Tainted Greatness : Antisemitism and Cultural Heroes

In recent years, a number of intellectual figures behave been exposed as either proponents of or otherwise tainted by an association with antisemitism.

Nancy Harrowitz has assembled a collection of powerful essays that examine the concept of 'taintedness' from the perspective of a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, religion, literature, and intellectual history.

Noting the influence of such important cultural figures as Martin Luther, Gerhard Kittel, Mircea Eliade, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Cesare Lombroso, Martin Heidegger, Ezra Pound, Paul De Man, and Jean Genet, the contributors contemplate the volatile issues surrounding each figure's work and life.In an effort to understand how the phenomenon of 'tainted greatness' is possible, they ask whether the revelation of prejudice devalues the work of these regarded as intellectual heroes?

What it means to continue to revere intellectual greatness despite the presence of antisemitism?

Is antisemitism an inextricable part of the figures' work as much as part of their lives?And finally, is it the concept of heroism or 'greatness' itself, which invites or even generates the notion of taintedness, that needs to be re-examined?

Author note: Nancy A. Harrowitz, Assistant Professor of Italian Literature at Boston University, is the author of "Antisemitism, Misogyny, and the Logic of Cultural Difference: Cesare Lombroso and Matilde Serao" and co-editor (with Barbara Hyams) of "Jews and Gender: Responses to Otto Weininger" (Temple).