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heschi's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.5
Spannende Reflexionen und sehr dichtes theoretisches Werk. Besonderes die Ausführungen über den Film und das Ende zum Faschismus sind tolle Anregungen. Einige Begriffe sind aber eher unklar (Aura zum Beispiel). Lohnt sich sicher eine noch tiefere Lektüre.
naju's review against another edition
4.75
when time-machines are invented, benjamin is certainly the first I would visit and want to talk to (innevitably ruining time-travel for everyone). so so much to learn still from it, will revisit - my annotations for this are a beautiful mess.
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
A very remarkable and concise piece of theoretical writing. Benjamin wrote this in the 30s but it absolutely feels more recent - also makes a neat companion for Ways of Seeing.
Highly highly recommend the little 3 or 4 page afterword to the title essay. This is where Benjamin is at his most dramatic, applying his analysis to the politics of the moment (perhaps this one too. Flat circles et cetera et cetera), where Benjamin argues that 'fascism tends toward the aestheticization of politics'. It's spicy stuff - much to glean here.
This edition also has an essay on Kafka and a shorter essay on Proust slapped in. Both are decent I suppose? No complaints but certainly it is the title essay that carries all the weight here.
**A personal side note/expansion, because I’ve been mulling this over
Benjamin talks about fascism as the aestheticisation of politics (I agree). Perhaps more controversially, he goes on to suggest that fascism arises out of the belief in ‘l’art pour l’art’. This is, I think, more controversial. Or at least more likely to upset people. But let’s grant him that! Or defer it. Perhaps fascism is a bastardised form of l’art pour l’art. What then? Benjamin says that we must make political art - art must be politicised (actually, he says communist art must be political but here we are). This prescription is very interesting to me - it manages to arrive in topical thought-areas. Personally I interpret this as functioning within the old Marxist model of base and superstructure. One cannot write a novel or a play so brilliant, so incendiary that the workers throw down their tools and march into the streets. In other words, the superstructure cannot dictate revolution to the base. But it can communicate within itself, aesthetically. This is the locus, and ought to be understood as the purpose of political art - the defeat of fascism and fascist aesthetics.
Highly highly recommend the little 3 or 4 page afterword to the title essay. This is where Benjamin is at his most dramatic, applying his analysis to the politics of the moment (perhaps this one too. Flat circles et cetera et cetera), where Benjamin argues that 'fascism tends toward the aestheticization of politics'. It's spicy stuff - much to glean here.
This edition also has an essay on Kafka and a shorter essay on Proust slapped in. Both are decent I suppose? No complaints but certainly it is the title essay that carries all the weight here.
**A personal side note/expansion, because I’ve been mulling this over
Benjamin talks about fascism as the aestheticisation of politics (I agree). Perhaps more controversially, he goes on to suggest that fascism arises out of the belief in ‘l’art pour l’art’. This is, I think, more controversial. Or at least more likely to upset people. But let’s grant him that! Or defer it. Perhaps fascism is a bastardised form of l’art pour l’art. What then? Benjamin says that we must make political art - art must be politicised (actually, he says communist art must be political but here we are). This prescription is very interesting to me - it manages to arrive in topical thought-areas. Personally I interpret this as functioning within the old Marxist model of base and superstructure. One cannot write a novel or a play so brilliant, so incendiary that the workers throw down their tools and march into the streets. In other words, the superstructure cannot dictate revolution to the base. But it can communicate within itself, aesthetically. This is the locus, and ought to be understood as the purpose of political art - the defeat of fascism and fascist aesthetics.
will_cherico's review
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
This is an extremely important essay on art and aesthetics that I recommend everyone read. It mainly focuses on how reproducing art diminishes its value because it doesn't share the aura the original work has, which is super interesting to read in an age where artificial intelligence is capable of not just recreating but producing "art" that totally lacks the aura that Benjamin describes that comes with natural wear, the chain of ownership, where the artist was in their life when they made the art, etc. The essay also touches on the aesthetics of fascism in a really intelligent way. You hear in a lot of modern day discourse that there isn't a lot of good far-right art, and Benjamin's theory explains that - while communism works to bring politics to the masses as a form of art, fascism focuses on aesthetics, giving the proletariat an opportunity to indulge in beauty without ceding rights to them. Benjamin's thoughts are clear, concise, and ridiculously smart.
alanffm's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a truncated version of Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility with two extra essays - one on Kafka and one on Proust. The books main essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, focuses on the role of art in the modern age and how - where it once served the purpose of enlightenment, expression and veneration-it now serves a more sinister role. Benjamin argues that modern art serves the interests of the worlds Capitalists and governments instead of serving its previous role. Art is used to sway the opinions of the masses and no longer focuses on 'art for art's sake". While Benjamin provides a robust and troubling argument, I feel like this work could have gone into more depth. Of course, as I've said this is a truncated version of the original, so perhaps that is why I feel unfulfilled reading this. Still a new idea I'm happy to explore - glad I read it!
simonator's review against another edition
4.0
Überraschend überzeugend, auch wenn es auf einer gewissen oberflächlichen Ebene die Schrift einer gekränkten Künstlerseele bleibt, die neuartige Kunsttechnologien nicht mag. Aber die Argumente zur Zerstreueng vs Sammlung der Gesell chaft im Angesichts der massig reproduzierbaren Kunst sind lohnenswerte Lektüre.