Illuminations includes Benjamin's views on Kafka, with whom he felt the closest personal affinity, his studies on Baudelaire and Proust (both of whom he translated), his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's Epic Theater.Īlso included are his penetrating study on "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an illuminating discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his thesis on the philosophy of history. At the end of this journey, Benjamin as a constellation may shine in close proximity or in proportion to the darkness of these desolate times.Studies on contemporary art and culture by one of the most original, critical and analytical minds of this century. Perpetually referenced, and still easily cited, arguably more than any figures in any field, he often seems inaccessible to the point where it is difficult, if not impossible to answer the question, 'Who is Benjamin?' This difficulty, however, may have less to do with his proximity to the impenetrable 'Castle' than to do with our waiting for him way too long as if 'Before the Law.' By carefully re(re)ading innumerable 'constellations' he crafts with Kafka, Brecht, Kracauer, Schmitt, and Baudelaire, or, on a different register, cinema, art history, politics, theology and history, we will strive to give names to those portals and pathways, some of which he could not manage to give proper names, whenever necessary. “he unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be.” This (in)famous definition of the notion of 'aura', perhaps, couldn't be more applicable to Walter Benjamin himself. Aspects of Benjamin's thought have also been associated with the recent revival of political theology, although it is doubtful this reception is true to the tendencies of Benjamin's own political thought. The ‘Critique of Violence’ and ‘On the Concept of History’ are important sources for Derrida's discussion of messianicity, which has been influential, along with Paul de Man's discussion of allegory, for the poststructuralist reception of Benjamin's writings. Benjamin's messianic understanding of history has been an enduring source of theoretical fascination and frustration for a diverse range of recent philosophical thinkers, including Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben and, in a critical context, Jürgen Habermas. One-Way Street and the work arising from his unfinished research on nineteenth century Paris (The Arcades Project), provide a theoretical stimulus for cultural theory and philosophical concepts of the modern. His essay on ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproducibility’ remains a major theoretical text for film theory. ![]() An understanding of the intellectual context of his work has contributed to the recent philosophical revival of Early German Romanticism. Despite the voluminous size of the secondary literature that it has produced, his work remains a continuing source of productivity. (A two-volume selection was published in German in 1955, with a full edition not appearing until 1972–89 English anthologies first appeared in 19 the four-volume Selected Writings, 1996–2003.) Originally received in the context of literary theory and aesthetics, the philosophical depth and cultural breadth of Benjamin's thought have only recently begun to be fully appreciated. The delayed appearance of Benjamin's collected writings has determined and sustained the Anglophone reception of his work. In the 1930s, Benjamin's efforts to develop a politically oriented, materialist aesthetic theory proved an important stimulus for both the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory and the Marxist poet and dramatist Bertolt Brecht. Adorno's conception of philosophy's actuality or adequacy to the present (Adorno 1931). They were a decisive influence upon Theodor W. ![]() Primarily regarded as a literary critic and essayist, the philosophical basis of Benjamin's writings is increasingly acknowledged. Walter Benjamin's importance as a philosopher and critical theorist can be gauged by the diversity of his intellectual influence and the continuing productivity of his thought. NOTE: This original entry from 2011 has been updated in a 2015 revision by the authors, available on the SEP website.
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