Talk:Robert Ludwig Kahn

Latest comment: 3 years ago by Kusma in topic GA Review
Good articleRobert Ludwig Kahn has been listed as one of the Language and literature good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
August 14, 2021Good article nomineeListed
Did You Know
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 22, 2020.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that poet and scholar Robert L. Kahn, who escaped Nazi Germany with a Kindertransport, became a professor of German at Rice University in Houston, Texas?
On this day...Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on April 22, 2023, and April 22, 2024.

Gruppe 47

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Recordings of the meeting in Princeton exist:

However, "The only apparent lacunae in the recordings are the readings of two literary scholars who were living in the United States and invited to take part, Robert Kahn (Houston) and Reinhard Paul Becker (New York)." But it could be another confirmation of the invitation if anyone needs one. —Kusma (t·c) 17:25, 23 February 2020 (UTC)Reply

GA Review

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Robert Ludwig Kahn/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Tkbrett (talk · contribs) 14:08, 10 August 2021 (UTC)Reply


Glad to take this one on. Comments will follow. Tkbrett (✉) 14:08, 10 August 2021 (UTC)Reply

Good Article review progress box
Criteria: 1a. prose ( ) 1b. MoS ( ) 2a. ref layout ( ) 2b. cites WP:RS ( ) 2c. no WP:OR ( ) 2d. no WP:CV ( )
3a. broadness ( ) 3b. focus ( ) 4. neutral ( ) 5. stable ( ) 6a. free or tagged images ( ) 6b. pics relevant ( )
Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked   are unassessed

Lead

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  • Seems somewhat short. I'd elaborate on the details a bit.
    • You're right. My leads are always too short. Will work on this.
    • I've done some work. Let me know whether you'd like more details here (or elsewhere in the article; I can try to expand some things).
    • Yes, this is much better.

Early life and education

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  • Gustav was arrested ...: A teacher once told me to avoid passive voicing as best you can, but especially when dealing with Nazis. Who in particular arrested him? The Gestapo? The SS?
  • ... but was released in February 1939.: any info on why?
    • I don't know any details, but I think this was just typical of the mass arrests after Kristallnacht. Unlikely Gestapo, more likely SA/SS/regular police. Many Jews were arrested and later released again.
      • If the sources don't say who was doing the arresting then I guess we're out of luck. If the sources say that his arrest was in-line with the mass arrests, the sentence should be reworded to make this clear (avoid WP:EASTEREGG).
  • Be sure to introduce people, such as August von Kotzebue and Hermann Boeschenstein.
    • Did a little. Kotzebue is famous to the present day mostly because he was assassinated in 1819, but that's not what Kahn was interested in.

Academic career

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  • MOS:OVERSECTION mentions: "Very short sections and subsections clutter an article with headings and inhibit the flow of the prose. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheading." I think this section can be joined with the next (Research interests and students).
    • Good point.
  • Another name to introduce: Käte Hamburger.
    • Done.

Research interests and students

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  • romanticism: probably ought to be capitalized and linked to Romanticism.
    • I linked Romantic Era to romanticism just before. A bit suboptimal to repeat this so quickly.
      • Whoops, I missed "Romantic Era" on my first reading. Disregard the linking.
  • ... part of the Kritische Friedrich-Schlegel-Ausgabe.: that what?
    • Not sure I understand your question. Explained a bit. The edition is still unfinished (currently 35 volumes are planned), but then, neither is the Forster edition.
      • Sorry, this was supposed to have said "the what?"; I just meant the book needed to be introduced properly, which it now is.

Personal life and death

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  • Kahn's mother was deported to Auschwitz in February 1943[11] and was killed there ...: Again, passive voicing. I presume it would be fine to write: The Nazis deported Kahn's mother to Auschwitz ...
    • Passive voice is all I have in the sources, and no clear actors. I don't know whether all those involved in deporting her were indeed Nazis, but it is of course highly likely that most of them were (those ordering the deportation and death certainly were).
      • If we can't assign blame to specific actors, the sentence should at least put her deportation and murder in the context of Jewish deportations during the Holocaust.
        • Tried to expand this a bit; not sure how much I should write here. Sadly, a very common story.
          • Much better.
  • Kahn's suicide has been blamed ...: blamed by whom?
    • I've used active voice to say who said what, and expanded a bit more with what his widow said many years later.
      • Much better.

Final comments and verdict

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  • I made several fixes as I made my way through the article. Let me know if you disagree with anything.
    • Except for a change of "Robert" to "Kahn" that I'm not sure about, definitive improvements. Thanks.
      • I think it's preferred to use the family name of the article subject per MOS:SURNAME. MOS:SAMESURNAME mentions to use first names only where confusion may arise, so let me know if there are any instances where you think the use of "Khan" introduces confusion.
        • Don't think it is confusing. My personal preference (or what I write unreflectedly) probably isn't 100% aligned with the MOS, so let's follow the MOS.
  • Copyvio score is a good 12.3%.
  • I've dealt with Canadian and US image in the past and I think it is in the PD in both nations. The new template they have there makes things a lot easier to figure out. In any case, the fair use justification seems good.
    • I think when I originally uploaded the picture I wasn't sure whether I needed to know who the photographer was, and then just went for fair use. But if you think it should be PD, I'll make another effort to convince myself and then try to upload it to Commons in the highest resolution I can manage.
    • Called it PD.
  •   On hold: Kusma, an interesting person. Given that he was at Rice University in 1962, I wonder if he made it to JFK's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech. Once the above comments are dealt with it should be an easy pass. Tkbrett (✉) 23:57, 12 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
    Thank you for your helpful comments! I'll get to them over the next few days. My Wikipedia availability is a bit unpredictable, but worst case I should be done by Thursday. JFK: entirely possible, as it was late in the year when he started, and I assume they returned from Germany before September. (The family also almost interacted with other presidents: Lisa Kahn taught German and Psychology at The Kinkaid School, but I'm pretty sure she didn't teach George W Bush and probably didn't teach his brother Jeb). —Kusma (talk) 10:34, 13 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
    Made a couple of changes and comments. Will do the lead as soon as I can. —Kusma (talk) 23:27, 13 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
    @Tkbrett thanks a lot for the comments, including the new ones. Please have a look at the new lead section and let me know whether I've messed up anything else in the meantime. —Kusma (talk) 15:01, 14 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
     Pass, thanks Kusma, a very nice little article. Tkbrett (✉) 22:22, 14 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
    Thanks @Tkbrett for the pleasant and thorough review! —Kusma (talk) 05:57, 15 August 2021 (UTC)Reply