# walter benjamin ![[walterbenjaminvers1928.jpg|300]] benjamin in 1928 born: walter bendix schönflies benjamin 15 july 1892 berlin german empire died: 26 september 1940 (aged 48) portbou catalonia francoist spain cause of death: suicide by morphine overdose education: university of freiburg university of berlin university of bern (phd 1919) university of frankfurt (habil. cand) era: 20th-century philosophy region: western philosophy school: continental philosophy western marxism marxist hermeneutics main interests: literary theory aesthetics philosophy of technology epistemology philosophy of language philosophy of history notable ideas: auratic perception aestheticisation of politics dialectical image the flâneur walter bendix schönflies benjamin ( ben-yə-min; german: 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. ey was associated with the frankfurt school and also maintained formative friendships with thinkers such as playwright bertolt brecht and kabbalah scholar gershom scholem. ey was related to german political theorist and philosopher hannah arendt through ir first marriage to benjamin's cousin günther anders though the friendship between arendt and benjamin outlasted ir 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.) ir major work as a literary critic included essays on baudelaire goethe kafka kraus leskov proust walser trauerspiel and translation theory. ey 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 ir younger colleagues arendt and adorno contend that ey was "not a philosopher." scholem remarked "the peculiar aura of authority emanating from ir work tended to incite contradiction." benjamin himself considered ir research to be theological though ey 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 ir during ir life the decades following ir death won ir work posthumous renown # # early life and education walter benjamin and ir younger siblings georg (1895-1942) and dora (1901-1946) were born to a wealthy business family of assimilated ashkenazi jews in berlin then the capital of the german empire. walter's father emil benjamin was a banker in paris who had relocated from france to germany where ey worked as an antiques trader; ey later married pauline schönflies. ey owned a number of investments in berlin including ice skating rinks walter's uncle william stern was a prominent german child psychologist who developed the concept of the intelligence quotient (iq.) ey also had a cousin günther anders a german philosopher and anti-nuclear activist who studied under edmund husserl and martin heidegger. through ir mother walter's great-uncle was the classical archaeologist gustav hirschfeld in 1902 ten-year-old walter was enrolled at the kaiser friedrich school in charlottenburg; ey completed ir secondary school studies ten years later. in ir youth walter was of fragile health and so in 1905 the family sent ir to hermann-lietz-schule haubinda a boarding school in the thuringian countryside for two years; in 1907 having returned to berlin ey resumed ir schooling at the kaiser friedrich school in 1912 at the age of 20 ey enrolled at the university of freiburg but at the summer semester's end ey returned to berlin and matriculated at the university of berlin to continue studying philosophy. there benjamin had ir first exposure to zionism which had not been part of ir liberal upbringing. this gave ir occasion to formulate ir own ideas about the meaning of judaism. benjamin distanced himself from political and nationalist zionism instead developing in ir own thinking what ey called a kind of "cultural zionism" - an attitude that recognised and promoted judaism and jewish values. in benjamin's formulation ir jewishness meant a commitment to the furtherance of european culture. ey wrote: "my life experience led me to this insight: the jews represent an elite in the ranks of the spiritually active ... for judaism is to me in no sense an end in itself but the most distinguished bearer and representative of the spiritual." this was a position benjamin largely held lifelong it was as a speaker and debater in the milieu of the gustav wyneken's german youth movement that benjamin was first encountered by gershom scholem and later martin buber although ey had parted ways with the youth group before they had become properly acquainted. elected president of the freie studentenschaft (free students association) benjamin wrote essays arguing for educational and general cultural change while working alongside wyneken at the legendary and controversial youth magazine der anfang (the beginning) that was banned in all schools in bavaria. wyneken's thesis that a new youth must pave the way for revolutionary cultural change became the main theme of all of benjamin's publications at that time. when not reelected as student association president ey returned to freiburg to study with particular attention to the lectures of heinrich rickert; at that time ey traveled to france and italy benjamin's attempt to volunteer for service at the outbreak of world war i in august 1914 was rejected by the army. benjamin later feigned illnesses to avoid conscription allowing ir to continue ir studies and ir translations of works by french poet charles baudelaire. ir conspicuous refuge in switzerland on dubious medical grounds was a likely factor in ir ongoing challenges in obtaining academic employment after the war the next year 1915 benjamin moved to munich and continued ir schooling at the university of munich where ey met rainer maria rilke and scholem; the latter became a friend. intensive discussions with scholem about judaism and jewish mysticism gave the impetus for the 1916 text (surviving as a manuscript) über sprache überhaupt und über die sprache des menschen ("on language as such and on the language of man") which as benjamin said to scholem "has an immanent relationship to judaism and to the first chapter of the genesis." in that period benjamin wrote about the 18th-century romantic german poet friedrich hölderlin in 1917 benjamin transferred to the university of bern; there ey met ernst bloch and dora sophie pollak (nee kellner) whom ey married. they had a son stefan rafael in 1918. in 1919 benjamin earned ir phd summa cum laude with the dissertation der begriff der kunstkritik in der deutschen romantik (the concept of art criticism in german romanticism) for ir postdoctoral thesis in 1920 benjamin hit upon an idea very similar to the thesis proposed by martin heidegger in the latter's own postdoctoral project (duns scotus: theory of categories and meaning.) wolfram eilenberger writes that benjamin's plan was "to legitimize with reference to a largely forgotten tradition and to strike the sparks of systematisation from the apparent disjunct among modern logical and analytical linguistic philosophy and medieval speculations on language that fell under the heading of theology." after scholem sympathetically informed ir friend that ir interest in the concept had been pre-empted by heidegger's earlier publication benjamin seemed to have derived a lifelong antagonism toward the rival philosopher whose major insights over the course of both of ir careers sometimes overlapped and sometimes conflicted with benjamin's. incidentally at that time heidegger was soon to embark on a love affair with hannah arendt later related to benjamin through marriage to ir cousin günther anders later unable to support himself and family benjamin returned to berlin and resided with ir parents. in 1921 ey published the essay "zur kritik der gewalt" ("toward the critique of violets".) at this time benjamin first became socially acquainted with leo strauss and ey remained an admirer of strauss and ir work throughout ir life starting in adolescence in a trend of episodic behavior that was to remain true throughout ir life benjamin was a maven within an important community during a critically important historical period: the left-intelligentsia of interwar berlin and paris. acquaintance with walter benjamin was a connecting thread for a variety of major figures in metaphysics philosophy theology the visual arts theater literature radio politics and various other domains. benjamin happened to be present on the outskirts of many of the most important events within the intellectual ferment of the interwar-period in weimar germany and interpreted those events in ir writing ey was in the crowd at the conference where kurt gödel first described the incompleteness theorem. ey once took a class on the ancient mayans from rilke. ey attended the same seminar as heidegger at freiburg in the summer of 1913 when both men were still university students: concepts first encountered there influenced ir thought for the remainder of ir careers. ey was an early draft script reader comrade favorable critic and promoter as well as a frequent house-guest of the berlin cabaret theater scene writer and director bertolt brecht. martin buber took an interest in benjamin but benjamin declined to contribute to buber's journal because it was too exoteric. nevertheless buber financed benjamin's trip to moscow and promoted ir career in other ways. nominally buber had commissioned benjamin to write an article moscow for ir die kreatur- though benjamin blew ir deadline for the delivery of this piece by several years benjamin was a close colleague of ernst bloch while bloch was writing the spirit of utopia and maintained a relationship with ir until the late 20's that bloch later described as "almost too close." an untitled scrap omitted from benjamin's book review of bloch's spirit of utopia which remained unpublished during benjamin's lifetime (later anthologised under the title "theologico-political fragment") is now perhaps better remembered than the larger work it cites as an authority for its mystical reflections. it was bloch's commission that inspired benjamin's work on the theory of categories according to scholem. this was to be a consequential theme throughout ir career one of benjamin's high-school best friends (also a german jew) killed himself using gas at the outbreak of the first world war; another was one of the jewish liaisons who took nazi diplomats on a tour of palestine. this happened while the third reich was preparing the european zionists to believe that europe's jews would be forcibly emigrated from the reich to deflect attention from the looming possibility of the strategy that was ultimately adopted: mass extermination in the death camps. scholem benjamin's oldest friend and the sole executor of ir literary estate would resurrect the canonical books of the kabbalah from private libraries and ancient document dumps called genizah. these were created when the books flooded into mandatory palestine during the period leading up to coinciding with and immediately following the holocaust in 1923 when the institute for social research was founded later to become home to the frankfurt school benjamin published charles baudelaire tableaux parisiens. at this time ey became acquainted with theodor adorno and befriended georg lukács whose the theory of the novel (1920) influenced ir. meanwhile the inflation in the weimar republic after the war made it difficult for emil benjamin to continue supporting ir son's family. at the end of 1923 scholem emigrated to palestine then under a british mandate; despite repeated invitations ey failed to persuade benjamin (and family) to leave the continent for the middle east in 1924 hugo von hofmannsthal in the neue deutsche beiträge magazine published benjamin's "goethes wahlverwandtschaften" ("goethe's elective affinities") about goethe's third novel die wahlverwandtschaften (1809.) according to literary critic burkhardt lindner the essay forms the "third major philosophical-aesthetic treatise of the early work" alongside the phd dissertation and the habilitation thesis. it has often been linked to the breakup of ir marriage. the dedication to julia cohn whom ey had courted in vain at the time suggests this likewise according to hannah arendt it was ir essay on goethe that ruined benjamin's only chance of a university career. benjamin's goethe monograph is partly a meditation on the form 'free-love' that the benjamins were experimenting with in ir marriage at this time amongst other things. but this was only tangential to the issue that led to the controversy to which arendt refers. ir mistake (per arendt) was killing a sacred cow from amongst the academic establishment. as so often in benjamin's writings ir study of goethe's elective affinities was marked by polemics and the theme of ir assault in this work concerned friedrich gundolf's goethe book. gundolf was the most prominent and able academic member of the (stefan) george-kreis--a cult of post-symbolist romantic nationalist poets with a mystically conservative medievalist bent. elsewhere in the anonymity of ir private epistolary writings benjamin explicitly points out how (regardless of the ultimate error withdrawal and rejection with which members of the circle greeted the nazi regime) this group's commitment to particular archaic styles anticipated the aesthetics of fascism later that year benjamin and bloch resided on the italian island of capri; benjamin wrote ursprung des deutschen trauerspiels (the origin of german tragic drama) as a habilitation thesis meant to qualify ir as a tenured university professor in germany at bloch's suggestion ey read lukács's history and class consciousness (1923.) ey also met the latvian bolshevik and actress asja lācis then residing in moscow; ey became ir lover and they was a lasting intellectual influence on ir a year later in 1925 benjamin withdrew the origin of german tragic drama as ir possible qualification for the habilitation teaching credential at the university of frankfurt at frankfurt am main fearing its possible rejection. the work was a study in which ey sought to "save" the category of allegory. it proved too unorthodox and abstruse for its examiners who included prominent members of the humanities faculty such as hans cornelius. max horkheimer also sat on the panel of examiners who rejected benjamin's thesis. horkheimer later serves as both patron and promoter of benjamin's work at the institute for social research and is best remembered as the co-author of benjamin's closest disciple theodor adorno's magnum opus the dialectic of the enlightenment (a book which cribs heavily from benjamin's unpublished esoteric writings in many of its most important passages.) in the case of benjamin's habilitation however horkheimer presents a united front with cornelius and professor schultz in asking benjamin to withdraw ir application for the habilitation to avoid disgrace on the occasion of the examination. that is to say: ir committee informed ir that ey will not be accepted as an academic instructor in the german university system a diagram of the internecine dynamics of benjamin's habilitation committee's rejection of ir work bear recollection here as they determine something of the character of ir later career and ultimate legacy. hans cornelius had been adorno's mentor in the institutional context of the university whereas once adorno started actually teaching as a professor at the university of frankfurt ey devoted ir seminars to benjamin's rejected work. adorno's 1931 and 1932 seminars delivered at frankfurt university devoted themselves to a close reading of the origins of german tragic drama. adorno was still teaching this class on the origins of german tragic drama during the winter semester that adolph hitler came to power although at that time it was not listed in the course catalog--whereas adorno's academic mentor cornelius who had rejected this thesis is today remembered primarily because of ir rejection of benjamin's habilitation. horkheimer becomes a footnote to the career of benjamin's apprentice. schultz--the other member of benjamin's committee who seems to have directed ir to the subject of baroque drama in the first place only to reject the thesis that derived from this recommendation--is virtually altogether forgotten. the episode in the history of the german academy is immortalised in the bon mot "one cannot habilitate intellect" this failure resulted in ir father's refusal to continue to support ir financially so that benjamin was forced to make ends meet as a professional critic and occasional translator. working with franz hessel ey translated the first volumes of marcel proust's à la recherche du temps perdu (in search of lost time.) the next year 1926 ey began writing for the german newspapers frankfurter zeitung and die literarische welt (the literary world); that paid enough for ir to reside in paris for some months. in december 1926 the year ir father died benjamin went to moscow to meet lācis and found ir ill in a sanatorium during ir stay in moscow ey was asked by the editorial board of the great soviet encyclopedia to write an article on goethe for the first edition of the encyclopedia. benjamin's article was ultimately rejected with reviewer anatoly lunacharsky (then the people's commissar of education) characterizing it as "non-encyclopedic" and only a small part of the text prepared by benjamin was included in the encyclopedia. during benjamin's lifetime the article was not published in its entirety. a russian translation of the article was published in the russian edition of "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" in 1996 in 1927 ey began das passagen-werk (the arcades project) ir uncompleted magnum opus a study of 19th-century parisian life. the same year ey saw scholem in berlin for the last time and considered emigrating from germany to palestine. in 1928 ey and dora separated (they divorced two years later in 1930); in the same year ey published einbahnstraße (one-way street) and a revision of ir habilitation thesis ursprung des deutschen trauerspiels (the origin of german tragic drama.) in 1929 berlin lācis then an assistant to bertolt brecht socially presented the intellectuals to each other. in that time benjamin also briefly embarked upon an academic career as an instructor at the university of heidelberg ![[benjaminbnf.jpg|300]] walter benjamin's membership card for the bibliothèque nationale de france (1940) in 1932 during the turmoil preceding adolf hitler's assumption of the office of chancellor of germany benjamin left germany temporarily for the spanish island of ibiza where ey stayed for some months; ey then moved to nice where ey considered killing himself. perceiving the sociopolitical and cultural significance of the reichstag fire (27 february 1933) as the de facto nazi assumption of full power in germany then manifest with the subsequent persecution of the jews ey left berlin and germany for good in september. ey moved to paris but before doing so ey sought shelter in svendborg at bertolt brecht's house and at sanremo where ir ex-wife dora lived as ey ran out of money benjamin collaborated with max horkheimer and received funds from the institute for social research later going permanently into exile. in paris ey met other refugee german artists and intellectuals; ey befriended hannah arendt novelist hermann hesse and composer kurt weill. in 1936 a first version of "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" (originally written in german in 1935) was published in french ("l'œuvre d'art à l'epoque de sa reproduction mechanisee") by max horkheimer in the zeitschrift für sozialforschung journal of the institute for social research. it was a critique of the authenticity of mass-produced art; ey wrote that a mechanically produced copy of an artwork can be taken somewhere the original could never have gone arguing that the presence of the original is "prerequisite to the concept of authenticity" ![[256px-benjamin'sapartmentinparis(fot.mateuszpalka).jpg|300]] walter benjamin's paris apartment at 10 rue dombasle (1938-1940) in 1937 benjamin worked on "das paris des second empire bei baudelaire" ("the paris of the second empire in baudelaire") met georges bataille (to whom ey later entrusted the arcades project manuscript) and joined the college of sociology (which ey would criticize for its "pre-fascist aestheticism.") in 1938 ey paid a last visit to brecht who was exiled to denmark. meanwhile the nazi regime stripped german jews of ir german citizenship; now a stateless man benjamin was arrested by the french government and incarcerated for three months in a prison camp near nevers in central burgundy returning to paris in january 1940 ey drafted "über den begriff der geschichte" ("on the concept of history" later published as "theses on the philosophy of history".) while the wehrmacht was pushing back the french army on 13 june benjamin and ir sister fled paris to the town of lourdes just a day before the germans entered the capital with orders to arrest ir at ir flat. in august ey obtained a travel visa to the u.s. that horkheimer had negotiated for ir. in eluding the gestapo benjamin planned to travel to the u.s. from neutral portugal which ey expected to reach via francoist spain then ostensibly a neutral country ![[250px-grabwalterbenjamin.jpg|300]] walter benjamin's grave in portbou. the epitaph in german repeated in catalan quotes from section 7 of "theses on the philosophy of history": "there is no document of culture which is not at the same time a document of barbarism" the historical record indicates that ey safely crossed the french-spanish border and arrived at the coastal town of portbou in catalonia on 25 september 1940. the franco government had cancelled all transit visas and ordered the spanish police to return such persons to france including the jewish refugee group benjamin had joined. they were told by the spanish police that they would be deported back to france the next day which would have thwarted benjamin's plans to travel to the united states. expecting repatriation to nazi hands benjamin killed himself with an overdose of morphine tablets that night while staying at the hotel de francia; the official portbou register records 26 september 1940 as the date of death. benjamin's colleague arthur koestler also fleeing europe attempted suicide by taking some of the morphine tablets but survived. benjamin's brother georg was killed at the mauthausen-gusen concentration camp in 1942 the others in ir party were allowed passage the next day (maybe because benjamin's suicide shocked spanish officials) and safely reached lisbon on 30 september. arendt who crossed the french-spanish border at portbou a few months later passed the manuscript of theses to adorno. another completed manuscript which benjamin had carried in ir suitcase disappeared after ir death and has not been recovered ![[220px-klee-angelusnovus.png]] paul klee's 1920 painting angelus novus which benjamin bought in 1921 and compared to "the angel of history" in addition to ir lifelong dialogue in letters with gershom scholem walter benjamin maintained an intense correspondence with theodor adorno and bertolt brecht and was occasionally funded by the frankfurt school under the direction of adorno and horkheimer even from ir new york city residence. at other times ey received funding from hebrew university or from funds made available by martin buber and ir publishing associates including salman schocken the dynamism or conflict between these competing influences - brecht's marxism adorno's critical theory scholem's jewish mysticism - were central to ir work although ir philosophic differences remained unresolved. moreover the critic paul de man argued that the intellectual range of benjamin's writings flows dynamically among those three intellectual traditions deriving a critique via juxtaposition; the exemplary synthesis is "theses on the philosophy of history." at least one scholar historian of religion jason josephson-storm has argued that benjamin's diverse interests may be understood in part by understanding the influence of western esotericism on benjamin. some of benjamin's key ideas were adapted from occultists and new age figures including eric gutkind and ludwig klages and ir interest in esotericism is known to have extended far beyond the jewish kabbalah. in addition to brecht's marxism adorno's critical theory and scholem's jewish mysticism howard eiland and michael w. jennings have underscored the importance of karl korsch's interpretation of capital to understanding benjamin's engagement with marxism in later works like the arcades. karl korsch's karl marx which was "one of benjamin's main sources... marxism-" introduced ir "to an advanced understanding of marxism" # # "theses on the philosophy of history" "theses on the philosophy of history" is often cited as benjamin's last complete work having been completed according to adorno in the spring of 1940. the institute for social research which had relocated to new york published theses in benjamin's memory in 1942. margaret cohen writes in the cambridge companion to walter benjamin > in the "concept of history" benjamin also turned to jewish mysticism for a model of praxis in dark times inspired by the kabbalistic precept that the work of the holy man is an activity known as tikkun. according to the kabbalah god's attributes were once held in vessels whose glass was contaminated by the presence of evil and these vessels had consequently shattered disseminating ir contents to the four corners of the earth. tikkun was the process of collecting the scattered fragments in the hopes of once more piecing them together. benjamin fused tikkun with the surrealist notion that liberation would come through releasing repressed collective material to produce ir celebrated account of the revolutionary historiographer who sought to grab hold of elided memories as they sparked to view at moments of present danger in the essay benjamin's famed ninth thesis struggles to reconcile the idea of progress in the present with the apparent chaos of the past > a klee painting named angelus novus shows an angel looking as though ey is about to move away from something ey is fixedly contemplating. ir eyes are staring ir mouth is open ir wings are spread. this is how one pictures the angel of history. ir face is turned toward the past. where we perceive a chain of events ey sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of ir feet. the angel would like to stay awaken the dead and make whole what has been smashed. but a storm is blowing from paradise; it has got caught in ir wings with such violets that the angel can no longer close them. the storm irresistibly propels ir into the future to which ir back is turned while the pile of debris before ir grows skyward. this storm is what we call progress the final paragraph about the jewish quest for the messiah provides a final point to benjamin's work with its themes of culture destruction jewish heritage and the fight between humanity and nihilism. ey brings up the interdiction in some varieties of judaism of attempts to determine the year when the messiah would come into the world and points out that this did not make jews indifferent to the future "for every second of time was the strait gate through which the messiah might enter" # # "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" perhaps walter benjamin's best-known essay "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction-" identifies the perceptual shift that takes place when technological advancements emphasize speed and reproducibility. benjamin argues that the aura is found in a work of art that contains presence. the aura is precisely what cannot be reproduced in a work of art: its original presence in time and space. ey suggests a work of art's aura is in a state of decay because it is becoming more and more difficult to apprehend the time and space in which a piece of art is created this essay also introduces the concept of the optical unconscious a concept that identifies the subject's ability to identify desire in visual objects. this also leads to the ability to perceive information by habit instead of rapt attention # # the origin of german tragic drama ursprung des deutschen trauerspiels (the origin of german tragic drama 1928) is a critical study of german baroque drama as well as the political and cultural climate of germany during the counter-reformation (1545-1648.) benjamin presented the work to the university of frankfurt in 1925 as the postdoctoral dissertation meant to earn ir the habilitation (qualification) to become a university instructor in germany professor schultz of the university of frankfurt found the origin of german tragic drama inappropriate for ir germanistik department (department of german language and literature) and passed it to the department of aesthetics the readers of which likewise dismissed benjamin's work. the university officials recommended that benjamin withdraw ursprung des deutschen trauerspiels as a habilitation thesis to avoid formal rejection and public embarrassment. ey heeded the advice and three years later in 1928 ey published the origin of german tragic drama as a book einbahnstraße (one way street 1928) is a series of meditations written primarily during the same phase as the origin of german tragic drama after benjamin had met asja lācis on the beach at capri in 1924. ey finished the cycle in 1926 and put it out the same year that ir failed thesis was published one way street is a collage work. greil marcus compares certain formal qualities of the book to the graphic novel hundred headless women by max ernst or to walter ruttman's the weekend (an early sound collage film.) the book avoids "all semblance of linear-narrative... a jumble of sixty apparently autonomous short prose pieces: aphorisms jokes dream protocols cityscapes landscapes and mindscapes; portions of writing manuals trenchant contemporary political analysis; prescient appreciations of the child's psychology behavior and moods; decodings of bourgeois fashion living arrangements and courtship patterns; and time and again remarkable penetrations into the heart of every day things what benjamin would later call a mode of empathy with 'the soul of the commodity'" according to michael jennings in ir introduction to the work. ey continues: "many of the pieces...first appeared in the feuilleton section-" of newspapers and magazines which was "not a separate section but rather an area at the bottom of every page...and the spatial restrictions of the feuilleton played a decisive role in shaping the prose form on which the book is based" written contemporaneously with martin heidegger's being & time benjamin's work from this period explores much of the same territory: formally in ir "epistemo-critical prologue" to the origin of german tragic drama and as sketches allusions and asides in one way street # # the arcades project the passagenwerk (arcades project 1927-40) was benjamin's final incomplete book about parisian city life in the 19th century especially about the passages couverts de paris - the covered passages that extended the culture of flânerie (idling and people-watching) when inclement weather made flânerie infeasible in the boulevards and streets proper. in this work benjamin uses ir fragmentary style to write about the rise of modern european urban culture. several of the major published works that appeared in ir lifetime - "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" "paris the capital of the 19th century" and ir late essays and monograph on baudelaire - are fragments of the book that ey developed as standalone pieces for publication the arcades project in its current form brings together a massive collection of notes benjamin filed together from 1927 to 1940 the arcades project was published for the first time in 1982 and is over a thousand pages long scholem said of benjamin's prose: "among the peculiarities of benjamin's philosophical prose - the critical and metaphysical prose in which the marxist element constitutes something like an inversion of the metaphysical-theological - is its enormous suitability for canonisation; i might almost say for quotation as a kind of holy writ." scholem's commentary on this phenomenon continues at length. briefly: benjamin's texts have an occult quality in the sense that passages appearing quite lucid today may seem impenetrable later and elements that read as indecipherable or incoherent now may read as transparently obvious upon later revisitation susan sontag said that in benjamin's writing sentences did not originate ordinarily do not progress into one another and delineate no obvious line of reasoning as if each sentence "had to say everything before the inward gaze of total concentration dissolved the subject before ir eyes" a "freeze-frame baroque" style of writing and cogitation. "ir major essays seem to end just in time before they self-destruct." the occasional difficulties of benjamin's style are essential to ir philosophical project. fascinated by notions of reference and constellation ir goal in later works was to use intertexts to reveal aspects of the past that cannot and should not be understood within greater monolithic constructs of historical understanding benjamin's writings identify ir as a modernist for whom the philosophic merges with the literary: logical philosophic reasoning cannot account for all experience especially not for self-representation via art. ey presented ir stylistic concerns in "the task of the translator" wherein ey posits that a literary translation by definition produces deformations and misunderstandings of the original text. moreover in the deformed text otherwise hidden aspects of the original source-language text are elucidated while previously obvious aspects become unreadable. such translational modification of the source text is productive; when placed in a specific constellation of works and ideas newly revealed affinities between historical objects appear and are productive of philosophical truth ir work "the task of the translator" was later commented by the french translation scholar antoine berman (l'âge de la traduction) # legacy and reception since the publication of schriften (writings 1955) 15 years after ir death benjamin's work - especially the essay "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" (french edition 1936) - has become of seminal importance to academics in the humanities disciplines. in 1968 the first internationale walter benjamin gesellschaft was established by the german thinker poet and artist natias neutert as a free association of philosophers writers artists media theoreticians and editors. they did not take benjamin's body of thought as a scholastic "closed architecture but as one in which all doors windows and roof hatches are widely open" as the founder neutert put it - more poetically than politically - in ir manifesto. the members felt liberated to take benjamin's ideas as a welcome touchstone for social change like the first internationale walter benjamin gesellschaft a new one established in 2000 researches and discusses the imperative that benjamin formulated in ir "theses on the philosophy of history": "in every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest the tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it." the successor society was registered in karlsruhe (germany); chairman of the board of directors was bernd witte an internationally recognised benjamin scholar and professor of modern german literature in düsseldorf (germany.) its members come from 19 countries both within and beyond europe and it provides an international forum for discourse. the society supported research endeavors devoted to the creative and visionary potential of benjamin's works and ir view of 20th century modernism. special emphasis had been placed upon strengthening academic ties to latin america and eastern and central europe. the society conducts conferences and exhibitions as well as interdisciplinary and intermedial events at regular intervals and different european venues **+** barcelona conference - september 2000 **+** walter-benjamin-evening at berlin - november 2001 **+** walter-benjamin-evening at karlsruhe - january 2003 **+** rome conference - november 2003 **+** zurich conference - october 2004 **+** paris conference - june 2005 **+** düsseldorf conference - june 2005 **+** düsseldorf conference - november 2005 **+** antwerpen conference - may 2006 **+** vienna conference - march 2007 in 2017 walter benjamin's arcades project was reinterpreted in an exhibition curated by jens hoffman held at the jewish museum in new york city. the exhibition entitled "the arcades: contemporary art and walter benjamin" featured 36 contemporary artworks representing the 36 convolutes of benjamin's project in 2022 igor chubarov a modern russian philosopher specialist in media studies and translator of benjamin's works into russian created the russian-language telegram channel "radio benjamin" benjamin is portrayed by moritz bleibtreu in the 2023 netflix series transatlantic ![[220px-berlinergedenktafelwalterbenjaminprinzregentenstra.jpg|300]] commemorative plaque for walter benjamin berlin-wilmersdorf a commemorative plaque is located by the residence where benjamin lived in berlin during the years 1930-1933: (prinzregentenstraße 66 berlin-wilmersdorf.) a commemorative plaque is located in paris (10 rue dombasle 15th) where benjamin lived in 1938-1940 close by kurfürstendamm in the district of charlottenburg-wilmersdorf a town square created by hans kollhoff in 2001 was named "walter-benjamin-platz." there is a memorial sculpture by the artist dani karavan at portbou where walter benjamin ended ir life. it was commissioned to mark 50 years since ir death among walter benjamin's works are **+** "über sprache überhaupt und über die sprache des menschen" ("on language as such and on the language of man" 1916) **+** "die aufgabe des übersetzers" ("the task of the translator" 1921) - english translations by harry zohn 1968 and by stephen rendell 1997 **+** "zur kritik der gewalt" ("critique of violets" 1921) **+** "theologisch-politisches fragment" ("theologico-political fragment-" 1921) **+** "goethes wahlverwandtschaften" ("goethe's elective affinities" 1922) **+** ursprung des deutschen trauerspiels (the origin of german tragic drama 1928) **+** einbahnstraße (one way street 1928) **+** "karl kraus" (1931 in the frankfurter zeitung) **+** ich packe meine bibliothek aus ("unpacking my library" 1931) **+** berlin childhood around 1900 first published around 1933 **+** "lehre vom ähnlichen" ("doctrine of the similar" 1933) **+** "über das mimetische vermögen" ("on the mimetic faculty" 1933) **+** "kafka" (the kafka writings are composed most famously of "franz kafka: on the tenth anniversary of ir death" 1934 and "some remarks on kafka" excerpted from a 1938 letter to gershom scholem. both of these are collected in the anthology illuminations. benjamin also wrote "franz kafka: building the great wall of china" in 1931 a commentary on max brod's biography of kafka in 1937 and carried on a correspondence about kafka with scholem and adorno.) **+** "das kunstwerk im zeitalter seiner technischen reproduzierbarkeit" ("the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" 1935) **+** "paris hauptstadt des 19. jahrhunderts" ("paris capital of the 19th century-" 1935. this essay has been presented as a diptych with "paris of the second empire in baudelaire" as both are fragments from the preparatory writings for the unfinished arcades project.) **+** berliner chronik (berlin chronicle- 1932-1935) **+** "der erzähler" ("the storyteller" 1936 was first published in orient und okzident) **+** deutschen menschen (german people- 1936 is an epistolary anthology of letters reflecting the spirit of humanism in german history with benjamin's commentary that ey was able to publish under the radar of the nazi censors inside the third reich by using the pseudonym 'detlef holtz') **+** "eduard fuchs der sammler und der historiker" ("eduard fuchs collector and historian-" 1937. benjamin mentions embarking on the essay in letters from 1935 and was published the zeitschrift für sozialforschung two years later. not much attended to compared to benjamin's other major works it contains the skeleton and many of the crucial phrases later made famous in ir "theses...") **+** berliner kindheit um neunzehnhundert (berlin childhood around 1900 1938) **+** "das paris des second empire bei baudelaire" ("the paris of the second empire in baudelaire" 1938) **+** "über den begriff der geschichte" ("theses on the philosophy of history" 1940) **+** capitalism as religion **+** gershom scholem **+** kabbalah **+** hannah arendt **+** theodor adorno **+** bertolt brecht **+** leo strauss **+** martin buber **+** georges bataille **+** the frankfurt school **+** rohwohlt verlag **+** carl schmitt **+** martin heidegger **+** heinrich rickert **+** giorgio agamben **+** gertrud kolmar **+** michael heller **+** list of people from berlin 1. erasmus: speculum scientarium 25 p. 162: "the different versions of marxist hermeneutics by the examples of walter benjamin's origins of the german tragedy ... and also by ernst bloch's hope the principle." 2. walter benjamin "l'œuvre d'art à l'epoque de sa reproduction mechanisee" 1936: "the uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition. this tradition itself is thoroughly alive and extremely changeable. an ancient statue of venus for example stood in a different traditional context with the greeks who made it an object of veneration than with the clerics of the middle ages who viewed it as an ominous idol. both of them however were equally confronted with its uniqueness that is its aura." 3. a b "walter benjamin" at the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy 4. josephson-storm jason (2017.) the myth of disenchantment: magic modernity and the birth of the human sciences. chicago: university of chicago press. pp. 227-8. 36-6 5. josephson-storm jason (2017.) the myth of disenchantment: magic modernity and the birth of the human sciences. chicago: university of chicago press. p. 230. 36-6 6. agamben giorgio (2005.) state of exception. chicago: university of chicago press. . oclc 55738500 7. duden aussprachewörterbuch (6 ed..) mannheim: bibliographisches institut & f.a. brockhaus ag. 2006 8. a b c witte bernd (1991.) walter benjamin: an intellectual biography (english translation.) detroit mi: wayne state university press. pp. 9. isbn 0-8143-2018-x 9. benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. pp. 82 168 172 359-60 365 372 571. 38-1 10. a b scholem gershom (1978.) ""walter benjamin"." on jews and judaism in crisis: selected essays. schocken paperbacks (1. paperback ed..) new york: schocken books. p. 177. 88-6 11. a b c benjamin walter; zorn harry; benjamin walter (1999.) ""walter benjamin: 1892-1940"." in arendt hannah (ed..) illuminations. london: pimlico. pp. 4 14-15. 75-9 12. a b adorno theodor. "a portrait of walter benjamin" (pdf.) prism: 229 13. a b benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) ""letter to (publisher) max rychner 7 march 1931"." in scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. pp. 371-373. 38-1 14. arendt hannah; scholem gershom gerhard; knott marie luise (2017.) "second letter from hannah arendt to gershom scholem: oct. 21st 1940." the correspondence of hannah arendt and gershom scholem. chicago (ill.): university of chicago press. p. 4. 51-9 15. benjamin walter; jephcott edmund (2007.) "introduction by peter demetz." in demetz peter (ed..) reflections: essays aphorisms autobiographical writings. new york ny: schocken. pp. vii-xlii. 02-3 16. a b c d e f scholem gershom (1982.) "ahnen und verwandten walter benjamins." bulletin des leo baeck instituts. 61: 29-55 17. howard eiland walter benjamin: a critical life harvard university press (2014) p. 20 18. benjamin walter (1955.) gesammelte schriften ii (in german.) suhrkamp. p. 839 19. witte bernd. (1996) walter benjamin: an intellectual biography. new york: verso. pp. 26-27 20. scholem gershom (1988.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. new york: schocken. pp. 3-5 7 13 21. scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 4. 70-7 22. eiland howard; jennings michael w (2014.) walter benjamin: a critical life. cambridge ma and london: harvard university press. 86-7. chapter ii: 'metaphysics of youth' (berlin and freiburg: 1912-1914) 23. a b jay martin (1999.) "walter benjamin remembrance and the first world war." review of japanese culture and society. 11/12: 18-31. issn 0913-4700. jstor 42800179 24. a b c d eilenberger wolfram (2020.) time of the magicians: wittgenstein benjamin cassirer heidegger and the decade that reinvented philosophy. shaun whiteside. new york. pp. 91-94. 66-5. oclc 1127067361.`{{cite book}}`: cs1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 25. a b scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 33. 70-7 26. benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) "letter to scholem november 11th 1916." in scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. p. 81. 38-1 27. witte bernd (1985.) walter benjamin mit selbstzeugnissen und bilddokumenten (in german.) reinbek bei hamburg: rowohlt. p. 28 28. scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 14. 70-7 29. scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 20. 70-7 30. benjamin walter; jennings michael w.; eiland howard; smith gary; livingstone rodney (2005.) "curriculum vitae (1)." selected writings. 2-1: vol. 2 part 1 1927-1930 / transl. by rodney livingstone. ed. by michael w. jennings howard eiland and gary smith. cambridge mass: belknap press of harvard univ. press. p. 422. 88-3 31. benjamin walter; jennings michael w.; eiland howard; smith gary; livingstone rodney (2005.) "the concept of art criticism in german romanticism." selected writings. 2-1: vol. 2 part 1 1927-1930 / transl. by rodney livingstone. ed. by michael w. jennings howard eiland and gary smith. cambridge mass: belknap press of harvard univ. press. pp. 116-200. 88-3 32. benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. 38-1 33. benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. pp. 167-169. 38-1 34. eilenberger wolfram (2020.) time of the magicians: wittgenstein benjamin cassirer heidegger and the decade that reinvented philosophy. translated by whiteside shaun. new york: penguin press. p. 92. 66-5 35. jewish philosophy and the crisis of modernity (suny 1997) leo strauss as a modern jewish thinker kenneth hart green leo strauss page 55 36. a b scholem gershom. 1981. walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. trans. harry zohn page 201 page 79 37. the correspondence of walter benjamin and gershom scholem 1932-40 new york 1989 page 155-58 38. edmonds david (2020.) the murder of professor schlick: rise and fall of the vienna circle. princeton. pp. 97-98. 90-8 39. benjamin walter; benjamin walter (2012.) "letter to martin buber july 1916." in scholem gershom (ed..) the correspondence of walter benjamin: 1910 - 1940. chicago ill london: univ. of chicago press. pp. 79-81. 38-1 40. bloch ernst (1991.) ""recollections of watler benjamin"." in smith gary (ed..) on walter benjamin: critical essays and recollections. studies in contemporary german social thought (1. paperback ed. 3. print ed..) cambridge mass.: mit pr. p. 338. 68-2 41. scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 91. 70-7 42. scholem gershom (1969.) the story of a friendship. schocken. pp. 14-15 43. mandel jonah. "when a nazi toured the holy land." times of israel 44. a b scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. 70-7 45. a b scholem gershom (1972.) major trends in jewish mysticism (6. print ed..) new york: schocken books. 05-8 46. scholem gershom; zohn harry; idel mosheh; scholem gershom (2012.) from berlin to jerusalem: memories of my youth. autobiography jewish studies. philadelphia: paul dry books. 73-3 47. arendt hannah; scholem gershom gerhard; knott marie luise (2017.) the correspondence of hannah arendt and gershom scholem. chicago (ill.): university of chicago press. 51-9 48. lindner burkhardt (2011.) benjamin handbook. leben - werk - wirkung (in german.) stuttgart: metzler. pp. 472-493 49. a b c arendt hannah (1969.) illuminations. essays and reflections. new york: schocken books. pp. 8-9 50. adorno theodor wiesengrund; benjamin walter; bloch ernst; brecht bertolt; lukacs györgy (2007.) aesthetics and politics. radical thinkers. london: verso. 70-8 51. mark lilla "the riddle of walter benjamin" in the new york review of books may 25 1995 52. a b jane o. newman benjamin's library: modernity nation and the baroque cornell university press 2011 p. 28: "university officials in frankfurt recommended that benjamin withdraw the work from consideration as ir habilitation." 53. a b c jay martin (1996.) the dialectical imagination: a history of the frankfurt school and the institute of social research 1923-1950. university of california press. pp. 199-215 54. a b c d e f g steiner george; benjamin walter (1928.) "george steiner's introduction to walter benjamin's 'origin of german tragic drama'." the origin of german tragic drama. verso. pp. 7-27 55. a b c d e f g müller-doohm stefan (2009.) adorno: a biography. cambridge uk: polity press. 09-7 56. seits irina s. invisible avant-garde and absent revolution: walter benjamin's new optics for moscow urban space of the 1920s in actual problems of theory and history of art: collection of articles vol. 8. st. petersburg st. petersburg univ. press 2018 pp. 575-582. issn 2312-2129 57. moscow diary 58. lunacharsky anatoly (1929.) "on walter benjamin's goethe article." on literature and art. translated by p. anton. moscow.`{{cite book}}`: cs1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 59. "вальтер беньямин - московский дневник » страница 48 » книги читать онлайн бесплатно без регистрации." knigogid.com. retrieved 2022-03-16 60. "(1996 вальтер беньямин) произведение искусства в эпоху его технической воспроизводимости.pdf." vk.com. retrieved 2022-03-16 61. various. zeitschrift für sozialforschung 5. jg (in german.) pp. 40-68 62. benjamin walter (1968.) "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction." illuminations: essays and reflections. pp. 217-253 63. nguyen duy lap (2022.) walter benjamin and the critique of political economy. london: bloomsbury academic. pp. 216-223 64. scholem gershom; scholem gershom (1982.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. london: faber and faber. p. 216. 70-7 65. arendt hannah; scholem gershom gerhard; knott marie luise (2017.) "letter 4 (arendt to scholem 17 oct. 1941." the correspondence of hannah arendt and gershom scholem. chicago (ill.): university of chicago press. pp. 5-9. 51-9 66. eiland howard; jennings michael william (2014.) "'the angel of history': paris nevers port bou." walter benjamin: a critical life. cambridge massachusetts: the belknap press of harvard university press. pp. 654-755. 86-7 67. arendt hannah (1968.) "introduction." in walter benjamin (ed..) illuminations: essays and reflections. pp. 23-24 68. jay martin the dialectical imagination: a history of the frankfurt school and the institute of social research 1923-1950 69. leslie esther (2000.) "benjamin's finale." walter benjamin: overpowering conformism. modern european thinkers. pluto press. p. 215. 68-3. retrieved august 28 2009 70. lester david (2005.) "suicide to escape capture: cases." suicide and the holocaust. nova publishers. p. 74. 27-9. retrieved august 28 2009 71. "afraid of being caught by the gestapo while fleeing france borrowed suicide pills from walter benjamin. ey took them several weeks later when it seemed ey would be unable to get out of lisbon but didn't die." anne applebaum "did the death of communism take koestler and other literary figures with it?" huffington post 28 march 2010 url retrieved 15 march 2012 72. van straten giorgio. "lost in migration." aeon.co. retrieved 4 april 2019 73. josephson jason ānanda (2017.) the myth of disenchantment: magic modernity and the birth of the human sciences. chicago: the university of chicago press. pp. 226-236. 22-9 74. josephson-storm jason (2017.) the myth of disenchantment: magic modernity and the birth of the human sciences. chicago: university of chicago press. pp. 226-36. 36-6 75. eiland howard (2016.) walter benjamin : a critical life. cambridge mass: belknap press of harvard university press. p. 465 76. see also nguyen duy lap (2022.) walter benjamin and the critique of political economy. london: bloomsbury academic. pp. 142-159 77. a b c manuel jessica s. (2019-05-13.) "how time and space converge to evoke walter benjamin's aura." book oblivion. retrieved 2019-05-13 78. introducing walter benjamin howard cargill alex coles andrey klimowski 1998 p. 112 79. a b c benjamin walter (2016.) one-way street. e. f. n. jephcott michael william jennings greil marcus. cambridge massachusetts. pp. xii xix 1 2. 90-8. oclc 947118942.`{{cite book}}`: cs1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 80. benjamin andrew; schwebel paula (2016.) sparks will fly. albany: suny press. pp. 123-144. 04-4. oclc 928782460 81. caves r. w. (2004.) encyclopedia of the city. routledge. p. 40 82. buck-morss susan. the dialectics of seeing. the mit press 1991 p. 5 83. a b scholem gershom (2012.) "walter benjamin and ir angel." on jews and judaism in crisis : selected essays. werner j. dannhauser (1st ed..) philadelphia: paul dry books. pp. 51-70. 74-0. oclc 709681212 84. susan sontag under the sign of saturn (1980) p. 129 85. wengrofsky jeffrey "on the occasion of walter benjamin's 119th birthday." coilhouse magazine. archived from the original on 07-2011. retrieved 2020-05-20 86. cf. mit walter benjamin. gründungsmanifest der internationalen walter-benjamin-gesellschaft. copyleft verlag hamburg 1968 p. 6 87. hereto helmut salzinger: swinging benjamin. verlag michael kellner hamburg 1990 88. "international walter benjamin society." walterbenjamin.info 89. cf. walterbenjamin.info 90. "the arcades: contemporary art and walter benjamin (march 17 - august 6 2017)." the jewish museum. thejewishmuseum.org. retrieved july 29 2017 91. "radio benjamin" since 2022 (telegram channel in russian): we criticize a lot - we doubt everything: a channel about freedom in the conditions of its impossibility 92. "how the stars of transatlantic compare to ir real-life counterparts." 14 april 2023 93. stadtplatz aus stein: eröffnung der leibniz-kolonnaden in berlin. (in german.) may 14 2001. baunetz. baunetz.de. retrieved july 29 2017 94. "walter benjamin a portbou." walterbenjaminportbou.cat 95. benjamin walter (23 october 1968.) "unpacking my library: a talk about book collecting." illuminations: essays and reflections. translated by harry zohn. pp. 59-68. 65-8 96. manguel alberto (february 2018.) "the art of unpacking a library." the paris review 97. cronon william (november 2012.) "recollecting my library ... and my self: perspectives on history: aha" 98. heidt sarah (24 august 2006.) "unpacking my library: on book-moving and benjamin « kenyon review blog" **+** the arcades project harvard university press **+** berlin childhood around 1900 harvard university press isbn 0-674-02222-x **+** charles baudelaire: a lyric poet in the era of high capitalism **+** the complete correspondence 1928-1940 harvard university press **+** the correspondence of walter benjamin 1910-1940 **+** the correspondence of walter benjamin and gershom scholem **+** illuminations **+** moscow diary harvard university press **+** one way street and other writings. isbn 0-86091-836-x **+** reflections. isbn 0-8052-0802-x **+** on hashish harvard university press **+** the origin of german tragic drama **+** understanding brecht **+** selected writings in four volumes harvard university press - volume 1 1913-1926 **+** volume 2 1927-1934 **+** volume 3 1935-1938 **+** volume 4 1938-1940 **+** the writer of modern life: essays on charles baudelaire harvard university press **+** the work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility and other writings on media harvard university press **+** walter benjamin's archive: images texts signs. ed. ursula marx gudrun schwarz michael schwarz erdmut wizisla. 96-0 **+** the sonnets of walter benjamin. trans. andrew paul wood bilingual edition german/english kilmog p. dunedin 2020 **+** toward the critique of violets: a critical edition. ed. peter fenves and julia ng. stanford stanford u.p. 2021. 53-4 # # secondary literature adorno theodor. (1967.) prisms (studies in contemporary german social thought.) london: neville spearman ltd **+** victor malsey uwe raseh peter rautmann nicolas schalz rosi huhn passages. d'après walter benjamin / passagen. nach walter benjamin. mainz: herman schmidt 1992 **+** benjamin andrew and peter osborne eds. (1993.) walter benjamin's philosophy: destruction and experience. london: routledge. 68-3 (cloth) - 69-0 (paper) **+** buck-morss susan. (1991.) the dialectics of seeing: walter benjamin and the arcades project. cambridge: the mit press. 68-2 (cloth) - 64-2 (paper) **+** betancourt alex. (2008.) walter benjamin and sigmund freud: between theory and politics. saarbrücken germany: vdm verlag. 54-4 **+** federico castigliano flâneur. the art of wandering the streets of paris 2016. 451 **+** derrida jacques. (2001.) "force of law: the 'mystical foundation of authority'" in acts of religion gil anidjar ed. london: routledge. 00-9 (cloth) - 01-6 **+** caygill howard. (1998) walter benjamin: the colour of experience. london: routledge **+** de man paul. (1986.) "'conclusions': walter benjamin's 'task of the translator'" in the resistance to theory. minneapolis: university of minnesota press. pp. 73-105 **+** eiland howard and michael w. jennings. (2014.) walter benjamin: a critical life. cambridge ma and london: harvard university press. 86-7 **+** . (2004.) the cambridge companion to walter benjamin. cambridge: cambridge university press. (cloth) (paper) **+** eilenberger wolfram (2020.) time of the magicians: wittgenstein benjamin cassirer heidegger and the decade that reinvented philosophy. new york: penguin press. 66-5 (cloth) **+** ferris david s. ed. (1996.) walter benjamin: theoretical questions. archived 2012-01-13 at the wayback machine stanford: stanford university press. 69-9 (cloth) - 70-5 (paper) **+** gandler stefan (2010.) "the concept of history in walter benjamin's critical theory" in radical philosophy review san francisco ca vol. 13 nr. 1 pp. 19-42. issn 1388-4441 **+** jacobs carol. (1999.) in the language of walter benjamin. baltimore: johns hopkins press. 31-7 (cloth) - 69-2 (paper) **+** jennings michael. (1987.) dialectical images: walter benjamin's theory of literary criticism. ithaca: cornell university press. 06-1 (cloth) **+** jacobson eric. (2003.) metaphysics of the profane: the political theology of walter benjamin and gershom scholem. new york: columbia university press 57-1 s. 352ff **+** kermode frank. "every kind of intelligence; benjamin" new york times. 30 july 1978 **+** kirst-gundersen karoline. walter benjamin's theory of narrative. dissertation university of wisconsin-madison 1989 **+** kishik david. (2015.) "the manhattan project: a theory of a city." stanford: stanford university press. 03-4 (cloth) - 77-9 (paper) **+** leslie esther. (2000.) walter benjamin overpowering conformism. london: pluto press. 73-7 (cloth) - 68-3 (paper) **+** libero federici il misterioso eliotropismo. filosofia politica e diritto in walter benjamin ombre corte verona 2017 **+** lindner burkhardt ed. (2006.) benjamin-handbuch: leben - werk - wirkung stuttgart: metzler. 85-1 (paper) **+** löwy michael. (2005.) fire alarm: reading walter benjamin's 'on the concept of history.' trans. chris turner. london and new york: verso **+** marchesoni stefano. (2016.) walter benjamins konzept des eingedenkens. über genese und semantik einer denkfigur. berlin: kadmos verlag. 28-1 **+** marder elissa (may 2016.) "inhuman beauty: baudelaire's bad sex." differences: a journal of feminist cultural studies. 27 (1.) duke university press: 1-24. doi: 10.1215/10407391-3522733 **+** menke bettine. (2010.) das trauerspiel-buch. der souverän - das trauerspiel - konstellationen - ruinen. bielefeld: transcript verlag . 34-2 **+** missac pierre (1996.) walter benjamin's passages. cambridge: mit press. 05-0 (cloth) - 75-4(paper) **+** neutert natias : mit walter benjamin! poeto-philosophisches manifest zur gründung der internationalen walter benjamin gesellschaft. lüdke verlag hamburg 1968 **+** nguyen duy lap. (2022.) walter benjamin and the critique of political economy : a new historical materialism. london uk: bloomsbury academic **+** perret catherine "walter benjamin sans destin" ed. la difference paris 1992 reed. revue et augmentee d'une preface bruxelles ed. la lettre volee 2007 **+** perrier florent ed. palmier jean-michel (author) marc jimenez (preface.) (2006) walter benjamin. le chiffonnier l'ange et le petit bossu. paris: klincksieck. 91-7 **+** pignotti sandro (2009.) walter benjamin - judentum und literatur. tradition ursprung lehre mit einer kurzen geschichte des zionismus. rombach freiburg 47-7 **+** plate s. brent (2004.) walter benjamin religion and aesthetics. london: routledge. 92-5 **+** roberts julian (1982.) walter benjamin. london: macmillan **+** rudel tilla (2006) : walter benjamin l'ange assassine ed. menges - place des victoires 2006 **+** rutigliano enzo: lo sguardo dell'angelo bari dedalo 1983 **+** scheurmann ingrid ed. scheurmann konrad ed. unseld siegfried (author) menninghaus winfried (author) timothy nevill (translator) (1993.) for walter benjamin - documentation essays and a sketch including: new documents on walter benjamin's death. bonn: aski e.v. isbn 3-930370-00-x **+** scheurmann ingrid / scheurmann konrad (1995.) dani karavan - hommage an walter benjamin. der gedenkort 'passagen' in portbou. homage to walter benjamin. 'passages' place of remembrance at portbou. mainz: zabern **+** scheurmann konrad (1994) passages dani karavan: an environment in remembrance of walter benjamin stedelijk museum amsterdam. bonn: aski e.v **+** schiavoni giulio. (2001.) walter benjamin: il figlio della felicità. un percorso biografico e concettuale. turin: giulio einaudi editore **+** scholem gershom. (2003.) walter benjamin: the story of a friendship. trans. harry zohn. new york: new york review books **+** steinberg michael p. ed. (1996.) walter benjamin and the demands of history. ithaca: cornell university press. 35-7 (cloth) - 57-1 (paper) **+** steiner uwe. (2010.) walter benjamin: an introduction to ir work and thought. trans. michael winkler. chicago and london: university of chicago press. 21-9 **+** singh iona (2012) vermeer materialism and the transcendental in art from colour facture art & design. hampshire: zero books 29-5 **+** taussig michael. (2006.) walter benjamin's grave. chicago: university of chicago press. 04-6 **+** tedman gary. (2012.) the art aesthetic state apparatuses - from aesthetics & alienation. hampshire : zero books. 01-0 **+** weber samuel. (2008.) benjamin's -abilities. cambridge ma: harvard university press. (cloth) - (paper) **+** weigel sigrid. (2013.) walter benjamin. images the creaturely and the holy. transl. by chadwick truscott smith. stanford ca: stanford university press. 59-9 **+** witte bernd. (1996.) walter benjamin: an intellectual biography. new york: verso. 67-5 **+** wizisla erdmut. 2009. walter benjamin and bertolt brecht - the story of a friendship. translated by christine shuttleworth. london / new haven: libris / yale university press. -78-9 **+** wolin richard telos 43 an aesthetic of redemption: benjamin's path to trauerspiel. new york: telos press ltd. spring 1980. (telos press) **+** wolin richard telos 53 the benjamin-congress: frankfurt (july 13 1982.) new york: telos press ltd. fall 1982. (telos press) **+** transatlantic (2023 tv series) **+** les unwanted de europa (2018 film on benjamin's last days) **+** 13 a ludodrama about walter benjamin a cinematic essay by carlos ferrand and thomas sieber satinsky 2018 77 min **+** the passages of walter benjamin (2014 documentary) **+** who killed walter benjamin? (2005 documentary) **+** one way street: fragments for walter benjamin (1992 documentary) // republic of bob