Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 16:34:00 -0500 Reply-To: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Sender: H-NET List on German History From: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Subject: Re: Postmodern theory in German history Submitted by: Jeremy Telman Re: The recent exchange on post-modernism in GSR, I share Diethelm Prowe's respect for Michael Geyer and Konrad Jarausch -- and also his disappointment in their response to Kenneth Barkin. I was less convinced, however, that Barkin had read his "Foucault, Derrida, Hayden White etal, with care and an open mind." I got the impression that Barkin has read some prominent post-structuralist/post- modernist theorists but has little appreciation for the many interesting developments in history and theory that have taken post-structuralist theory as their points of departure. As far as Jarausch and Geyer's response is concerned, I will not try to guess why they responded as they did, but I think Barkin's attack called for a discussion of some interesting works in German history that draw on the theories Barkin attacks. I heard Barkin's talk at the AHA and I read it in GSR, and I'm still puzzled by his logic. His review of recent Bismarck biographies indicates he is dissatisfied with conventional approaches to German history. When he considers post-structuralist theory as a source for alternative approaches, his conclusion is something like, "Well, that may be okay for the French, but we German historians have to be more careful since we have to deal with Nazism ." This is peculiar since post-structuralists in France have taken leading roles in the recent French attempts to come to terms with their own past. Moreover, at least one prominent American historian heavily influenced by French theory, Dominick LaCapra, has recently published a book on the Holocaust, and the result is not Holocaust revisionism. Saul Friedlander's recent work has also clearly been influenced by his scholarly interaction with LaCapra, and this does not put him in David Irving's camp. Geyer and Jarausch mention these works, but don't provide much commentary. What is Barkin afraid of? Instead of positing the danger post- structuralism poses for German historiography, why not look at some post- structuralist work on German history and assess the results. Undoubtedly, such work will be of uneven quality, and one should not take the worst of post-structural history to be the norm, but if post-structuralism has the impact on German history that it has had on other subjects, new interesting avenues of research will arise, new topics of debate will be created, or old topics will become revitalized due to new perspectives. So who's afraid of Jacques Derrida? Not I. TELMAND@COFC.EDU (D.A. JEREMY TELMAN) COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON HISTORY DEPARTMENT CHARLESTON, SC 29424 803-953-8102 .