The Cambridge Companion To Walter Benjamin (cambridge Companions To Literature)

Offering a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Walter Benjamin, the highly influential twentieth-century critic and theorist, this Companion examines different significant aspects of Benjamin's work. Topics of contributions include Benjamin's relationship to the avant-garde movements of his time; his theories on language, mimesis and modernity; and his relevance to modern cultural studies. Additional material includes autobiographical writings, a guide to further reading and a chronology. Annotation This Companion offers a comprehensive introduction to the work and thought of the highly influential twentieth-century critic and theorist Walter Benjamin. The volume provides examinations of the different aspects of Benjamin's work that have had a significant effect on contemporary critical and historical thought. Topics discussed by experts in the field include Benjamin's relation to the avant-garde movements of his time, the form of the work of art, his theories on language and mimesis, modernity, his relation to Brecht and the Frankfurt School, his significance and relevance to modern cultural studies, his formative interpretation of Romanticism, and his autobiographical writings. The volume is aimed at readers who may be coming to Benjamin for the first time or who have some knowledge of Benjamin but would like to know more about the issues and concepts central to his work. Additional material includes a guide to further reading and a chronology This Companion Offers A Comprehensive Introduction To The Thought Of The Highly Influential 20th Century Critic And Theorist Walter Benjamin. Walter Benjamin And The European Avant-garde / Michael Jennings -- Art Forms / Jan Mieszkowski -- Language And Mimesis In Walter Benjamin's Work / Beatrice Hanssen -- Walter Benjamin's Concept Of Cultural History / Howard Caygill -- Benjamin's Modernity / Andrew Benjamin -- Benjamin And Psychoanalysis / Sarah Ley Roff -- Benjamin And The Ambiguities Of Romanticism / Rebecca Comay -- Body Politics: Benjamin's Dialectical Materialism Between Brecht And The Frankfurt School / Rainer Nagele -- Method And Time: Benjamin;s Dialectical Images / Max Pensky -- Benjamin's Phantasmagoria: The Arcades Project / Margaret Cohen -- Acts Of Self-portraiture: Benjamin's Confessional And Literary Writings / Gerhard Richter. Edited By David S. Ferris. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 238-241) And Index. The year 1924 produced a series of crucial turns in Walter Benjamin's career.