The Cambridge Introduction to Walter Benjamin PDF
Preview The Cambridge Introduction to Walter Benjamin
This page intentionally left blank TheCambridgeIntroductionto Walter Benjamin Forstudentsofmoderncriticismandtheory,WalterBenjamin’s writingshavebecomeessentialreading.Hisanalysesofphotography, film,language,materialculture,andthepoetCharlesBaudelaire,and hisvastexaminationofthesocial,political,andhistoricalsignificanceof theArcadesofnineteenth-centuryParishaveleftanenduringand importantcriticallegacy.Thisvolumeexaminesindetailasubstantial selectionofhisimportantcriticalwritingsonthesetopicsfrom1916to 1940andoutlineshislifeinpre-warGermany,hisassociationwiththe FrankfurtSchool,andthedisseminationofhisideasandmethodologies intoavarietyofacademicdisciplinessincehisdeath.DavidFerristraces thedevelopmentofBenjamin’skeycriticalconceptsandprovides studentswithanaccessibleoverviewofthelife,work,andthoughtofone ofthetwentiethcentury’smostimportantliteraryandculturalcritics. DavidS.FerrisisProfessorofComparativeLiteratureattheUniversity ofColoradoatBoulder. The Cambridge Introduction to Walter Benjamin DAVID S. FERRIS CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521864589 © David S. Ferris 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-42907-1 eBook (EBL) ISBN-13 978-0-521-86458-9 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-68308-1 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. “Images–mygreat,myprimitivepassion.” WalterBenjamin Contents Preface pageix Acknowledgments xi Listofabbreviations xii 1 Life 1 1892–1912Berlin:childhoodandschoolyears 2 1912–1917University,war,andmarriage 4 1917–1925Pursuitofanacademiccareer 8 1925–1933Criticalambitions 12 1933–1940ExileinParis 16 1940FlightfromEurope 19 2 Contexts 22 ThestudentyouthmovementandtheFirst WorldWar 22 TheGeorgeSchool 23 TheWeimarRepublicandtheriseofNationalSocialism 24 MarxismandtheFrankfurtSchool 26 3 Works 29 (a)Metaphysicalbeginnings1914–1918 29 “TheLifeofStudents” 29 “TwoPoemsbyFriedrichHo¨lderlin” 33 “OnLanguageinGeneralandontheLanguage ofMan” 36 “OntheProgramoftheComingPhilosophy” 42 (b)Raisingcriticism1919–1925 45 TheConceptofCriticisminGermanRomanticism 47 vii viii Contents “CritiqueofViolence” 52 “Goethe’sElectiveAffinities”57 “TheTaskoftheTranslator” 62 OriginoftheGermanTragicDrama 66 (c)Culture,politics,andcriticism1926–1931 74 One-WayStreet 75 “Surrealism.TheLastSnapshotofthe EuropeanIntelligentsia” 78 “OntheImageofProust” 82 “TheoriesofGermanFascism” 84 “KarlKraus” 88 (d)Mediaandrevolution1931–1936 91 “LittleHistoryofPhotography” 92 “TheAuthorasProducer” 96 “FranzKafka.OntheTenthAnniversaryofHisDeath” 102 “TheWorkofArtintheAgeofItsTechnical Reproducibility” 104 “TheStoryteller” 111 (e)History,materialism,andthemessianic 1936–1940 114 TheArcadesProject 115 CharlesBaudelaire:ALyricPoetintheAgeof HighCapitalism 122 “OntheConceptofHistory” 130 4 Critical reception 136 Translationandearlyhistoryofreception 136 PoliticalandMarxist-influencedreception 140 Receptioninliteraryandcriticaltheory 141 Benjaminacrossdisciplinesandinrecent criticalapproaches 143 Notes 146 Guidetofurtherreading 148 Index 155
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