Walter Benjamin: an introduction to his work and thought

Introduction. A contemporary of modernism

Life and works

Companions, influences

Early writings, 1914-18. Apotheosis of the mind (Geist): beginnings inside the youth movement : "Dialogue on contemporary religiosity" (1912); "The life of students" (1915-16)

Life of the work of art : "Two poems by Friedrich Hölderlin" (1914-15); "The idiot by Dostoevsky" (1917-21)

Defining his philosophical position : "On the program of the coming philosophy" (1917-18)

The magic of language : letter to Buber of July 17, 1916; "On language as such and on the language of man" (1916); "The task of the translator" (1921)

Art criticism and politics, 1919-25. Romantic philosophy of art and its contemporary relevance : The concept of criticism in German romanticism (1919-20)

Exemplary criticism: "Goethe's Elective affinities" : "Announcement of the journal Angelus novus" (1912); "Goethe's elective affinities" (1921-25)

The problematic of art: criticism and allegorical artwork : Origin of German tragic drama (1923-28)

Paul Scheerbart and the concept of the political : "Theological-political fragment" (1920-21); "The true politician" (1921-25);

"Critique of violence" (1921); "Paul Scheerbart: Lesabéndio" (1917-19)

Journalistic commitment and essayistic work, 1925-33. Profane illumination: surrealism and politics : One-way street (1923-28); "Moscow" (1927); "Surrealism: the last snapshot of the German intelligentsia" (1929)

The "strategist in the literary struggle" : reviews of literary scholarship (1926-31): Gundolf, Walzel, Kommerell, Ermatinger; "Politicizing the intelligentsia" (1930-32): reviews of Haas, Kästner, Hiller, Kracauer, Jünger

The task of the critic : "Collected essays on literature" (1929-30); "Journal project: Krisis und Kritik" (1930); "Johann Peter Hebel" (1926); "Gottfried Keller" (1927); "Robert Walser" (1929); "Julien Green" (1929); "On the image of Proust" (1929); "Karl Kraus" (1931); "Paul Valéry" (1931); "Bert Brecht" (1930); "What is the epic theater?" (1931-39)

Exile writings, 1933-39. The changing function of art : "The present social situation of the French writer" (1933-34); "The author as producer" (1934); "Eduard Fuchs, collector and historian" (1937); "'The regression of poetry' by C.G. Jochmann" (1939)

The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility : "Little history of photography" (1931); "The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility" (1935-36)

Reinstatement of epic narration : "Experience and poverty" (1933); "The crisis of the novel: Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1930); "The storyteller: observations on the works of Nikolai Leskov" (1936); "Franz Kafka: beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer" (1931); "Franz Kafka. on the tenth anniversary of his death" (1934)

Primal history of modernism, 1931-40. Berlin childhood around 1900 : "Berlin chronicle" (1932); "Berlin childhood around 1900" (1932-38); "Doctrine of the similar/on the mimetic faculty" (1933)

Parisian arcades : The arcades project (1927-1940); "Paris, the capital of the nineteenth century" (1935); "Paris, capitale du XIXème siècle" (1939)

Charles Baudelaire: a lyric poet in the era of high capitalism : "The Paris of the second empire in Baudelaire" (1938); "On some motifs in Baudelaire" (1939); "Central Park" (1939)

The concept of history : "On the concept of history" (1940); "Arcades project: files J and N"

Posthumous influence and stages of reception. Record of extant material and editions

Reception.