GEORGE KONRAD
551
through one or more bodies; in some places they manifest themselves
instead through professional or political associations, or as members of
parties-not alongside issues or confbcts with ethnic dimensions. The
interest ofJewry is for its conflicts to be decided within the framework of
general fairness.
There exists a post-modern re-nationalization, which obviously has a
Jewish variant as well, but it should be known that this is the same men–
tality that was at work in the Balkans, the one that nurtures European
minority conflicts, and slides from protection of rights to passionate separatism.
The analyst can bring together Jewish writers in his/ her study, and if
they are so inclined, Jewish writers can meet in person too, and think
together, but they should not ally themselves in the "national interest,"
because doing so will unjustifiably change something implicit into some–
thing explici t.
It
is in the natural interest of those Jews living outside of Israel, also, to
consider the country they inhabi t their home. The other pole says: they
don't like me here, I don't like them either. Let's go into a shell, become
an ethnic island. But the person who desires the foregoing probably goes
to Israel. Furthermore, Jews living in the various nation-s tates seem to be
spending less effort on the repeated assertion that they are just like the
members of the majority nationality surrounding them. They are not real–
ly the same, and everyone perceives this; by and by, so do they. They may
proceed from this truth, in consciousness of Auschwitz, but without
offending the majority's sense of justice. The ethical position, however,
compels the undertaking of strategic responsibility. If the majority has
accepted liberal democracy, the minority should not stand away from it.
I am not attracted to categorizing and cataloging writers according to
their religious-national affiliation. Most adjectives alongside the word "lit–
erature" are unnecessary; the more emphatic the adjective, we can be sure,
the more insubstantial the noun; in other words, the literature in question
is that much weaker. If one must have a particular grouping, then accord–
ing to the language of the original text is still the most self-evident and the
least gratuitous method.
It is a fact that an increasing number of Jews perceive that they are
members of a global people; this is due in part to the state of Israel, partly
to the post-war Jewish intellectual surge and to globalization in general, or
if you will, global embourgeoisement. It may be said that since the Second
World War, Jewish consciousness and identity have grown somewhat
