Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2: Part 2

1931-1934

By: Walter Benjamin, Michael W. Jennings (Editor), Howard Eiland (Editor), Gary Smith (Editor)

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Paperback | 15 June 2005 | Edition Number 1

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480 Pages

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23.5 x 15.5 x 2.3

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In the frenzied final years of the Weimar Republic, amid economic collapse and mounting political catastrophe, Walter Benjamin emerged as the most original practicing literary critic and public intellectual in the German-speaking world. Volume 2 of the Selected Writings is now available in paperback in two parts.

In Part 1, Benjamin is represented by two of his greatest literary essays, "Surrealism" and "On the Image of Proust," as well as by a long article on Goethe and a generous selection of his wide-ranging commentary for Weimar Germany's newspapers.

Part 2 contains, in addition to the important longer essays, "Franz Kafka," "Karl Kraus," and "The Author as Producer," the extended autobiographical meditation "A Berlin Chronicle," and extended discussions of the history of photography and the social situation of the French writer, previously untranslated shorter pieces on such subjects as language and memory, theological criticism and literary history, astrology and the newspaper, and on such influential figures as Paul Valery, Stefan George, Hitler, and Mickey Mouse.

Industry Reviews

[Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
For those who know only the small selection of essays and longer texts previously translated into English, this book may be a revelation. Selected Writings: Volume 2 spanning the period from his abandonment of academia and his emergence as an important literary journalist in 1927 to his near silencing after the Nazis seized power and his exile in 1934, shows the writer at his sparkling best.

-- Paul Mattick * New York Times Book Review *

[Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
The period from 1927 to 1934 spanned in this volume was for Walter Benjamin both grievous and fertile...The range of topics and perspectives is immense. It extends from considerations on kitsch and pornography to repeated encounters, personal or indirect, with Gide, Kierkegaard and surrealism. The cultural history of toys fascinates Benjamin as he records his own Berlin childhood. Insights into 'Left-Wing Melancholy' alternate with thoughts on Mickey Mouse, on Chaplin, and on graphology.

-- George Steiner * The Observer *
This awesome 800-page collection demonstrates that Benjamin was able to pack more thought into the years 1931-34 than most people manage in a lifetime...Altogether indispensable. -- Steven Poole * The Guardian *
After the lede comes the body of the essay, where the meat is served up. When a critic as astute as German man of letters Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) writes about a subject as rich as his fellow journalist Karl Kraus (1874-1936), the cut can be rich, marbled and juicy...Topics in other pieces gathered here range from highbrow analysis ('Criticism as the Fundamental Discipline of Literary History') to pop-culture commentary ('Reflections on Radio,' 'Mickey Mouse'). -- Dennis Drabelle * Washington Post Book World *

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The Destructive Character, 1931
In Parallel with My Actual Diary	p. 413
Criticism as the Fundamental Discipline of Literary History	p. 415
Critique of the New Objectivity	p. 417
We Ought to Reexamine the Link between Teaching and Research	p. 419
Hofmannsthal and Aleco Dossena	p. 421
Left-Wing Melancholy	p. 423
Theological Criticism	p. 428
Karl Kraus	p. 433
Literary History and the Study of Literature	p. 459
German Letters	p. 466
May-June 1931	p. 469
Unpacking My Library	p. 486
Franz Kafka: Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer	p. 494
Diary from August 7, 1931, to the Day of My Death	p. 501
Little History of Photography	p. 507
Paul Valery	p. 531
The Lisbon Earthquake	p. 536
The Destructive Character	p. 541
Reflections on Radio	p. 543
Mickey Mouse	p. 545
In Almost Every Example We Have of Materialist Literary History	p. 547
The Task of the Critic	p. 548
Ibizan Sequence, 1932
Experience	p. 553
On Ships, Mine Shafts, and Crucifixes in Bottles	p. 554
On the Trail of Old Letters	p. 555
A Family Drama in the Epic Theater	p. 559
The Railway Disaster at the Firth of Tay	p. 563
Privileged Thinking	p. 569
Excavation and Memory	p. 576
Oedipus, or Rational Myth	p. 577
On Proverbs	p. 582
Theater and Radio	p. 583
Ibizan Sequence	p. 587
Berlin Chronicle	p. 595
Spain, 1932	p. 638
Light from Obscurantists	p. 653
The Handkerchief	p. 658
In the Sun	p. 662
The Rigorous Study of Art	p. 666
Hashish in Marseilles	p. 673
The Eve of Departure	p. 680
On Astrology	p. 684
"Try to Ensure That Everything in Life Has a Consequence"	p. 686
Notes (IV)	p. 687
Thought Figures, 1933
The Lamp	p. 691
Doctrine of the Similar	p. 694
Short Shadows (II)	p. 699
Kierkegaard	p. 703
Stefan George in Retrospect	p. 706
Agesilaus Santander (First Version)	p. 712
Agesilaus Santander (Second Version)	p. 714
Antitheses Concerning Word and Name	p. 717
On the Mimetic Faculty	p. 720
Thought Figures	p. 723
Little Tricks of the Trade	p. 728
Experience and Poverty	p. 731
The Author as Producer, 1934
Once Is as Good as Never	p. 739
The Newspaper	p. 741
Venal but Unusable	p. 743
The Present Social Situation of the French Writer	p. 744
The Author as Producer	p. 768
Notes from Svendborg, Summer 1934	p. 783
Hitler's Diminished Masculinity	p. 792
Franz Kafka	p. 794
A Note on the Texts	p. 821
Chronology, 1927-1934	p. 823
Index	p. 857
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2: Part 2

1931-1934

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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