Walter Benjamin: Critical Constellations (Key Contemporary Thinkers) - Softcover

Gilloch, Graeme

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745610080 ISBN 13: 9780745610085

Publisher: Polity, 2002

Synopsis

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 of 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.

About this title

About the Author

Graeme Gilloch is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Salford

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 of 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.

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 of 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.

Reviews

Gilloch (Univ. of Salford, UK) offers an intellectual biography of the German aesthetician who worked at critiquing the diverse fields of literature, theater, photography, and children's radio. Benjamin (1892-1940) began his theorizing with the recognition that Romanticism simply extended the work of art under critical examination, while he wanted to bring that same art to a greater plane of realization. Criticism, in Benjamin's view, was "a mode of ceaseless becoming." From this point, Benjamin developed a Marxist dialectic, in which art carried both a material and a truth content. Still later, he moved beyond Marxism, undertaking an examination of contemporary theater as a new formulation that brought actor and audience together in understanding. Gilloch follows this development of the thinker closely, quoting cogently from published texts and letters. His own conclusion offers a Benjamin who was aware of the consumerism that touches modern aestheticism and yet pushed beyond simplified analysis of text or image to the relationships these products have with society. While this is a fine text to accompany a firsthand reading of Benjamin, such reading is necessary to understand the thinker critiqued here. Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745610080
• ISBN 13: 9780745610085
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320