Hannah Arendt: the double repositioning of the term shlemihl for political thinking

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight the value acquired by the term shlemihl, coming from Yiddish, a dialect generally characterized as Judeo-German, in Hannah Arendt's work. The word shlemihl designates a clumsy, unproductive being, unadapted to the rules. As a hypothesis, it is suggested that Arendt produces a movement of double repositioning of the word shlemihl: on the one hand, she takes a word from Yiddish, as a particular form of speech, to turn it into a general concept that allows reflections that go beyond Judaism and are projected towards problems of relevance. On the other hand, she is based on a popular and consolidated term, especially in literature, to turn it into fruitful exercises of political thought. This conjecture will be validated through a bibliographical review procedure of Arendt’s writings, books and academic articles. First, the connotations of the word shlemihl will be briefly explored, exemplified by characters in texts by Sholem Aleijem, Adelbert von Chamisso and Heinrich Heine, which will be a fundamental reference for Arendt. Secondly, attention will be paid to the importance of the term in the book Rahel Varnhagen. The life of a Jewish woman, published in 1957. Then, two texts of Arendt that give importance to the shlemihl will be studied, We, refugees of January 1943, and, above all, The hidden tradition, of February 1944. The proposed path will contribute to notice the mutations that take place in the use of the word shlemihl by the German author.