Ethan Kleinberg is Editor-in-Chief of History and Theory, Director of the Center for the Humanities and Professor of History and Letters at Wesleyan University.
Kleinberg works on the acrobatics of modern thought.
http://www.historyandtheory.org/ http://www.wesleyan.edu/humanities/ Phone: 860-685-4479 Address: 95 Pearl Street
Middletown, CT 06459
In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic le... more In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud.
This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment... more This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment when available forms for writing and publishing history are undergoing radical transformation. To do so, it explores the legacy and impact of deconstruction on American historical work; the current fetishization of lived experience, materialism, and the "real;" new trends in philosophy of history; and the persistence of ontological realism as the dominant mode of thought for conventional historians.
Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et... more Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et l’avenir des Annales en se concentrant sur les dix dernières années de la revue. Pour ce faire, il reprend quelques-uns des choix éditoriaux, des thèmes et des articles récents afin d’explorer la façon dont ceux-ci servent à se libérer des modèles et des méthodes associés au passé des Annales, tout en analysant la manière dont certains des aspects de ce passé sont conservés. Les Annales se sont longtemps caractérisées par leur(s) approche(s) méthodologique(s) plutôt que par un sujet ou un thème spécifique. La force de ce paradigme réside dans ses aspirations interdisciplinaires, qui ont rassemblé des historiens issus d’horizons divers dans le but partagé de remettre en question le statu quo. Cet accent mis sur la méthode a toutefois un revers : conduire à la promotion, sinon d’un style, du moins d’une approche propre aux Annales, quitte à ossifier le paradigme et lui faire perdre sa nature protéiforme. L’article tente ainsi d’expliquer non seulement les promesses et les pièges, mais aussi les nouvelles directions que la revue pourrait prendre à l’avenir.
Rivista internazionale di storia della storiografia, 2009
... This is to say that unlike the ghost of Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Fu... more ... This is to say that unlike the ghost of Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future appear to be well jointed in terms of ... II. The Return of the Real For Eelco Runia, the publication of Hayden White's Metahistory was a watershed moment that led to a «process in which ...
Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et... more Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et l’avenir des Annales en se concentrant sur les dix dernières années de la revue. Pour ce faire, il reprend quelques-uns des choix éditoriaux, des thèmes et des articles récents afin d’explorer la façon dont ceux-ci servent à se libérer des modèles et des méthodes associés au passé des Annales, tout en analysant la manière dont certains des aspects de ce passé sont conservés. Les Annales se sont longtemps caractérisées par leur(s) approche(s) méthodologique(s) plutôt que par un sujet ou un thème spécifique. La force de ce paradigme réside dans ses aspirations interdisciplinaires, qui ont rassemblé des historiens issus d’horizons divers dans le but partagé de remettre en question le statu quo. Cet accent mis sur la méthode a toutefois un revers : conduire à la promotion, sinon d’un style, du moins d’une approche propre aux Annales, quitte à ossifier le paradigme et lui faire perdre sa nat...
AFTER THE DELUGE New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France Edit... more AFTER THE DELUGE New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France Edited by Julian Bourg D LEXINGTON BOOKS Lanham Boulder New rork T" oio"'<'" Med ... CONTENTS Acknowledgments vm Introduction I Julian Bourg I. HISTORICIZING ...
This article attempts to understand Levinas as a reader of Jewish texts, with particular attentio... more This article attempts to understand Levinas as a reader of Jewish texts, with particular attention paid to his Talmudic commentaries. To do so, the entangled relation between oral and written texts is explored; one must be able to properly “read” but also “write,” and there is the related issue of the methodology and training to be able to do so properly. Levinas offers commentary on each issue. Several interpretations of Talmudic texts and an important discussion of reading Scripture are analyzed in order to elucidate Levinas’s reading strategies, what this tells us about his relation to the larger tradition of Talmudic commentary, and Levinas’s particular historical moment, especially the role of the Holocaust for his approach to reading the Talmud and traditional texts.
#TheoryRevolt begins! HERE WE STAND! Read the "Theses on Theory and History" by... more #TheoryRevolt begins! HERE WE STAND! Read the "Theses on Theory and History" by Wild On Collective (Ethan Kleinberg, Joan Scott, Gary Wilder) at: TheoryRevolt.com Share, print, post, distribute, discuss. Join #TheoryRevolt Now!
This paper explores the role that the “Jewish Question” plays in the divergent though intertwined... more This paper explores the role that the “Jewish Question” plays in the divergent though intertwined presentation of Jewish identity in the post World War Two philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida.
This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment... more This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment when available forms for writing and publishing history are undergoing radical transformation. To do so, it explores the legacy and impact of deconstruction on American historical work; the current fetishization of lived experience, materialism, and the "real;" new trends in philosophy of history; and the persistence of ontological realism as the dominant mode of thought for conventional historians. Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic le... more In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas's Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas's Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God's Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas's Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas's Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God's own side." Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas's Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas's turn to and use of Talmud.
This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment... more This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment when available forms for writing and publishing history are undergoing radical transformation. To do so, it explores the legacy and impact of deconstruction on American historical work; the current fetishization of lived experience, materialism, and the "real;" new trends in philosophy of history; and the persistence of ontological realism as the dominant mode of thought for conventional historians.
Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et... more Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et l’avenir des Annales en se concentrant sur les dix dernières années de la revue. Pour ce faire, il reprend quelques-uns des choix éditoriaux, des thèmes et des articles récents afin d’explorer la façon dont ceux-ci servent à se libérer des modèles et des méthodes associés au passé des Annales, tout en analysant la manière dont certains des aspects de ce passé sont conservés. Les Annales se sont longtemps caractérisées par leur(s) approche(s) méthodologique(s) plutôt que par un sujet ou un thème spécifique. La force de ce paradigme réside dans ses aspirations interdisciplinaires, qui ont rassemblé des historiens issus d’horizons divers dans le but partagé de remettre en question le statu quo. Cet accent mis sur la méthode a toutefois un revers : conduire à la promotion, sinon d’un style, du moins d’une approche propre aux Annales, quitte à ossifier le paradigme et lui faire perdre sa nature protéiforme. L’article tente ainsi d’expliquer non seulement les promesses et les pièges, mais aussi les nouvelles directions que la revue pourrait prendre à l’avenir.
Rivista internazionale di storia della storiografia, 2009
... This is to say that unlike the ghost of Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Fu... more ... This is to say that unlike the ghost of Marley, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future appear to be well jointed in terms of ... II. The Return of the Real For Eelco Runia, the publication of Hayden White's Metahistory was a watershed moment that led to a «process in which ...
Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et... more Les Annales, force et fragilité d’une revue modèleCet article interroge l’héritage, la mission et l’avenir des Annales en se concentrant sur les dix dernières années de la revue. Pour ce faire, il reprend quelques-uns des choix éditoriaux, des thèmes et des articles récents afin d’explorer la façon dont ceux-ci servent à se libérer des modèles et des méthodes associés au passé des Annales, tout en analysant la manière dont certains des aspects de ce passé sont conservés. Les Annales se sont longtemps caractérisées par leur(s) approche(s) méthodologique(s) plutôt que par un sujet ou un thème spécifique. La force de ce paradigme réside dans ses aspirations interdisciplinaires, qui ont rassemblé des historiens issus d’horizons divers dans le but partagé de remettre en question le statu quo. Cet accent mis sur la méthode a toutefois un revers : conduire à la promotion, sinon d’un style, du moins d’une approche propre aux Annales, quitte à ossifier le paradigme et lui faire perdre sa nat...
AFTER THE DELUGE New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France Edit... more AFTER THE DELUGE New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France Edited by Julian Bourg D LEXINGTON BOOKS Lanham Boulder New rork T" oio"'<'" Med ... CONTENTS Acknowledgments vm Introduction I Julian Bourg I. HISTORICIZING ...
This article attempts to understand Levinas as a reader of Jewish texts, with particular attentio... more This article attempts to understand Levinas as a reader of Jewish texts, with particular attention paid to his Talmudic commentaries. To do so, the entangled relation between oral and written texts is explored; one must be able to properly “read” but also “write,” and there is the related issue of the methodology and training to be able to do so properly. Levinas offers commentary on each issue. Several interpretations of Talmudic texts and an important discussion of reading Scripture are analyzed in order to elucidate Levinas’s reading strategies, what this tells us about his relation to the larger tradition of Talmudic commentary, and Levinas’s particular historical moment, especially the role of the Holocaust for his approach to reading the Talmud and traditional texts.
#TheoryRevolt begins! HERE WE STAND! Read the "Theses on Theory and History" by... more #TheoryRevolt begins! HERE WE STAND! Read the "Theses on Theory and History" by Wild On Collective (Ethan Kleinberg, Joan Scott, Gary Wilder) at: TheoryRevolt.com Share, print, post, distribute, discuss. Join #TheoryRevolt Now!
This paper explores the role that the “Jewish Question” plays in the divergent though intertwined... more This paper explores the role that the “Jewish Question” plays in the divergent though intertwined presentation of Jewish identity in the post World War Two philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida.
This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment... more This book argues for a deconstructive approach to the practice and writing of history at a moment when available forms for writing and publishing history are undergoing radical transformation. To do so, it explores the legacy and impact of deconstruction on American historical work; the current fetishization of lived experience, materialism, and the "real;" new trends in philosophy of history; and the persistence of ontological realism as the dominant mode of thought for conventional historians. Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
In this article I revisit Herbert Marcuse’s 1964 work One-Dimensional Man with the goal of reacti... more In this article I revisit Herbert Marcuse’s 1964 work One-Dimensional Man with the goal of reactivating Marcuse’s critique of one-dimensional society but in regard to the current practice and discipline of history. On my reading, it is in the field of history that the dangers of one-dimensionality are felt most acutely today. Especially in the ways that historians and philosophers of history continue to render history as a mausoleum to warehouse an entombed and inactive past. In what follows, I offer a willful and intentional reading of the role and place of philosophy of history in One-Dimensional Man in order to demonstrate the ways that history and historians have now become key proponents of one-dimensionality. I then marshal Marcuse’s analysis, though shorn of the speculative teleology that characterizes the two-dimensional history of Marcuse’s dialectic, in order to reactivate history as a multi-dimensional force to enact change in the future.
Contributing editor Disha Karnad Jani interviews Ethan Kleinberg, Joan Wallach Scott, and Gary Wi... more Contributing editor Disha Karnad Jani interviews Ethan Kleinberg, Joan Wallach Scott, and Gary Wilder about their "Theses on Theory and History" and #TheoryRevolt for the Journal of History of Ideas blog.
Audio recording of a book panel on Ethan Kleinberg's "Haunting History: for a deconstructive appr... more Audio recording of a book panel on Ethan Kleinberg's "Haunting History: for a deconstructive approach to the past" held at NYU with comment by Joan W. Scott, Carol Gluck, Stefanos Geroulanos, and response by Ethan Kleinberg. The recording is at the end of the JHI blog post by Jonathan Catlin which provides an overview and analysis of the event . Follow this link: https://jhiblog.org/2017/11/22/in-dread-of-derrida/
In part 1 of this 3 part series, Ethan Kleinberg and Hayden White discuss White's most recent wor... more In part 1 of this 3 part series, Ethan Kleinberg and Hayden White discuss White's most recent work, The Practical Past, as well as the nature of the past, the current state of history as a discipline, and possible alternative to our current practices.
My Keynote address at the first International Network for Theory of History Conference in Ghent, ... more My Keynote address at the first International Network for Theory of History Conference in Ghent, Belgium. Follow the link to the talk.
A conversation with Avenali Chair in the Humanities Eelco Runia about new ways of thinking, theor... more A conversation with Avenali Chair in the Humanities Eelco Runia about new ways of thinking, theorizing, and writing about the past, history, time, rupture, presence, and narrative, featuring: Hayden White (UC Santa Cruz, emeritus), Martin Jay (UC Berkeley), Carol Gluck (Columbia), Harry Harootunian (Columbia), and Ethan Kleinberg (Wesleyan).
A forum on Hayden White's "The Practical Past"
Panelists: Ethan Kleinberg, Robert Doran, Lisa Low... more A forum on Hayden White's "The Practical Past" Panelists: Ethan Kleinberg, Robert Doran, Lisa Lowe, Edward Dimendberg Moderator: Winston James
This is an introductory lecture for students with no knowledge of Derrida (biographical or otherw... more This is an introductory lecture for students with no knowledge of Derrida (biographical or otherwise). The goal is to provide some basic background on Derrida and the method of deconstruction.
História da Historiografia: International Journal of Theory and History of Historiography, 2017
Ethan Kleinberg is Professor of History and Letters of Wesleyan University. He is the Director of... more Ethan Kleinberg is Professor of History and Letters of Wesleyan University. He is the Director of the Center for Humanities and the Editor-in-Chief of History and Theory. His first book, Generation Existential: Heidegger’s Philosophy in France, 1927-1961, published by Cornell University Press, was awarded the 2006 Morris D. Forkosch prize for the best book in intellectual history, by the Journal of the History of Ideas. Recently, Professor Kleinberg co-edited with Ranjan Ghosh the volume Presence: Philosophy, History and Cultural Theory for the 21st Century, published by Cornell University Press as well. His book, Haunting History: For a Deconstructive Approach to the Past, will appear in the Meridian Series from Stanford University Press in Fall 2017. He is also finishing the book The Myth of Emmanuel Levinas, centered on the Talmudic Lectures that the French-Jewish philosopher presented in Paris between 1960 and 1990. I had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Professor Kleinberg in June 2016, when I was a Visiting Student Researcher in the Center for Humanities at Wesleyan University. We also took the advantage of the Second International Network for Theory of History conference (2nd INTH), that happened in Brazil at Ouro Preto from August 23 to August 26, to expand the interview.
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Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
Arguing that this ontological realist mode of thinking is reinforced by current analog publishing practices, Ethan Kleinberg advocates for a hauntological approach to history that follows the work of Jacques Derrida and embraces a past that is at once present and absent, available and restricted, rather than a fixed and static snapshot of a moment in time. This polysemic understanding of the past as multiple and conflicting, he maintains, is what makes the deconstructive approach to the past particularly well suited to new digital forms of historical writing and presentation.
Panelists: Ethan Kleinberg, Robert Doran, Lisa Lowe, Edward Dimendberg
Moderator: Winston James