Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings by Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings by Walter Benjamin

Collected here are Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, and The Author as Producer, the meditation A Berlin Chronicle, discussions of photography and the French writer, and previously untranslated pieces on such subjects as language and memory, theological criticism and literary history, astrology and the newspaper, Valery, Hitler, and Mickey Mouse.

[Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
For those who know only the small selection of essays and longer texts previously translated into English, this book may be a revelationSelected Writings: Volume 2 spanning the period from his abandonment of academia and his emergence as an important literary journalist in 1927 to his near silencing after the Nazis seized power and his exile in 1934, shows the writer at his sparkling best.

-- Paul Mattick * New York Times Book Review *

[Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
The period from 1927 to 1934 spanned in this volume was for Walter Benjamin both grievous and fertile...The range of topics and perspectives is immense. It extends from considerations on kitsch and pornography to repeated encounters, personal or indirect, with Gide, Kierkegaard and surrealism. The cultural history of toys fascinates Benjamin as he records his own Berlin childhood. Insights into 'Left-Wing Melancholy' alternate with thoughts on Mickey Mouse, on Chaplin, and on graphology.

-- George Steiner * The Observer *
This awesome 800-page collection demonstrates that Benjamin was able to pack more thought into the years 1931–34 than most people manage in a lifetime...Altogether indispensable. -- Steven Poole * The Guardian *
After the lede comes the body of the essay, where the meat is served up. When a critic as astute as German man of letters Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) writes about a subject as rich as his fellow journalist Karl Kraus (1874-1936), the cut can be rich, marbled and juicy...Topics in other pieces gathered here range from highbrow analysis ('Criticism as the Fundamental Discipline of Literary History') to pop-culture commentary ('Reflections on Radio,' 'Mickey Mouse'). -- Dennis Drabelle * Washington Post Book World *

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was the author of many works of literary and cultural analysis. Michael W. Jennings is Class of 1900 Professor of Modern Languages at Princeton University. Howard Eiland is an editor and translator of Benjamin’s writings. Gary Smith is an editor at work on the Einstein Papers project.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780674017467
ISBN 10	0674017463
Title	Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings
Author	Walter Benjamin
Series	Volume 2
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Harvard University Press
Year published	2005-06-15
Number of pages	480
Prizes	Nominated for Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature 2006
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.