Walter Benjamin: An Introduction to His Work and Thought (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780226772219)

Seven decades after his death, German Jewish writer, philosopher, and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) continues to fascinate and influence. Here Uwe Steiner offers a comprehensive and sophisticated introduction to the oeuvre of this intriguing theorist.

Acknowledged only by a small circle of intellectuals during his lifetime, Benjamin is now a major figure whose work is essential to an understanding of modernity. Steiner traces the development of Benjamin's thought chronologically through his writings on philosophy, literature, history, politics, the media, art, photography, cinema, technology, and theology. Walter Benjamin reveals the essential coherence of its subject's thinking while also analyzing the controversial or puzzling facets of Benjamin's work. That coherence, Steiner contends, can best be appreciated by placing Benjamin in his proper context as a member of the German philosophical tradition and a participant in contemporary intellectual debates.

As Benjamin's writing attracts more and more readers in the English-speaking world, Walter Benjamin will be a valuable guide to this fascinating body of work.

Author: Uwe Steiner
ISBN-10: 0226772217
ISBN-13: 9780226772219
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 05/30/2010
Pages: 248
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2011