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Walter Benjamin

Born

in Berlin, German Empire

July 15, 1892

Died

September 26, 1940

Genre

Philosophy, Social Sciences

Influences

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Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, Jewish mysticism, and neo-Kantianism, Benjamin made influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. He was associated with the Frankfurt School and also maintained formative friendships with thinkers such as playwright Bertolt Brecht and Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem. He was related to German political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt through her first marriage to Benjamin's cousin Günther Anders, though the friendship between Arendt and Benjamin outlasted her marriage to Anders. Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, Jewish mysticism, and neo-Kantianism, Benjamin made influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. He was associated with the Frankfurt School and also maintained formative friendships with thinkers such as playwright Bertolt Brecht and Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem. He was related to German political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt through her first marriage to Benjamin's cousin Günther Anders, though the friendship between Arendt and Benjamin outlasted her marriage to Anders. Both Arendt and Anders were students of Martin Heidegger, whom Benjamin considered a nemesis.
Among Benjamin's best known works are the essays "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940). His major work as a literary critic included essays on Charles Baudelaire, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, Nikolai Leskov, Marcel Proust, Robert Walser, Trauerspiel and translation theory. He also made major translations into German of the Tableaux Parisiens section of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal and parts of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu.
Of the hidden principle organizing Walter Benjamin's thought Scholem wrote unequivocally that "Benjamin was a philosopher", while his younger colleagues Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno contend that he was "not a philosopher". Scholem remarked "The peculiar aura of authority emanating from his work tended to incite contradiction". Benjamin himself considered his research to be theological, though he eschewed all recourse to traditionally metaphysical sources of transcendentally revealed authority.
In 1940, at the age of 48, Benjamin died by suicide at Portbou on the French Spanish border while attempting to escape the advance of the Third Reich. Though popular acclaim eluded him during his life, the decades following his death won his work posthumous renown. ...more

Combine Editions
Walter Benjamin’s books

Average rating: 4.12 · 65,698 ratings · 3,750 reviews · 865 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media by Walter Benjamin, Michael W. Jennings (Editor), Brigid Doherty (Editor), Thomas Y. Levin (Editor) 4.08 avg rating — 25,223 ratings — published 1936 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Illuminations: Essays and Reflections by Walter Benjamin, Harry Zohn (Translator), Hannah Arendt (Editor) 4.29 avg rating — 12,703 ratings — published 1955 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin, Howard Eiland (Translator), Kevin McLaughlin (Translator) 4.45 avg rating — 3,118 ratings — published 1982 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings by Walter Benjamin, Peter Demetz (Editor) 4.32 avg rating — 2,570 ratings — published 1978 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Way Street And Other Writings by Walter Benjamin, Edmund Jephcott (Translator), K. Shorter (Translator) 3.95 avg rating — 2,323 ratings — published 1928 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Berlin Childhood around 1900 by Walter Benjamin, Howard Eiland (Translator) 3.94 avg rating — 1,893 ratings — published 1950 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On the Concept of History 4.34 avg rating — 1,028 ratings — published 1940 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Short History of Photography by Walter Benjamin, Henry Bond (Goodreads Author) (Introduction), Stanley Mitchell (Translator) 3.83 avg rating — 788 ratings — published 1931 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness by Walter Benjamin, Paul Klee (Illustrator), Sam Dolbear (Editor) 3.66 avg rating — 688 ratings — published 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire by Walter Benjamin, Rodney Livingstone (Translator), Michael W. Jennings (Editor) 4.26 avg rating — 590 ratings — published 1969 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Walter Benjamin…

Series by Walter Benjamin

Werke und Nachlaß. Kritische Gesamtausgabe (8 books)
by

Walter Benjamin,

Theodor W. Adorno (Afterword)

4.08 avg rating — 28,878 ratings

The Selected Writings of Walter Benjamin (6 books)
by

Walter Benjamin,

Howard Eiland (Editor),

Michael W. Jennings (Editor)

4.53 avg rating — 976 ratings

Passagearbetet (2 books)
by

Walter Benjamin,

Ulf Peter Hallberg (Översättare),

Per Engström (Medarbetare),

Ragnhild Carlström (Revidering),

Lotten Wesslén (Revidering),

Gershom Scholem,

Theodor W. Adorno,

Gretel Adorno,

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4.29 avg rating — 35 ratings

Gesammelte Briefe. 6 Bände (6 books)
by

Walter Benjamin

4.17 avg rating — 12 ratings

Quotes by Walter Benjamin (?)

“History is written by the victors.”
― Walter Benjamin

tags: history

503 likes

“The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.”
― Walter Benjamin

tags: hope, love

462 likes

“There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”
― Walter Benjamin

209 likes

See all Walter Benjamin's quotes »

Polls

What non-fiction book would you like to read for June?

The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle

11 votes, 30.6%

Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson

8 votes, 22.2%

The Long Week-End: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939 by Robert Graves

4 votes, 11.1%

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves

4 votes, 11.1%

The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson

3 votes, 8.3%

The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War by Juliet Nicolson

3 votes, 8.3%

Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax by Joseph E. Persico

2 votes, 5.6%

On Hashish by Walter Benjamin

1 vote, 2.8%

A Little Learning: The First Volume of an Autobiography by Evelyn Waugh

0 votes, 0.0%

36 total votes

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Walter Benjamin’s Followers (2,160)

Walter Benjamin

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Walter Benjamin’s books