The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin, 1910-1940

Walter Benjamin author Manfred R Jacobson translator Evelyn M Jacobson translator Gershom Scholem editor Theodor W Adorno editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:7th Sep '12

Should be back in stock very soon

The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin, 1910-1940 cover

Called "the most important critic of his time" by Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin has only become more influential over the years, as his work has assumed a crucial place in current debates over the interactions of art, culture, and meaning. A "natural and extraordinary talent for letter writing was one of the most captivating facets of his nature," writes Gershom Scholem in his foreword to this volume; and Benjamin's correspondence reveals the evolution of some of his most powerful ideas, while also offering an intimate picture of Benjamin himself and the times in which he lived. Writing at length to Scholem and Theodor Adorno, and exchanging letters with Rainer Maria Rilke, Hannah Arendt, Max Brod, and Bertolt Brecht, Benjamin elaborates on his ideas about metaphor and language. He reflects on literary figures from Kafka to Karl Kraus, and expounds his personal attitudes toward such subjects as Marxism and French national character. Providing an indispensable tool for any scholar wrestling with Benjamin's work, "The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin" is a revelatory look at the man behind much of the twentieth century's most significant criticism.

"There has been no more original, no more serious, critic and reader in our time." (George Steiner)"

ISBN: 9780226042381

Dimensions: 23mm x 15mm x 4mm

Weight: 992g

680 pages