Name: Illuminations
ISBN: 9781328470232

At a Glance

Why This Clicks

Critical Light

For when you want literary criticism that rewards slow attention without demanding a PhD.

Come here for

Essays with philosophical bite
A serious, portable collection

Expect

Reflections and essays
Layered but accessible prose

Book Details

Authors: Walter Benjamin
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: January 15, 2019
Format: Print & ebook
Theme: Lives in History · Writers' Lives
Reading lane: Lives in History

Affinity

Also connected

Lives of the Rich & Famous100%Political Lives100%Social Scientists' Lives100%Writers' Lives100%

Publisher Categories

Lives in History
Writers' Lives
Political Lives
Lives of the Rich & Famous

Show all 8 publisher categories

Social Scientists' Lives
Food World Lives
Activist Lives
Jewish Lives

About This Book

A selection of works from one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century—as selected by Hannah Arendt and including a classic essay of her own about Walter Benjamin’s life and philosophy.¶ “There has been no more original, no more serious critic and reader in our time.”—George Steiner ¶ An icon of criticism, Walter Benjamin was renowned for his insights on art, literature, and philosophy. This volume includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close...

Read full description

A selection of works from one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century—as selected by Hannah Arendt and including a classic essay of her own about Walter Benjamin’s life and philosophy.¶ “There has been no more original, no more serious critic and reader in our time.”—George Steiner ¶ An icon of criticism, Walter Benjamin was renowned for his insights 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 on Brecht’s epic theater. Illuminations includes two of Benjamin’s best-known, deeply enlightening essays, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” and “Theses on the Philosophy of History,” as well as Hannah Arendt’s own essay about her subject’s life as a German-born Jew during a dark era.