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The works of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) are widely acclaimed as being among the most original and provocative writings of twentieth-century critical thought, and have become required reading for scholars and students in a range of academic disciplines. This book provides a lucid introduction to Benjamin's oeuvre through a close and sensitive reading not only of his major studies, but also of some his less familiar essays and fragments. Gilloch offers an original interpretation of, and fresh insights into, the continuities between Benjamin's always demanding and seemingly disparate texts. Gilloch's book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in social theory, literary theory, cultural and media studies and urban studies who are seeking a sophisticated yet readable overview of Benjamin's work. It will also prove rewarding reading for those already well-versed in Benjaminian thought. ... Read more

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First book in English of leading German feminist scholar. It is a study of Walter Benjamin and in particular it investigates the feminist and body-theoretical aspects of his work. Some papers have appeared in big journals like October. Higher and enthusiastically recommended by advisor and series editor. A major addition to our Germanist list. ... Read more

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An analysis of the political concepts in Walter Benjamin's autobiographical writings as enacted in the language of the body. ... Read more

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No other single author has so commanding a critical presence across so many disciplines within the arts and humanities, in so many national contexts, as Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). The belated reception of his work as a literary critic (dating from the late 1950s) has been followed by a rapid series of critical receptions in different contexts: Frankfurt Critical Theory and Marxism, Judaism, Film Theory, Post-structuralism, Philosophical Romanticism, and Cultural Studies.
This collection brings together a selection of the most critically important items in the literature, across the full range of Benjamin's cultural-theoretical interests, from all periods of the reception of his writings, but focusing upon the most recent, to produce a comprehensive overview of the best critical literature.
... Read more

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Walter Benjamin and Romanticism explores the relationship between Walter Benjamin's literary and philosophical work and the tradition of German Romanticism, as well as Holderlin and Goethe. Through a detailed and scholarly analysis of the major texts, the book explores the endurance of Benjamin's relationship to Romanticism, the residual presence of Romantic Goethean and Holderlinian motifs in Benjamin's subsequent writings and how Benjamin's understanding of the relationship between criticism and Romanticism can still play a vital role in contemporary philosophical and literary practice. Contributors: Andrew Benjamin, Josh Cohen, David Ferris, Beatrice Hanssen, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Charlie Louth, Bettine Menke, Winfried Menninghaus, Anthony Phelan, Sigrid Weigel ... Read more

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Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem are regarded as two of the most famous and influential Jewish thinkers and writers of the twentieth century, and their late work is well known. The importance of the intense intellectual partnership they forged in the years between the First World War and 1923, however, is less appreciated and understood. The meeting of these extraordinary minds produced a dynamic body of ideas that has had a lasting impact on the study of religion, philosophy, and literary criticism. This is the first book to make the works of this untranslated and unpublished early period -including Benjamin´s and Scholem´s ideas on messianism, language, divine justice, and the quest for a philosophy of Judaism -accessible to a wider audience. ... Read more

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"Pensky's study provides a compelling argument for locating melancholia at the center of Benjamin's thought. Because of its provocative nature, it promises to spark the interest of Benjamin critics, scholars, and students in this otherwise neglected aspect of his work."-German Quarterly

"Pensky shows Benjamin's ideas of a new criticism of nature and culture to be based on his schema of mourning and melancholy; as well Pensky explains the concepts of subjectivity, allegory, and the dialectical image in Benjamin's work. . . . A difficult subject, well handled."-Library Journal

"A comprehensive view of Benjamin's achievement, focusing on the central ideas of mourning and melancholia, developed in Benjamin's early work, Origin of German Tragic Drama (1928). Pensky sees the contradictions in Benjamin's thought as part of the 'melancholy way of seeing. Between melancholy subject and melancholy objects, this way of seeing subsists in the dialectical interval between these two constituted moments.' All of Benjamin's modes, especially allegory, and all of his literary/philosophical works are here viewed as part of the melancholic dialectic. Pensky has clearly mastered all the available material on Benjamin, as well as the relevant cultural criticism."-Choice

"A work of original insight, conceptual subtlety, and intellectual excitement. This will become an important work within the burgeoning field of Benjamin studies."-David Bathrick, Cornell University ... Read more

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Over the years a number of sociologists have been constantly overshadowed, going almost virtually unnoticed by the discipline. The purpose of this work is to resurrect those sociologists by attempting to bring them into the mainstream. Dr. Romano will enlarge upon the contributions of Jane Addams, Walter Benjamin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Harriet Martineau, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Flora Tristan, George E. Vincent, and Beatrice Webb. ... Read more

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No other single author has so commanding a critical presence across so many disciplines within the arts and humanities, in so many national contexts, as Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). The belated reception of his work as a literary critic (dating from the late 1950s) has been followed by a rapid series of critical receptions in different contexts: Frankfurt Critical Theory and Marxism, Judaism, Film Theory, Post-structuralism, Philosophical Romanticism, and Cultural Studies.
This collection brings together a selection of the most critically important items in the literature, across the full range of Benjamin's cultural-theoretical interests, from all periods of the reception of his writings, but focusing upon the most recent, to produce a comprehensive overview of the best critical literature.
... Read more

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This book analyses the development of Benjamin's concept of experience in his early writings showing that it emerges from an engagement with visual experience, and in particular the experience of colour. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a reader of benjamin
Caygill's book is largely unilluminating and somewhat misguided. While this work tracks many of the places where Benjamin mentions experience directly (such as Experience, One-way Street, On the Program of Coming Philosophy, Surrealism, The PAris Arcades, etc.) he does not offer insight into how the material analysis would render the theological and political categories as a hightened critical ground of inquiry or revolutionary action. He does not fully think through the idea that Benjamin handles incomensurable theses as depending on one another. Although this is a good place to start for a composit of Benjamin's theory of experience it is largely unconvincing that this reading would yeild more than another focus or approach to his work (e.g. politcal, theological, philosophy of history, allegory, etc.). And while he cits many of the hard and citable passages from Benjamin's corpus, he often relies on the catchiness of the passage to explain itself. Also I found the work to lack a clear understanding of benjamins use of dialectic and attempts to read him as being a bit too close to his predecessors (especially Derrida). as an alternative I would start with Susan Buck-Morss' Dialectics of seeing--a truly wonderful study--, Gary Smith's Benjamin: Aesthetics, History and Philosphy, and John McCole's Antinomies of Tradition. I found all of these much better than Caygill's account. ... Read more

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Walter Benjamin, one of the foremost cultural ommentators and theorists of the 20th century, is perhaps best known for his analyses of art in the modern age and the philosophy of history. Yet, it was through his study of the social and cultural history of late-19th-century Paris, examined particularly in relation to the figure of the great Parisian lyric poet Charles Baudelaire, that Benjamin tested and enriched some of his core concepts and themes. Contained within these pages are, among other insights, his notion of the "flaneur", his theory of memory and remembrance, his assessment of the utopian Fourier and his reading of the modernist movement. First translated in English in 1973, this is a study of the French lyric poet Charles Baudelaire. It should be useful as a text for readers of both Benjamin and Baudelaire, and for students of French literature. Walter Benjamin is the author of "One-Way Street", "The Origins of German Tagic Drama" and "Understanding Brecht". ... Read more

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This illuminating study of Benjamin's final essay helps unlock the mystery of this great philosopher.Revolutionary critic of the philosophy of progress, nostalgic of the past yet dreaming of the future, romantic partisan of materialism... Walter Benjamin is in every sense of the word an "unclassifiable" philosopher. His essay 'On the Concept of History' was written in a state of urgency, as he attempted to escape the Gestapo in 1940, before finally committing suicide.

Michael Lowy argues that it remains one of the most important philosophical and political writings of the twentieth century, in this scrupulous, clear and fascinating examination. Looking in detail at Benjamin's celebrated but often mysterious text, and restoring the philosophical, theological and political context, Lowy highlights the complex relationship between redemption and revolution in Benjamin's philosophy of history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An enjoyable but uncritical exposition
I bought this book without knowing anything about it except that it is a book-length commentary on Walter Benjamin's "On the Concept of History". The Amazon page does not allow one to search inside the book or even to see the table of contents. The editorial reviews consist of two short and uninformative but admiring sentences. There is nothing here but the title to indicate the content of the book.

The book consists of an Introduction, two chapters or sections (one about a hundred pages, the other about ten pages), notes, and an index. The Introduction is titled, "Introduction: Romanticism, Messianism and Marxism in Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of History". The first chapter is titled, "A Reading of Walter Benjamin's 'Theses "On the Concept of History"'." The second chapter is titled, "The Opening-up of History". There are more than a dozen black and white illustrations and photos scattered throughout the text.

The introductory material situates Benjamin's text in its historical and intellectual context. There follows a thesis-by-thesis commentary. The author brings out much of value in the theses, and while he takes issue with other commentators on Benjamin, he never becomes critical of Benjamin himself, in either a global or a local sense, i.e., he doesn't criticize Benjamin's overall project or any of Benjamin's particular claims in the theses. One suspects that the author has spent too much time in the company of others who closely mirror his views, and has not had to defend his general outlook in the face of hostile criticism. The author employs incautious superlatives, such as calling Benjamin's theses, "...one of the most important philosophical and political texts of the twentieth century." (p.4)

The book is nicely prepared for publication and nicely bound. The translation is smooth and seamless, and never "feels" like a translated text.

The "star" system of rating a book is highly unsatisfactory. I gave the book three stars for reasons as mixed as Benjamin's motives in writing his theses. If one is (as I was) simply looking for an insightful exposition of the theses on history, then the book deserves five stars. If one is looking for a critical appraisal of Benjamin's conception of history, then the book deserves a single star. I am happy to have the book in my library as a reference, and I imagine I will consult it with some frequency.

Those seeking more on Benjamin's theses might look into Volume 4 of Benjamin's Selected Writings published by Harvard. This includes about seven pages of notes and material not included in the theses, taken from Benjamin's working notes published in toto in his Gesammelte Schriften.

J. N. Nielsen
Political Economy of Globalization: One Hundred Theses on World Trade
Variations on the Theme of Life ... Read more

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This book follows the theme of sacred text from Benjamin's early writings on religion, Judaism, and language to the study of Baroque tragedy, modernism, history and the Paris Arcades. All of these writings reflect a commentary on the idea of the sacred text in Western culture. ... Read more