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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
Although it contains the excellent essays, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and Theses on the Philosophy of History, this collection is subject to the weaknesses of most anthologies: We are made to glide along the surface of the text, which Arendt has paternalistically selected for us to peruse. Though Benjamin is not well-known for his long-form (and though this is a limitation of short books by definition) Illuminations would have done well to include a single more substantive selection from his longer work instead of padding itself with lightweight selections such as, Unpacking My Library.
Exploring my Water Benjamin era. I didn't really understand the hype around Benjamin, but he appeared to be a melancholic figure, someone who glimpsed at the world from a very unique perspective, a lonely sight. And some of his essays I didn't care for too much, although they are probably of great interest if you're into German literature. But when Benjamin writes something good, it's supreme. These small fragments that pop out of nowhere, sometimes standing out like a sore thumb, they are just fantastic. The final fragment in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction, where Benjamin skips from a study of film and the apparatus to, suddenly, Fascism as the aestheticisation of politics and Communism as the politicisation of aesthetics/art. He is taken over by brilliance and ends the essay on an explosive note. Similarly with the Angel of History, just great, powerful writing that retroactively changes how the rest of the essay is read.
The strongest essays are definitely his rethinking of translation hierarchies in "Task of The Translator"; his writings on crowds in "On Some Motifs In Baudelaire" (and his comparison with workers in a factory, brilliant); of course, the great inspiration for John Berger's *Ways of Seeing*: "The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction", *especially* the final fragment on Fascism; and finally, "Theses on The Philosophy of History" and its iconic imagery of the angel of history.
The strongest essays are definitely his rethinking of translation hierarchies in "Task of The Translator"; his writings on crowds in "On Some Motifs In Baudelaire" (and his comparison with workers in a factory, brilliant); of course, the great inspiration for John Berger's *Ways of Seeing*: "The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction", *especially* the final fragment on Fascism; and finally, "Theses on The Philosophy of History" and its iconic imagery of the angel of history.
I've taken a long time to get around to reading this collection in full, having read a couple of the pieces (Work of Art, Philosophy of History) some years ago and snippets of others (Unpacking My Library, Kafka) more recently. Still others (The Storyteller, Proust) had long been on my list of subjects to investigate, thus more or less justifying a full read of the collection. I knew I enjoyed Benjamin's style, but what I didn't expect was that even the pieces on subjects in which I had little prior interest (Epic Theatre, Baudelaire) would turn out to be entirely riveting, and indeed to kindle in me a fierce fascination with those subjects. Throughout the pieces Benjamin moves across dense, even miserable subjects with due solemnity, but also with a humour so light as to make his touch feel weightless. It is evident how much of this effect is owed to Kafka, both from Benjamin's own comments on that author and from the close attention paid to their relationship in Arendt's introduction.
The introduction itself I left until last, undecided as to whether I would read it until the last page of the Theses on the Philosophy of History. It is the first work of Arendt's that I have bothered to read, but once again, a previously absent interest has been kindled, as I find she writes with equal authority and tenderness on the matters of literature, politics, biography, and history relevant to Benjamin's life and work.
The introduction itself I left until last, undecided as to whether I would read it until the last page of the Theses on the Philosophy of History. It is the first work of Arendt's that I have bothered to read, but once again, a previously absent interest has been kindled, as I find she writes with equal authority and tenderness on the matters of literature, politics, biography, and history relevant to Benjamin's life and work.
For every second of time was the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter.
There are hardly enough superlatives for this amazing collection of essays concerning Baudelaire, Proust, Kafka, messianism and the aesthetic tension between the cultic and the exhibitional. I had read Unpacking My Library a half dozen times previously and it still forces me to catch my breath. The thoughts on Kafka explore the mystical as well as the shock of the modern. The shock of the urban and industrial is a recurring theme in these pieces. Likewise is the dearth of actual experience and the onslaught of involuntary memory. It was a strange juxtaposition that this very morning I put down Illuminations and was enjoying my breakfast. Before me in the recent Bookforum was an article by Geoff Dyer about August Sander's People of the Twentieth Century https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/473219.August_Sander_1876_1964. Benjamin's idea of aura has likely morphed into something strange over the intervening 70 odd years.
There are hardly enough superlatives for this amazing collection of essays concerning Baudelaire, Proust, Kafka, messianism and the aesthetic tension between the cultic and the exhibitional. I had read Unpacking My Library a half dozen times previously and it still forces me to catch my breath. The thoughts on Kafka explore the mystical as well as the shock of the modern. The shock of the urban and industrial is a recurring theme in these pieces. Likewise is the dearth of actual experience and the onslaught of involuntary memory. It was a strange juxtaposition that this very morning I put down Illuminations and was enjoying my breakfast. Before me in the recent Bookforum was an article by Geoff Dyer about August Sander's People of the Twentieth Century https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/473219.August_Sander_1876_1964. Benjamin's idea of aura has likely morphed into something strange over the intervening 70 odd years.
This was very helpful for my French Cultural Studies comprehensive exam.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
A complex thinker with fragmented, peripatetic, and often poetic literary criticism. Not an easy read, but sprinkled with surprising insight, as all of his writings are.
