Russian Idea-Jewish Presence

In Russian Idea-Jewish Presence, Professor Brian Horowitz follows the career tracks of Jewish intellectuals who, having fallen in love with Russian culture, were unceremoniously repulsed. Horowitz relays the paradoxes of a synthetic Jewish and Russian self-consciousness in order to correct critics who have always considered Russians and Jews as polar opposites, enemies, and incompatible. In fact, the best Russian-Jewish intellectuals-Semyon Dubnov, Maxim Vinaver, Mikhail Gershenzon, and a number of Zionist writers and thinkers-were actually inspired by Russian culture and attempted to develop a sui generis Jewish creativity in three languages on Russian soil.

Brian Horowitz is Sizeler Family Chair Professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University. His awards include an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship and a Yad Hanadiv Award. He is author of many books, including Russian Idea-Jewish Presence, Empire Jews, and Jewish Philanthropy and Enlightenment in Late-Tsarist Russia.