Transient Traditions: Philology and Translation from Friedrich Schlegel to Gershom Scholem.

• Applicant: Dr. Nicola Alessio Sarracco
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature) ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566086005

This research project is concerned with the relationship between German-Jewish intellectuals and the development of the history of philology in Germany. The main aim will be to identify and comment on the responses within the German-Jewish context to the ideas of Romantic philology and translation between the 19th and early 20th centuries. In doing so, I will seek to make new contributions to modern debates on Romantic philology (Benne and Breuer 2011; Bunia, Breuer, and Erlinghagen 2013). With the recent discovery of Friedrich Schlegel’s (1772–1829) notes on the study of classical antiquity (Schirren and Erlinghagen 2020), and with the first critical edition of his only completed editorial project, Lessings Gedanken und Meinungen (Benne 2024), an in-depth exploration of Romanticism’s role in the development of modern philology has emerged as a significant research desideratum. On the basis of this new material, the epoch’s thought on the subject is now situated within a new philosophical perspective, prompting a reassessment of the cultural framework within which its “debated legacy” (Goetschel and Suchoff 2018) should be understood. This goal will be addressed by focusing on the evolution of Romantic ideas within the German-Jewish context, relying on recently published sources such as Rahel Varnhagen’s (1771–1833) and Gershom Scholem’s (1897–1982) diaries (2019; 1995–2000). While highlighting a shared intellectual context, the study will attempt to present the distinct political–cultural projects within which these figures developed their translations and philological projects, and thus to understand the relationship between Jewish and German culture in the historical context under consideration.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Denmark
• Host: Professor Dr. Christian Benne