York: Grove Press, 1951), pp. 19-111

10.23

No additional reading.

Week 10 (tk pages)

10.28

Isaac Babel, Odessa Stories, trans. Boris Drayluk (London: Pushkin Press, 2016), TBA [CR]

10.30

Isaac Babel, Red Cavalry, trans. Boris Drayluk (London: Pushkin Press, 2014), TBA [CR]Part IV: Beauty, Love, Desire

Week 11 (32 pages)

11.4

Plato, Symposium, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989), pp. 9-12, 25-31 [CR]

11.6

Plato, Symposium, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989), pp. 40-60 [CR]

Week 12 (47 pages)

11.11

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage, 1967), pp. 25-43 [CR]

11.13

Barbara J. Fields, “Slavery, Race, and Ideology in the United States of America,” in Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life (New York: Verso, 2012), pp. 111-148 [CR]

Week 13 (24 pages)

11.18

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in The Feminist Papers, ed. Alice S. Rossi (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1973), pp. 40-51 [CR]

11.20

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in The Feminist Papers, ed. Alice S. Rossi (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1973), pp. 64-71, 79-82 [CR]

Week 14 (50 pages)

11.25

Amia Srinivasan, “The Right to Sex” and “Coda: The Politics of Desire” in The Right to Sex (New York: Picador, 2021), pp. 73-122 [CR]

11.27

            No class.

Week 15 (90 pages)

12.2

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 3-58

12.4

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 61-93

Week 16 (110 pages)

12.9

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 97-163

12.11

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 164-206

Syllabus for Politics Through Literature class

In two weeks, I start teaching. My class this fall is Politics Through Literature, which I’ve taught before but have made some big changes to. There are still seats available in the class. If you’re a student at Brooklyn College or any of the colleges in the CUNY system, or if you’re a student in the New York area (the class meets in person), you should sign up for the class. We meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings, from 9:30 to 10:45.

The course readings are below; the syllabus is here.

I’ve decided to open the semester with a set of readings on sex and sickness—Amia Srinivasan’s essay on teaching pornography and Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor—and how our most personal experiences of the body are constructed through art, broadly defined.

We then move to a set of programmatic readings on politics and literature: one from Arendt, one from Sartre, and another from Thomas De Quincey. What distinguishes a political from a literary experience? What do the two activities have in common? How are the literary artist and the political actor engaged in a single enterprise? How not?

From there, we engage a series of ancient and modern literary texts about politics, the city, and the family—Aeschylus, Brecht, and Babel—refracted through one critical essay by Virginia Woolf and another by Walter Benjamin.

The last part of the course takes up the question of love and beauty. Helped along by readings from Plato, Nietzsche, Barbara Fields, Mary Wollstonecraft, and, again, Srinivasan, we conclude the course with Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

Though I’ve taught the course before, as I said, I think this semester may be the most exciting and interesting set of readings we’ve done. If you’re a student in the New York area and need help in signing up for the class, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at crobin@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

Course readings

Part I: Sex and Sickness

Week 1

8.28

Intro to class. No reading.

Week 2 (39 pages)

9.2

Labor Day. No class.

9.4

Amia Srinivasan, “Talking to My Students About Porn,” The Right to Sex (New York: Picador, 2021), pp. 33-71 [CR]

Week 3 (85 pages)

9.9

Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (New York: Anchor, 1978), pp. 3-42 [CR]

9.11

Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (New York: Anchor, 1978), pp. 43-87 [CR]

Part II: Politics and Literature

Week 4 (55 pages)

9.16

Hannah Arendt, “Freedom and Politics, a Lecture,” Thinking Without a Banister, ed. Jerome Kohn (New York: Schocken, 2018), pp. 220-244 [CR]

9.18

Thomas De Quincey, “The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power, pp. 1-8 [CR]Jean-Paul Sartre, “Why Write?” “What is Literature?” and Other Essays (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 48-69 [CR]

Part II: Ancients and Moderns

Week 5 (74 pages)

9.23

Aeschylus, Agamemnon, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 99-172

9.25

            No additional reading

Week 6 (54 pages)

9.30

Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 173-226

10.2

            Erev Rosh Hashanah. No class.

Week 7 (51 pages)

10.7

Aeschylus, The Eumenides, in The Oresteia, trans. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1979), pp. 227-277

10.9

            No additional reading.

Week 8 (48 pages)

10.14

Columbus Day. No class. Monday classes will meet on Tuesday.

10.15

In-class midterm. No reading.

10.16

Virginia Woolf, Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown (London: Hogarth Press, 1924), pp. 3-24 [CR]Walter Benjamin, “The Storyteller,” in The Storyteller Essays, trans. Tess Lewis (New York: New York Review of Books, 2019), pp. 48-73 [CR]

Week 9 (93 pages)       

10.21

Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children, trans. Eric Bentley (New York: Grove Press, 1951), pp. 19-111

10.23

No additional reading.

Week 10 (tk pages)

10.28

Isaac Babel, Odessa Stories, trans. Boris Drayluk (London: Pushkin Press, 2016), TBA [CR]

10.30

Isaac Babel, Red Cavalry, trans. Boris Drayluk (London: Pushkin Press, 2014), TBA [CR]

Part IV: Beauty, Love, Desire

Week 11 (32 pages)

11.4

Plato, Symposium, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989), pp. 9-12, 25-31 [CR]

11.6

Plato, Symposium, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989), pp. 40-60 [CR]

Week 12 (47 pages)

11.11

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage, 1967), pp. 25-43 [CR]

11.13

Barbara J. Fields, “Slavery, Race, and Ideology in the United States of America,” in Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life (New York: Verso, 2012), pp. 111-148 [CR]

Week 13 (24 pages)

11.18

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in The Feminist Papers, ed. Alice S. Rossi (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1973), pp. 40-51 [CR]

11.20

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in The Feminist Papers, ed. Alice S. Rossi (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1973), pp. 64-71, 79-82 [CR]

Week 14 (50 pages)

11.25

Amia Srinivasan, “The Right to Sex” and “Coda: The Politics of Desire” in The Right to Sex (New York: Picador, 2021), pp. 73-122 [CR]

11.27

            No class.

Week 15 (90 pages)

12.2

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 3-58

12.4

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 61-93

Week 16 (110 pages)

12.9

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 97-163

12.11

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (New York: Vintage, 2007), pp. 164-206

How not to write about the Holocaust

As anyone who knows me or reads my work knows, I have an infinite amount of interest in writing about the Holocaust, in whatever genre: history, fiction, essay, travelogue, diary, memoir, poetry, whatever.

I also have an infinite appetite for voices in writing about the Holocaust: sardonic, ironic, bemused, impatient, poignant, heroic, anti-heroic, sociological, callow, creepy, fantastical, comedic, whatever.

But the article in the September issue of Harper’s, “My Auschwitz Vacation,” by the writer Tanya Gold, tested my patience.

It’s unbearably familiar and hackneyed. How many articles can we read on the silliness and stupidity of a tourist’s response to an extermination camp? Teenagers go to Auschwitz and take selfies. Justin Bieber visits the Anne Frank House and writes in the guestbook that Frank would have been a “belieber.” There’s no business like Shoah business. We get it!

While we’re on the topic, why should a tourist’s response to Auschwitz be any more elevated or sophisticated than their response to Chartres or the Louvre? Or the Smithsonian or the Golden Gate Bridge? I’ll confess, I’m never certain how to respond to any tourist site, whether it is a site of exaltation or hell on earth. Not knowing how to respond myself, I’m unclear how to judge the response of others. Does Gold know? I’m not quite sure. She leaves no room for any response to Poland other than her own, which is conveniently not a response to Poland at all but to other people’s responses to Poland. Smug and small, that’s how the article reads.

At points, it’s presumptuous, substituting the author’s own speculations about what people are thinking for evidence of what they are thinking. It’s filled with comments from taxi drivers and tour guides, who provide about as much insight into man’s inhumanity to man as anyone who’s read a Thomas Friedman column on, well, anything, would expect.

And it’s sentimental, closing with the following observation from one of Gold’s interview subjects:

Gebert says, “We live in a bubble, from Britain to Warsaw. A rich, protected bubble. We just pretend we don’t realize it.” The real world is not here, he says, and he is right. The real world, he says, is Kyiv and Kabul, Be’eri and Rafah.’

Why are Kyiv and Kabul, Be’eri and Rafah, the real world? Why is suffering the only thing in the world that’s real? (Not to mention that there’s suffering in Britain and Warsaw and all sorts of places that are not the sites of war crimes and mass murder.) And how is this little shopping list of international inhumanity, with all its nods to the world’s currently approved hot spots of concern, any less superficial than the observations on Auschwitz and Kraków that Gold cites and sniffs at?

The article is one long pastiche of Holocaust writing over the last sixty years, which nowise warrants the author’s assumption of superiority over the subject.