Walter Benjamin

Benjamin in 1928 Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, Jewish mysticism, and neo-Kantianism, Benjamin made influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. He was associated with the Frankfurt School and also maintained formative friendships with thinkers such as playwright Bertolt Brecht and Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem. He was related to German political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt through her first marriage to Benjamin's cousin Günther Anders, though the friendship between Arendt and Benjamin outlasted her marriage to Anders. Both Arendt and Anders were students of Martin Heidegger, whom Benjamin considered a nemesis.

Among Benjamin's best known works are the essays "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940). His major work as a literary critic included essays on Baudelaire, Goethe, Kafka, Kraus, Leskov, Proust, Walser, Trauerspiel and translation theory. He also made major translations into German of the ''Tableaux Parisiens'' section of Baudelaire's ''Les Fleurs du mal'' and parts of Proust's ''À la recherche du temps perdu''.

Of the hidden principle organizing Walter Benjamin's thought Scholem wrote unequivocally that "Benjamin was a philosopher", while his younger colleagues Arendt and Adorno contend that he was "not a philosopher". Scholem remarked "The peculiar aura of authority emanating from his work tended to incite contradiction". Benjamin himself considered his research to be theological, though he eschewed all recourse to traditionally metaphysical sources of transcendentally revealed authority.

In 1940, at the age of 48, Benjamin died by suicide at Portbou on the French–Spanish border while attempting to escape the advance of the Third Reich. Though popular acclaim eluded him during his life, the decades following his death won his work posthumous renown. Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 20 results of 54 for search 'Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940', query time: 0.03s Refine Results
  1. 1
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1987
    Other Authors: “…Benjamín, Walter, 1892-1940…”
    Book
  2. 2
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1996
    Book
  3. 3
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1993
    Book
  4. 4
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1995
    Book
  5. 5
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1970
    Book
  6. 6
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1996
    Book
  7. 7
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1998
    Book
  8. 8
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1999
    Book
  9. 9
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1975
    Book
  10. 10
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1971
    Book
  11. 11
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 2005
    Book
  12. 12
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1994
    Book
  13. 13
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1972
    Book
  14. 14
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1973
    Book
  15. 15
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 2007
    Book
  16. 16
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 2010
    Get full text
    Book
  17. 17
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1993
    Book
  18. 18
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 1971
    Book
  19. 19
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 2009
    Book
  20. 20
    by Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940
    Published 2012
    Book
Search Tools: RSS Feed