Walter Benjamin (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives)
Walter Benjamin (Reaktion Books - Critical Lives)
Publisher: Reaktion Books | ISBN: 1861893434 | edition 2008 | PDF | 192 pages | 1,1 mb
Publisher: Reaktion Books | ISBN: 1861893434 | edition 2008 | PDF | 192 pages | 1,1 mb
Product Description: Drawing upon a wealth of journal writings and personal correspondence, Esther Leslie presents a uniquely intimate portrait of one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin. She sets his life in the context of his middle-class upbringing; explores the social, political, and economic upheaval in Germany during and after World War I; and recounts Benjamin’s eccentric love of toys, trick-books, travel, and ships. From the Frankfurt School and his influential friendships with Theodore Adorno, Gershom Scholem, and Bertolt Brecht, to his travels across Europe, WalterBenjamin traces out the roots of Benjamin’s groundbreaking writings and their far-reaching impact in his own time. Leslie argues that Benjamin ’s life challenges the stereotypical narrative of the tragic and lonely intellectual figure—instead positioning him as a man who relished the fierce combat of competing theories and ideas. Closing with his death at the Spanish-French border in a desperate flight from the Nazis and Stalin, WalterBenjamin is a concise and concentrated account of a capacious intellect trapped by hostile circumstances.