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Acknowledgments
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ac k now l e d g m e n t s A critical writer, so it seems to me, would also do best to orient his method in accordance with this little adage [Primus sapientiae gradus est, falsa intelligere; secundus, vera cognoscere]. First let him find someone to argue with; he will thereby gradually find his way into the subject matter, and the rest will follow of its own accord. —g . e . l e s s i n g 1 This book began while I was living and studying in Berlin, where to my astonishment a political and cultural clamor arose in response to the design and unveiling of the memorial in the Neue Wache as the “Central Commemorative Site of the Federal Republic of Germany .” I wrote a journalistic essay on the controversy that grew into an article and eventually Chapter 2 of the present study. I am grateful to my advisors, Karsten Harries, Winfried Menninghaus, and most especially, William Mills Todd, for their valuable advice and friendship over the years. During this time I benefited greatly from conversations with Geoffrey Hartman, Otto Pöggeler, Michael Theunissen , Albrecht Wellmer, and especially Christoph Menke. Wellmer’s “Mittwochskolloquium” at the Institut für Hermeneutik was an ideal forum for debate, dialogue, and intellectual camaraderie during my time in Berlin. This book is also informed by the egalitarian and ecumenical , but no less rigorous spirit of intellectual inquiry I encountered while subsequently studying philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, a spirit that has sustained me throughout this project. For their tuition, generosity, and support, I thank Bob Brandom, Steve Engstrom, Anil Gupta, John McDowell, and Kieran Setiya. Several colleagues and friends, including Lorna Finlayson, Gordon Finlayson , Benjamin Hale, and Chad Kautzer, read parts of the manuscript and offered invaluable suggestions. R. Clifton Spargo and Michael G. Levine revealed themselves as external readers of the manuscript for Fordham University Press; their copious, meticulous, and astute criticisms and recommendations improved the final version in countless ways. Acknowledgments xii This book was completed during a challenging year, when I realized my great fortune to have such sage and steadfast friends, in particular , Cordula Bandt, Ken Gemes, Barry Scherr, Tim Sergay, Pam Shime, Rochelle Tobias, William Todd, Eric Walczak, Christine Young, and Kuang-Yu Young. At CU Boulder I want to thank the Philosophy Department for welcoming an interloper so warmly; I have benefited greatly from discussions, suggestions, and encouragement from David Boonin, Mitzi Lee, Graham Oddie, and most especially , Bob Hanna. Likewise, Scot Douglass, Zilla Goodman, Elissa Guralnick, Saskia Hintz, Jim Massengale, and Tracey Sands have all provided wise counsel and good cheer when most needed. I am also especially grateful to my department’s program assistants, Karen Hawley and Janis Kaufman, whose conscientious and convivial support makes my work much, much easier. My thanks to Tim Riggs and Eric Walczak, who provided essential assistance with the visuals, and to Steve Bailey, wise in all things technical. My profound gratitude goes to Bruce Benson, president of the University of Colorado, Kathleen Bollard of Faculty Affairs, and especially John Frazee of Faculty Relations: without their judicious support, this book would not have been completed. Finally, I want to express my deepest appreciation to Helen Tartar, Tom Lay, and the entire staff at Fordham University Press, for support extending far beyond the typical purview of an academic press. My thanks to the Fulbright Commission and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for financial support during my sojourn in Berlin, the Deutsches Literturarchiv in Marbach, and Eric Celan, for permission to examine unpublished writings of Paul Celan, Barbara Schäche of the Landesarchiv Berlin for last minute help with photographs, and the University of Colorado, Boulder, for a Kayden grant that helped underwrite the costs of image reproductions and permissions. Early versions of parts of Chapter 1 appeared in Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und Allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft 47.2 (2002) and Essays in the Art and Theory of Translation, edited by L. A. Grenoble and J. M. Kopper (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997). An early version of Chapter 2 appeared in Modernism/Modernity 12.1 (2005). An early version of Chapter 3 appeared in Modern Austrian Literature 41.4 (2008). I thank the publishers for permission to reprint this material in revised form. ...