Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical WritingA companion volume to Illuminations, the first collection of Walter Benjamin's writings, Reflections presents a further sampling of his wide-ranging work. Here Benjamin evolves a theory of language as the medium of all creation, discusses theater and surrealism, reminisces about Berlin in the 1920s, recalls conversations with Bertolt Brecht, and provides travelogues of various cities, including Moscow under Stalin. He moves seamlessly from literary criticism to autobiography to philosophical-theological speculations, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest and most versatile writers of the twentieth century. Also included is a new preface by Leon Wieseltier that explores Benjamin's continued relevance for our times. |
Contents
A Berlin Chronicle | 3 |
OneWay Street selection 63 | 61 |
Moscow | 97 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
André Breton appears art nouveau Baudelaire become Benjamin Berlin Bertolt Brecht Bolshevik bourgeois bourgeoisie Brecht Café called close communication concept creation creative criticism demon destructive character dialectical divine dream ends epic theater essay existence experience expression fascism fate feeling flâneur function German guilt hand Hannah Arendt hashish human idea intellectual Kafka Karl Kraus Kraus language later lawmaking less linguistic literary living magic Marxist means memory ment mental entity mimetic moral Moscow nature never night novel origin Paris perhaps petit bourgeois picture poem poetry political production profane proletarian question relation relationship revolutionary Russian Saint-Simonists seemed signs social sphere stands street strike struggle Surrealism Surrealists theater things thought Threepenny Opera tion true turn violence walls Walter Benjamin window word writing