Illuminations
by Walter Benjamin
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 606)
recommends it for:
Those Planning The Revolution
Walter Benjamin, writing his greatest work while constantly evading Nazi Persecution for being a Jew, was one of the most influential and compassionate cultural critics and intellectual revolutionaries of the Twentieth Century. Illuminations is a series of essays and reflections on some of his literary interests (Kafka, Proust, Baudelaire) as well as some of his most powerful writing about the culture at large (Art In The Age Of Mec...more
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the two most widely read pieces from this collection are probably "the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" and "theses on the philosophy of history," both of which are, in my opinion, absolutely necessary works to scrutinize for any student of cultural studies, be it in the guise of film, literature, history, and whathaveyou.
benjamins prose is lean; as with many theorists, there are parts that will leave you scratching your head and reading over and over a...more
benjamins prose is lean; as with many theorists, there are parts that will leave you scratching your head and reading over and over a...more
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Read in April, 2005
recommends it for:
who wouldn't read it???
if you make art, read this book. if you are a political person, read this book. if you are an emotional person, read this book. if you just like to space out and think about shit, read this book. walter benjamin is a total genius if not THE genius. nothing post-modern could exist in the way it does without his presence. his life represents (to me) the ultimate in scholarship and intellectual expression. he is also (conveniently) a very engaging writer. I have recommended this book to everyone fr...more
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Scary to read this now - relevant and haunting. Beautiful, dark prose. Brilliant and shadowy and mind-blowingly astute. Modern always in its observations and personal experience. His is the experience of all of us in a floating, unstable world. History and the present moment are the same - there is no time in Benjamin - and he tries desperately to teach us something. He listens to the world, the almost inaudible, and writes it faithfully and sadly.
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Read in August, 2008
I've read a significant chuck of this before, in classes and on my own, and quite a few of these essays are total classics. Benjamin's intelligence is quite unusual, and he can work around ideas in ways that normal folks (and for that matter, normal intellectuals) would just approach head on. Instead of writing about Proust's novels or Baudelaire's poems, he dances with them. It's a style I've only seen in Susan Sontag, and it's a style that she largely inherited from him.
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Read in January, 1997
The essays collected here are all good to excellent. However, Harry Zohn's translations are appalling! The piece on translation is garbled into nonsense, basically, and the less said about the rendering into English of the artwork essay the better. Best to stick to the edition put out by Harvard University Press fairly recently.
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Walter Benjamin just had that vision to see what was underneth his subject matter. Wonderful writer who can look at each layer of whatever subject matter he's writing about. Cultural critic before there were cultural critics. Now this is a man you would like to sit down and have a glass of wine with him. Alas not here with us anymore, so the second best thing is to have a glass of wine and read this book.
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Damian by:
Myself and also maybe Elanarecommends it for: Artists, Intelligence
I absolutely LOVED this book!!!
Based on this book, and one other essay, I am claiming that Benjamin is an amazingly beautiful writer that I will continue reading.
Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in thought, art - in all mediums, anyone with any knowledge or interest of Jewish history, and/or the history of the Frankfurt School.
Based on this book, and one other essay, I am claiming that Benjamin is an amazingly beautiful writer that I will continue reading.
Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in thought, art - in all mediums, anyone with any knowledge or interest of Jewish history, and/or the history of the Frankfurt School.
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recommends it for:
Those interested Literary Criticism, Marxism, & German Critical Theory
This is my favorite literary critic. He is a cultural prophet - a sage, a mystic, and a progressive Marxist. This is his best collection of essays, and it is the best starting point for anyone interested in Benjamin's work. It contains his most famous work, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."
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L really loved Reflections, read it straight through. This one, though, I might be a little more selective with.
Today I read "Author as Producer," which I thought was pretty great, but I'm also less interested in Benjamin as doctrinaire Marxist than I should be....
Today I read "Author as Producer," which I thought was pretty great, but I'm also less interested in Benjamin as doctrinaire Marxist than I should be....
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One of the most important thinkers of Continental Philosophy (Frankfurt School), Benjamin is a must for the wellbeing of your humanity. In this edition, ass-kicking philosopher, Hannah Arendt, offers a profound commentary on the works of Benjamin.
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Read in January, 2005
Reading Benjamin makes me realize how 98% of the conversations I have are a waste of time. His depth reaches far and his reading spreads vast.
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Read in January, 1998
Beautiful and brilliant... like poetry. His thinking is so open and the imagery so beautifully articulated that it affords all sorts of insightful and good things to be read into it.
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Libro de cabecera, imprescindible para conocer la versatilidad y profundidad de este pensador crítico alemán, uno de los fundadores de la Escuela de Frankfurt.
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Read in November, 2006
Yeah, the angel of time is cool, but who knows how cool until W.B. finally writes and illustrates an issue where AoT fights Archangel from X-men. Nuf said.
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recommends it for:
Whitney
this is a ridiculously interesting book. whitney i think you would be doubly interested in what he has to say (beyond the aesthetics/ethics of film stuff)
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Read in January, 1988
recommends it for:
Marxists; rebels; theological readers; cultural critics
I could have gone nowhere without Walter Benjamin.
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Read in March, 2006
I have become aware that the thoughts of the vile Leon Wieseltier have been hastily appended to the latest edition. seems a little unnecessary to me.
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Read in March, 2008
Just about everything I know I learned from the Theses on the Philosophy of History. The other things that I've learned relate to the essay.
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benjamin is one of the smartest to have ever written. careful, tight nuggets, and always from a quirky point of view.
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