Keywords
Vasily Grossman
Giorgio Agamben
Auschwitz
Shoah
vulnerability
immortality
human nature
human condition
How to Cite
Number of views: 740
Number of downloads: 369
Abstract
The article endeavours to compare the reflections on the Shoah of two of the most celebrated intellectuals of Jewish origin of the 20th century, namely the German philosopher Hans Jonas (1903-1993) and the Soviet writer Vasily Grossman (1905-1964). Both Jonas’ essay on The Concept of God after Auschwitz (1987) and Grossman’s novels and reports, such as The Hell of Treblinka (1944), Life and Fate (1980), and The Sistine Madonna (1989), are characterised by a thorough enquiry into the ambivalence of the human condition, that tries to shed some light on the disturbing abyss of Auschwitz and the Shoah. Although neither Jonas nor Grossman considered themselves as religious believers, thanks to the Shoah they recollected their Jewish roots and developed peculiar and innovative thoughts on the meaning and vulnerability of life, human freedom, immortality, and God. The article endeavours to highlight the main similarities and differences between these two authors, who tackled the issue of thinking after Auschwitz.
References
Agamben, G. 1998. Homo Sacer. Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Agamben, G. 1999. Remnants of Auschwitz. The Witness and the Archive. New York: Zone Books.
Arendt, H. 1994. Essays in Understanding 1930-1954. Formation, Exile, and Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Arendt, H. 2003. Responsibility and Judgement. New York: Schocken Books.
Arendt, H. 2006. Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil. London: Penguin.
Badii, R. & D’Andrea, D. (Eds.) 2014. Shoah, modernità e male politico. MilanoUdine: Mimesis. Becchi, P. 2008. La vulnerabilità della vita. Contributi su Hans Jonas. Napoli: La Scuola di Pitagora.
Becchi, P. 2010 Hans Jonas. Un profilo. Brescia: Morcelliana.
Becchi, P. & Franzini Tibaldeo, R. 2014. “Né darwinismo, né intelligent design. Un confronto tra Hans Jonas e Joseph Ratzinger.” In Annuario Filosofico29: 242–275.
Bit-Yunan, Y. & Chandler, R. 2013. “Introduction.” Forward to: Grossman (2013): pos. 30–150.
Böhler, D. (Hrsg.) 1994. Ethik für die Zukunft: im Diskurs mit Hans Jonas. München: Beck.
Bohr, F., Meyer, C., & Wiegrefe, K. 2014. „Das hat jeder mitgekriegt.“ Interview with Jakob W. Der Spiegel 35, 25 August 2014: 36–40.
Bonaldi, C. 2007. Hans Jonas e il mito. Tra orizzonte trascendentale di senso e apertura alla trascendenza. Vercelli: Mercurio.
Bonaldi, C. 2009. Hans Jonas. Roma: Carocci.
Bongardt, M. 2008. „Immanente Religion oder idealistische Spekulation? Zum Verhältnis von Gott und Mensch im »Gottesbegriff nach Auschwitz«von Hans Jonas“. In Böhler, D., Gronke, H., & Herrmann, B. (Hrsg.), Mensch – Gott – Welt. Philosophie des Lebens, Religionsphilosophie und Metaphysik im Werk von Hans Jonas. Freiburg – Berlin – Wien: Rombach: 173–189.
Borghese Keene, E. 2014. Hans Jonas, Mythe, temps et mémoire. Hildesheim: Olms.
Bori, P. C. 1990. La Madonna di San Sisto di Raffaello: studi sulla cultura russa. Bologna: il Mulino.
Curletto, M. A. 2006. “Nota di edizione.” In Grossman, V., La Madonna a Treblinka. Milano: Medusa: 41–45.
D’Andrea, D. & Badii, R. (Eds.) 2010. Sterminio e stermini. Shoah e violenze di massa nel Novecento. Bologna: il Mulino.
Dell’Asta, A. 2007. “Dal sogno all’incubo. Nazismo e comunismo in Vasilij Grossman.“ Forward to: Maddalena – Tosco 2007: 41–67.
Dries, Ch. 2012. Die Welt als Vernichtungslager. Eine kritische Theorie der Moderne im Anschluss an Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt und Hans Jonas. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Ehrenburg, I. & Grossman, V. (Eds.) 2002. The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry. New Brunswick (NJ): Transaction Publishers.
Ellis, F. 1994. Vasily Grossman. The Genesis and Evolution of a Russian Heretic. Oxford: Berg.
Franzini Tibaldeo, R. 2009. La rivoluzione ontologica di Hans Jonas. Uno studio sulla genesi e il significato di »Organismo e libertà.« Milano-Udine: Mimesis.
Fraser, D. 1999. “Dead Man Walking: Law and Ethics after Giorgio Agamben’s Auschwitz.“ International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 12: 397–417.
Frogneux, N. 2001. Hans Jonas ou la vie dans le monde. Bruxelles: De Boeck & Larcier.
Frogneux, N. 2011. “Les conditions transhistoriques d’une juste liberté humaine: une lecture de Hans Jonas.“ In Bouton, Ch. & Bégout, B. (Eds.), Penser l’histoire de Marx aux siècles des catastrophes. Paris: Editions de L’Eclat: 181–193.
Frogneux, N. 2012. “Une liberté responsable et décentrée à l’égard de la nature. Lecture anthropologique du »Principe responsabilité«.“ In L’art du comprendre – herméneutique générale, anthropologie philosophique, anthropologie phénoménologique, Daseinsanalyse. Vol. I. La nature et son souci, no. 21: 165–185.
Garrard, J. & Garrard, C. 1996. The Bones of Berdichev. The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman. New York: Free Press.
Grossman, V. 2010. The Road. Short Fiction and Articles. London: Maclehose Press.
Grossman, V. 2011a. Life and Fate. London: Vintage.
Grossman, V. 2011b. Everything Flows. London: Vintage (Kindle Edition).
Grossman, V. 2013. An Armenian Sketchbook. London: Maclehose Press (kindle edition).
Hillesum, E. 2002. Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum 1941-1943. Grand Rapids (MI): Eerdmans.
Hintzen, H. 2012. Paul Raphaelson und Hans Jonas. Ein jüdischer Kapo und ein bewaffneter Philosoph im Holocaust. Köln: Greven.
Jonas, H. 1930. Der Begriff der Gnosis. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Hohen Philosophischen Fakultät der PhilippsUniversität zu Marburg. Göttingen: Hubert.
Jonas, H. 1934. Gnosis und spätantiker Geist. Vol. I, Die mythologische Gnosis. Mit einer Einleitung »Zur Geschichte und Methodologie der Forschung.«Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Jonas, H. 1954. Gnosis und spätantiker Geist. Vol. II, Chap. 1, Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philosophie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Jonas, H. 1966. The Phenomenon of Life. Toward a Philosophical Biology. New York: Harper & Row.
Jonas, H. 1974. Philosophical Essays. From Ancient Creed to Technological Man. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Jonas, H. 1984 [1979]. The Imperative of Responsibility. In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jonas, H. 1985. Technik, Medizin und Ethik. Praxis des Prinzips Verantwortung. Frankfurt am Main: Insel.
Jonas, H. 1992. Philosophische Untersuchungen und metaphysische Vermutungen. Frankfurt am Main: Insel.
Jonas, H. 1996. Mortality and Morality. A Search for the Good after Auschwitz. Evanston (Ill.): Northwestern University Press.
Jonas, H. 2008. Memoirs [2003]. Waltham (MA): Brandeis University Press and Hanover (NH): University Press of New England.
Lévinas, E. 1996 [1984]. “Peace and Proximity.” In Id., Basic Philosophical Writings. Bloomington (IN): Indiana University Press: 161–169.
Maddalena, G. 2007. “»L’umano dell’umano«: Vasilij Grossman e il possibile esito felice della vita.” Forward to: Maddalena & Tosco (2007): 251–264.
Maddalena, G. & Tosco, P. (Eds.) 2007. Il romanzo della libertà. Vasilij Grossman tra i classici del XX secolo. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.
Mrówczyński–Van Allen, A. 2013. Between the Icon and the Idol: The Human Person and the Modern State in Russian Thought and Literature –Chaadayev, Soloviev, Grossman. Eugene (OR): Cascade Books.
Pirazzoli, E. 2013. “Lo sguardo della Madonna Sistina.” In il Mulino, 19 April 2013.
Ravenna, M. 2014. “Come pecore al macello? Ebrei nella Shoah e reazioni alla persecuzione.” In Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia 5(1):102–124.
Riconda, G. 2007. La »religione« di Grossman. Forward to: Maddalena-Tosco (2011): 221–250.
Todorov, T. 2003. Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
Tosco, P. (Ed.) 2011. L’umano nell’uomo. Vasilij Grossman tra ideologie e domande eterne. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.
Wiegrefe, K. 2014. „Die Schande nach Auschwitz.“ Der Spiegel 35, 25 August 2014: 28–35.
Wiese, Ch. 2007. The Life and Thought of Hans Jonas: Jewish Dimensions. Hanover (NH): University Press of New England Press.
Wolters, G. 2004. Vertuschung, Anklage, Rechtfertigung. Impromtus zum Rückblick der deutschen Philosophie auf das »Dritte Reich.« Bonn: University Press.
Wolters, G. 2013. Hans Jonas e il razzismo. Lecture delivered at the congress »In ricordo di Hans Jonas, a vent’anni dalla morte« (Rome, October 2013). Retrieved from http://www.uni-konstanz.de/philosophie/files/jonas-2013-roma%2Bzusatz_1_.pdf on 10 Nov. 2014.