1. Orientalism and the longue duree; 2. Orientalism in a Philhellenic age; 3. The lonely orientalists; 4. The second oriental renaissance; 5. The furor orientalis; 6. Towards an oriental Christianity; 7. On Aryans and Semites; 8. Orientalism and imperialism; 9. The study of oriental arts; 10. Relations with others: the Great War and after; Epilogue; Bibliography.
This book provides the first synthetic and contextualized study of German Orientalistik, demonstrating both the richness and the dangers of this intriguing field.
Suzanne L. Marchand completed her BA in history at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 and her PhD at the University of Chicago in 1992. She then served as Assistant and Associate Professor at Princeton University (1992−9), before moving to Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where she is now Professor of European Intellectual History. She is the author of Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750−1970 (1996) as well as numerous articles on the history of art, archaeology, anthropology, classical studies, and the humanities generally.
'Suzanne Marchand engages a major issue of modern German history
with her rich, ambitious, and beautifully composed book. She offers
powerful and sophisticated arguments that rest on a dazzling
command of evidence. German Orientalism in the Age of Empire not
only fills a huge gap; it is a bravura performance and a landmark
work.' David Blackbourn, Harvard University
'German Orientalism in the Age of Empire is intellectual history on
an epic scale. Suzanne Marchand's rich revisionist account
re-creates the practices of an extraordinary branch of scholarship
in vibrant detail. She traces the complex roots of modern
Orientalism in Renaissance philology and early modern biblical
exegesis, follows the transformation of the field in the modern
university and the age of European empire, and brings the reader
into direct, instructive contact with dozens of fascinating
thinkers and scholars. Again and again, she challenges received
truths about European thought and how it should be studied.'
Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
'Suzanne Marchand has written a dazzling work of scholarship, a
tour de force as an intellectual history of modern Germany. The
erudition and breadth of material presented demonstrates that
Suzanne Marchand is one of the great scholars of her generation.
Essential reading for students in numerous fields, including
religion, biblical studies, history, Asian studies, ancient Near
East studies, and philology, her book is also an extremely
important contribution to the field of Jewish studies, brilliantly
illuminating its rise, development, influence, and significance.'
Susannah Heschel, author of The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians
and the Bible in Nazi Germany
'German Orientalism in the Age of Empire is that rare combination
of deep research, vast erudition, and big, important ideas. By
rooting Orientalism in the rich cultural soil of eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century Germany, Marchand gives us a complex, nuanced,
and balanced view of European attitudes toward the 'Orient.' This
is a major contribution to our understanding of European
intellectual history.' James Sheehan, Stanford University
'Suzanne Marchand's enormously learned, contextually rich, and
conceptually complex study of the scholarly traditions and cultural
practices that defined the 'peculiarities' of German Orientalism in
the modern Imperial age finally provides a comprehensive,
convincing response to questions that historians of modern Germany
have been asking since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism
more than thirty years ago … By emphasizing the immense diversity
and motivational ambivalence of German Orientalism, she has
produced a story that opens the tradition to critical, reciprocal,
post-Imperial appropriations.' John Toews, University of
Washington
'Marchand's book, encyclopaedic in size, scope and ambition,
examines works by an overwhelming number of scholars writing
between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, from a wealth of
backgrounds and with a host of different presumptions, aims and
scholarly attitudes: biblical scholars, historians, archaeologists,
art historians, to name but a few. A further diversifying factor is
Marchand's decision to focus not [on] the work of 'great men' but
on that of more obscure figures whose works have rarely been
analysed. … Marchand's conclusions contain a profound challenge to
the most acknowledged works on the subject so far.' The Times
Literary Supplement
'Marchand's impressive book is a welcome addition to the
ever-growing literature on Germans' interactions with the wider
world across a longue durée. This is a work of exacting detail and
impressive erudition … Its appeals are many … The book is full of
such useful correctives … such ambiguities beg our consideration
and Marchand's engagement with these perplexing problems will make
this book fruitful reading for a wide audience indeed.' The Journal
of Central European History
'Marchand successfully uses the concept of generational differences
to organize her account. After a first chapter in which the study
of oriental languages is located within the quest for the pure
Christianity of the Reformation, Marchand highlights the new
impetus gained by the early nineteenth-century Romantics … ' The
Journal of Church History
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