Illuminations: Essays and ReflectionsEssays and reflections from one of the twentieth century’s most original cultural critics, with an introduction by Hannah Arendt. Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode; and his theses on the philosophy of history. Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin’s life in a dark historical era. Leon Wieseltier’s preface explores Benjamin’s continued relevance for our times. Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was a German-Jewish Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. He was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory and was also greatly inspired by the Marxism of Bertolt Brecht and Jewish mysticism as presented by Gershom Scholem. |
Contents
A Talk about Book Collecting | |
An Introduction to the Translation of Baudelaires Tableaux Parisiens | |
Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov | |
On the Tenth Anniversary of His Death | |
Some Reflections on Kafka | |
What Is Epic Theater? | |
On Some Motifs in Baudelaire | |
The Image of Proust | |
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction | |
Theses on the Philosophy of History | |
Back Matter | |
Back Cover | |
Spine | |
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Abel Gance actor Adorno appear artistic aura Baudelaire Baudelaire's beautiful become Brecht Briefe camera century collection collector concept criticism crowd cult value Dadaists death dialectical dream element epic theater essay everything existence experience eyes Fascism father figure film fldneur Franz Kafka function German gestures Goethe hand historical materialist human hunchback insight Jewish Jews Kafka Karl Kraus language later Leskov linguistic literary literature living look lyric poetry Marxism masses matter Max Brod means memory ment mode nature never novel object original painting parables Paris past Paul Valery philosophy photography picture play poem poet poetry present production Proust reader reality regarded relationship Scholem Schriften sense shock Shuvalkin significance social sound film speak Stefan George story storyteller strange sure task things thinking thought tion tradition translation truth turned unique Walter Benjamin Werner Kraft words writing wrote