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Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, 4: 1938–1940
Harvard University Press, 1996 Cloth: 978-0-674-01076-5 Library of Congress Classification PT2603.E455A26 1996 Dewey Decimal Classification 838.91209
ABOUT THIS BOOK
ABOUT THIS BOOK
"Every line we succeed in publishing today...is a victory wrested from the powers of darkness." So wrote Walter Benjamin in January 1940. Not long afterward, he himself would fall prey to those powers, a victim of suicide following a failed attempt to flee the Nazis. However insistently the idea of catastrophe hangs over Benjamin's writings in the final years of his life, the "victories wrested" in this period nonetheless constitute some of the most remarkable twentieth-century analyses of the emergence of modern society. The essays on Charles Baudelaire are the distillation of a lifetime of thinking about the nature of modernity. They record the crisis of meaning experienced by a civilization sliding into the abyss, even as they testify to Benjamin's own faith in the written word. This volume ranges from studies of Baudelaire, Brecht, and the historian Carl Jochmann to appraisals of photography, film, and poetry. At their core is the question of how art can survive and thrive in a tumultuous time. Here we see Benjamin laying out an ethic for the critic and artist--a subdued but resilient heroism. At the same time, he was setting forth a sociohistorical account of how art adapts in an age of violence and repression. Working at the height of his powers to the very end, Benjamin refined his theory of the mass media that culminated in the final version of his essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility." Also included in this volume is his influential piece "On the Concept of History," completed just before his death. The book is remarkable for its inquiry into the nature of "the modern" (especially as revealed in Baudelaire), for its ideas about the transmogrification of art and the radical discontinuities of history, and for its examples of humane life and thought in the midst of barbarism. The entire collection is eloquent testimony to the indomitable spirit of humanity under siege. Table of Contents: FRUITS OF EXILE, 1938 (PART 2) The Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire THEORY OF REMEMBRANCE, 1939 Review of Hönigswald's Philosophie und Sprache MATERIALIST THEOLOGY, 1940 On Some Motifs in Baudelaire A Note on the Texts Reviews of this book: Harvard's systematic presentation of the work of German cultural critic Benjamin has proved a revelation...This is another splendid volume. --Publishers Weekly Reviews of this book: Readers new to Benjamin will find this a welcome introduction to a challenging but rewarding writer. Those already familiar with his work will be grateful to be reminded, once again, of the wisdom of his maxium, "all the decisive blows are struckleft-handed." --Graham McCann, Financial Times Reviews of this book: The edition at hand...represents the first serious attempt to present his works with systematic chronology, judicious but inclusive selection, and sensitively accurate translation. The effect is nothing less than electric. --Peter Brier, Macgrill's Literary Annual Reviews of this book: The latest volume of Havard's majestic annoted edition [is] exhilarating...You feel smarter just holding this book in your hand. --Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World Reviews of this book: Whenever [Benjamin] turned his incisive gaze...the clarity of morning's first light shines forth. --Haim Chertok, Jerusalem Post Reviews of this book: A glance at the table of contents...shows us at once Benjamin's provocativeness and his infinite variety. --Marshall Berman, The Nation Reviews of this book: There is nothing like Benjamin, and I can hardly imagine a more rewarding book being published this year. --David Wheatley, Irish Times (Dublin) Reviews of this book: The final volume in this collection of the German philosopher's writing, this title covers the last three years of Benjamin's life and is masterfully translated, edited, and annotated. Presented here are Benjamin's grandest themes: the arcades of Paris, Baudelaire, the concept of remembrance, and materialist theology. Also included is the third version of Benjamin's most famous essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility," which was unpublished in the author's lifetime. This essay alone makes the volume indispensable for any scholar of interwar literature, philosophy, or modern European thought. Together with the first three volumes in the set (1996-2002), this is one of the most remarkable editorial achievements in contemporary thought and politics. --M. Uebel, Choice Reviews of this book: Walter Benjamin's Selected Writings, Volume 4, 1938-40 brings to a conclusion the magisterial series published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. --Ciaran Carson, The Guardian See other books on: Benjamin, Walter | Bullock, Marcus Paul | Selected Writings | Smith, Gary | Walter Benjamin See other titles from Harvard University Press |
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