"For every second of time is the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter."
-Walter Benjamin
Looking more and more like my thesis will be about this moment, as meditated upon by Stefan Zweig and (in retrospect, perhaps) Shai Agnon--and with a little help from our messianic Marxist pal, Walter Benjamin.
Does yearning for Die Welt fun Gestern, a lost paradiscal place, coincide with the yearning for an equally peaceful future? Imagine growing up as an incredibly literate (in three or more languages) and privileged European Jew (whether assimilated in Zweig's case, or orthodox in Agnon's), with the ability to travel all over, and schmoozing with famous folk. Imagine the pre-WWI wealth. Imagine its utter destruction-- then both its cultural and economic rebuilding. Now imagine the repeat of that.
Imagine the contrast between choosing to live anywhere on the planet and being forced to live anywhere but your home.
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