New Books Network Adi Nester, "Unsettling Difference: Music Drama, the Bible, and the Critique of German Jewish Identity" (Cornell UP, 2025)
May 30, 2025
Adi Nester, an Assistant Professor of German and Jewish Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, dives deep into the interplay of music, drama, and German Jewish identity. She explores how biblical themes in opera reflect cultural dissonance and identity tensions. Nester discusses Odof Borchot's avant-garde contributions, the transformational legacy of German national poetry, and the complexities in Schoenberg’s works. The conversation reveals how historical memory influences modern narratives and reflects the ongoing dialogue between Jewish and German identities.
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Archive Visit Sparks Research Interest
- Adi Nester discovered composer Eich Seisel through an encounter at Arnold Schoenberg's house archive in Los Angeles.
- This chance meeting sparked her interest and influenced her book's focus on Seisel and Schoenberg's operas.
Modernity Reconstructs the Archaic
- The book links biblical discourse and opera as parallel conversations articulating the problem of modernity.
- Modernity claims newness but reconstructs archaic elements, seen in Bible translations and modern music's opera roots.
Jewish Knowledge Enables Modernity
- German modernity was enabled by Jewish knowledge, especially through Hebrew and biblical translation work.
- This challenges the narrative of modernity as a pure, new European development, showing dependency on what it superseded.
