Modernity, Progress & Anxiety:

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The Dreyfus AffairHIS 102 Western Civilization II

Kara Heitz

Modernity•What does this term mean? What do we think of as “modern”?

• Late 1800s/early 1900s as both era of:

• Optimism: progress, improvement, spread of the ideals of the Enlightenment (equality, toleration, rationality)

AND

• Pessimism: anxieties about modern life; failures of Enlightenment ideals

• Case: Anti-Semitism and the Dreyfus Affair

Optimism about new technologies, but also pessimism about their effects on human interactions. Can you think of parallels in contemporary times?

“… at heart, [is she] an optimist or a pessimist? Those seem to be the only two fashionable religions left to us nowadays.“

- From Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband (1895)

The Dreyfus Affair

Discussion Questions“The Story of the Jews” video segment:• What were some of the stereotypes about Jews in late 1800s Europe?

Where do they come from? What helped cause these images to circulate?• Why was the Dreyfus Affair so controversial? Why did it divide the

French people so strongly?• How does the Dreyfus affair call ideas of the Enlightenment such as

equality and progress into question?• The Jews are called “a nation without a home”. What does this mean?

Excerpts from Theodor Herzl’s “The Jewish State” (1896):• What is Herzl’s reaction to anti-Semitism in Europe in the late 1800s?• How does Herzl justify the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine?• What are the contemporary effects of his idea?

Antisemitism in late 1800s France

French political cartoon from the newspaper le Figaro (Feb. 14, 1898)

Title: “A family dinner”

Caption for top picture: “Above all, let us not discuss the Dreyfus Affair!”

Caption for bottom picture:“They have discussed it”

Drawing of “a family dinner” in French newspaper le Figaro, Feb. 14, 1898.

Top caption:“Above all, let us not discuss the Dreyfus Affair.”

Bottom caption:“They have discussed it.”

"A Second Degradation“, cover of U.S. magazine Harper’s Weekly, Sept. 23 1899

A French military officer divests the French Republic of her founding principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

“Will she be rescued?” from British magazine Puck, Jan. 18, 1899

Emile Zola

Nations and States• What is a “nation”? What defines people who share a “nationality”?

• Common heritage, ethnicity, religion, language, ties to a certain landOR• Common culture, ideals, values

• What makes someone French? German? British? American?• More limited “tribal” definition versus more expansive “cultural” definition

• What is a state?• Autonomous and sovereign political unit• Should all nations have their own state? Should a state only be comprised of one nation?

• What about minority groups? Are they part of the “nation”?• How is “minority “defined? How is “the majority” is defined?

• Zionism, the Jewish state, and the “nation”• Jews in late 19th century Europe v. Palestinians in 21st century Israel