This was a pretty excellent (and challenging) survey of Benjamin's work, with included pieces mostly concerning storytelling and particular literary figures (e.g., Kafka, Proust, Leskov). I'd say this collection is particularly helpful in that it proceeds, as I read it, thematically. The editor's introductory piece isn't really worth reading--mostly just a reflection on Benjamin's "continuing importance", pretty standard (though I will say his criticisms of Benjamin, like his reluctance to give in to Scholem, amount more to complaints than critiques). In contrast, I found Arendt's essay incredibly enlightening. She relates not only much of the content of Benjamin's thought, but offers insight into his personal life (e.g., his experience in the Parisian Arcades, his collective impulses) that assists greatly in understanding the experience motivating some of Benjamin's analyses (e.g., of the crowd, of the collector, of the character of the flaneur). In some retellings, as in his chronic financial/employment troubles or the unfortunate coincidences leading to his suicide, a sense of melancholy or "bad luck" is almost palpable, particularly given Arendt's close relation to Benjamin.
As for the essays themselves, anyone who has read Benjamin is aware of how challenging the prose (if we may call it that) is. As Arendt notes in her introduction, Benjamin is a poetic thinker, and tends both to assume a fair amount of foreknowledge and employ sophisticated (and often extended) figurative devices, e.g., simile, to relate his points. Contrast this with the geometric prose of Spinoza and other modern philosophers, with their numbered axioms, definitions, propositions, etc. In his essay on Proust, for example, Benjamin likens the weight of scent in memory to the weight of the fisherman's net by which he gauges his catch, and sentences to the physical labor required to haul it up. There is also some evidence of his on-again-off-again Marxist tendencies (which embarrassing fact, combined with his ambivalence between this commitment and Zionism, is acknowledged in the introduction to the collection), as in his late essay on art modified by mechanical reproduction, plus the more obvious shoehorning of concepts like "class struggle" and "proletarianization". Nevertheless, this is a fantastic collection which ought to attract both old and new readers of Benjamin--I know I'll be buying Reflections, Illuminations' spiritual companion, and at least some of his standalone work.
Different publication and edition
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
Not the version depicted. Unhappy.Unsure if the translation is the same.
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
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Cody Franklin
A Helpful Introduction to Benjamin
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2013Danlin Zhang
Kindle ver.: incorrect page numbers
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2019Vic Elliott
Frankfurt School socialism
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018Juan Jose Morales
The translation, a masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2010
K. Marques
Different publication and edition
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019
Not the version depicted. Unhappy.
Unsure if the translation is the same.
Unsure if the translation is the same.
Images in this review
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dolma
Interesting book. Excellent introduction by Hannah Arendt.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2022Louis Ryan
AVOID THIS FRAUDULENT EDITION!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2016