Illuminations

Essays and Reflections

Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Henry Zohn

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780547540658
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: French Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Essays and reflections from one of the twentieth century's most original cultural critics, with an introduction by Hannah Arendt.
 
Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and Brecht's epic theater. Illuminations also includes his penetrating study "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode; and his theses on the philosophy of history.
 
Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin's life in a dark historical era. Leon Wieseltier's preface explores Benjamin's continued relevance for our times.
 Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was a German-Jewish Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. He was at times associated with the  Frankfurt School of critical theory and was also greatly inspired by the Marxism of Bertolt Brecht and Jewish mysticism as presented by Gershom Scholem.?
 

Index of Names

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund, 1903–1969, German professor of philosophy and sociology, viii, xviii–xxi, xxiii, xxv, 211, 213 n5, 214 n7, 214 n10

Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier), 1868–1951, French philosopher, 128

Anselm of Canterbury, St., 1033–1109, Scholastic philosopher, 75

Aragon, Louis, 1897–1982, French poet, xxxi

Arnheim, Rudolf, 1904–2007, German-born American educator, psychologist, and art historian, 181, 189, 226 n11

Arnobius, ca. AD 300, early Christian apologist, 78

Arnoux, Alexandre, 1884–1973, French novelist, essayist, playwright, 178

Arp, Hans, 1887–1966, Alsatian sculptor, painter, poet, 190

Atget, Eugène, 1856–1927, French photographer, 176

Aurevilly, Jules Barbey d’, 1808–1889, French man of letters, 137

B

Bachofen, Johann Jakob, 1815–1887, Swiss philosopher and archaeologist, famous author of Mutterrecht und Urreligion, 5, 77–78

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799–1850, 6, 157

Barbier, Henri Auguste, 1805–1882, French poet and satirist, 117, 122, 216 n2

Barrès, Maurice, 1862–1923, French writer and publicist, 158

Bataille, George, 1897–1962, French intellectual, xxvi

Baudelaire, Charles, 1821–1867, x–xi, xvii–xix, xxv, 103–5, 110–15, 117–20, 122–23, 126, 128–40, 142–48, 160, 162, 212, 213 n4, 215 n25, 216 nn1–2, 217 nn3–4, 218 n5, 219 n9, 222 n18

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770–1827, 171

Bennett, Arnold, 1867–1931, English novelist, 44

Benoist-Méchin, Jacques, 1901–1983, French historian, diplomat, and man of letters, 160

Bergson, Henri, 1859–1941, French philosopher, 105–6, 108, 129, 132, 138, 221 n13

Bertram, Ernst, 1884–1957, German philologist, literary historian, and essayist, member of the George circle, xvi

Bibesco, Princess Marthe, 1887–1973, novelist and playwright, Proust’s friend, 157

Blanqui, Louis Auguste, 1805–1881, French revolutionary socialist and publicist, 204

Bloch, Ernst, 1885–1977, German philosopher and writer, 49, 214 n10

Borchardt, Rudolf, 1877–1945, German poet and essayist, xvii, xlv, 25

Börne, Ludwig, 1786–1837, German publicist and satirist, 129

Bos, Charles du, 1882–1939, French literary critic, essayist, translator, xxviii

Brecht, Bertolt, 1898–1956, German playwright and poet, viii, xviii, xxii–xxiii, xliv, lvii, 94–98, 100–101, 212, 213 n5, 214 n6, 215 n22, 215 n25, 225 n9–10

Breton, André, 1896–1966, French surrealist writer, 228 n17

Brod, Max, 1884–1968, Prague-born German novelist, xli, 61, 67, 72, 74

Buber, Martin, 1878–1965, Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher, li

C

Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, 1600–1681, Spain’s greatest dramatic author, 97

Chaplin, Charles, 1889–1977, 186, 229 n17

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 106–43 BC, Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, viii

Claudel, Paul, 1868–1955, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat, 112

Clermont-Tonnerre, Élisabeth (de Gramont), 1875–1954, French author, ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Introduction
• Unpacking My Library
• The Task of the Translator
• The Storyteller
• Franz Kafka
• Some Reflections on Kafka
• What is Epic Theater?
• On Some Motifs in Baudelaire
• The Image of Proust
• The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
• Theses on the Philosophy of History
• Editor’s Note
• Notes
• Index of Names
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH
• Footnotes