Human Fragments: Plastic Surgery and Bare Life in Joseph Roth’s Feuilletons

This article examines three of Joseph Roth’s feuilletons in the context of the intersecting discourses of anthropology, medicine, and ethics in post-World War I Europe. Specifically, the article connects Roth’s description of the reconstructive surgery ward at the Charité hospital in Berlin, founded by pioneering surgeon Jacques Joseph, to the political-philosophical notion of “bare life,” in order to show how Roth thereby points to a new concept of human being beyond the prevailing anthropological categories of the time.