Stanford University
Redemption and Jewish Modernity: The Case of Hannah Arendt
Ariel Horowitz is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at Stanford University, focusing on modern Jewish literature and working across German, English, and Hebrew. Ariel’s dissertation focuses on twentieth century engagements with the idea of redemption in Jewish literature and thought. Clouded by a profound disillusionment with teleological and linear views of history, the twentieth century has inspired Jewish writers and thinkers to reconsider the concept of redemption and rethink its implications. Through a comparative analysis of three prominent writers—Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth, and S. Y. Agnon—and incorporating close readings, critical theory, secondary literature, and archival material, the dissertation offers a definition of redemption as the cessation of longing, describes the enduring appeal of redemption, and traces the dialectics of redemption in the writings of Roth, Agnon, and Arendt.
Ariel is also a novelist: his debut novel, Our Finest, was published in Hebrew with Keter Publishing House in 2021; his second novel, The Ghost Editor, was published with Keter in 2024. Both novels have been critically acclaimed and became bestsellers. For his creative writing, Ariel has received the 2024 Levi Eshkol Literary Award. His essays and writings on cultural affairs have appeared in venues such as Granta, Haaretz, Jewish Review of Books, and Oh! Literary Journal.