1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910463133503321

Autore

Simms Norman Toby

Titolo

In the context of his times : Alfred Dreyfus as lover, intellectual, poet, and Jew / / Norman Simms ; book design by Adell Medovoy ; cover design from a woodcut by Martha Simms

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Brighton, Massachussetts : , : Academic Studies Press, , 2013

©2013

ISBN

1-61811-237-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (350 p.)

Collana

Reference Library of Jewish Intellectual History

Altri autori (Persone)

MedovoyAdell

SimmsMartha

Disciplina

944.0812092

Soggetti

Prisoners - France

Antisemitism - France - History - 19th century

Electronic books.

France Politics and government 1870-1940

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Table of Contents -- Prologue. How to Read this Book -- Chapter 1. Through a Spinning Prism Lightly -- Chapter 2. The Ultimate Contraption -- Chapter 3. Transcending Radical Solitude -- Epilogue. Has everything been said that could be said about the topic? -- Appendices -- Appendix I: Persons quoted and discussed in Dreyfus's Prison Notebooks -- Appendix II: Topics, Places, Themes and Events Discussed in Dreyfus's Prison Notebooks -- Appendix III: Equations, Formulae and Sketches in Dreyfus's Prison Notebooks -- Appendix IV. Maths and Science in Dreyfus's Prison Notebooks / MacNeil, Ken -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- Index of Key Ideas, Concepts and Terms

Sommario/riassunto

From the very moment Alfred Dreyfus was placed under arrest for treason and espionage, his entire world was turned upside down, and for the next five years he lived in what he called a phantasmagoria. To keep himself sane, Dreyfus wrote letters to and received letters from his wife Lucie and exercised his intellect through reading the few books and magazines his censors allowed him, writing essays on these and



other texts he had read in the past, and working out problems in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. He practiced his English and created strange drawings his prison wardens called architectural or kabbalistic signs. In this volume, Norman Simms explores how Dreyfus kept himself from exploding into madness by reading his essays carefully, placing them in the context of his century, and extrapolating from them the hidden recesses of the Jewish Alsatian background he shared with the Dreyfus family and Lucie Hadamard.