Article Preview
An Autobiography, by Solomon Maimon; and The Rabbi of Bacherach: A Fragment, by Heinrich Heine
- Abstract
Solomon Maimon writes in his autobiography: “Had I been urged in that direction I would have become a great, though not an accurate painter, i.e., have been able to sketch the out-lines of a picture easily, without having the patience to work out its minute details.”
His career foundered, not on the difficulties the German Jews of the late 18th century met on their road to emancipation, but on obstacles inside himself. His contemporaries met him halfway on several occasions. Immanuel Kant accepted his book on transcendental philosophy as the work of a disciple. His the work of Moses Mendelssohn there was forming a group of enlightened Jews who would have been well equipped to recognize and assist Maimon, however little he fitted the Mendelssohnian idea of a sage.
About the Author
This article is available for purchase to subscribers and for individual purchase
Subscriber Sign In
Not A Subscriber?
