Epstein Secrets

rprisingly, Nirenberg shows, the decline of religion in Europe and the rise of the Enlightenment did little to change the rhetoric of anti-Judaism. Voltaire, Kant, and Hegel all used Judaism as a EFTA_R1_02207750 EFTA02722673 figure for what they wanted to overcome—superstition, legalistic morality,

t to mention some of Nirenberg's most striking chapters, including one on the role of Judaism in early Islam and one devoted to a close reading of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Nirenberg has a sure grasp of a huge variety of historical and intellectual contexts, and, unlike many historians, he is

aranteed by our First Amendment? Or do you just support the speech of those with whom you agree? Nearly two hundred years ago, the French philosopher Voltaire articulated the fundamental premise underlying true support for freedom of speech: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your

ized words—“subordination,” “dehumanized,” “objects,” “scenarios of degradation”—are so vague and subjective that they could apply to the writings of Shakespeare, Checkov, Roth, Hemingway, Mailer, DeSade, Miller and many others. The only element this new definition of pornography has in common with what Justic

ist in the sense of making rosy predictions. But I seem to show that bias in evaluations. I’m two thirds Panglossian. (Doctor Pangloss was the guy in Voltaire’s Candide who said that this is the best of all possible worlds.) I side with the good doctor in that I cannot imagine an improvement to this world o

n the Neutral Zone in 1953. The Emir’s identical house was a few steps away. My father’s favorite maple sugar was still in the fridge. I read the few Shakespeare plays | hadn’t read in college, and read or reread the complete poems and plays of John Keats. The house arrest was probably as much dressing-down