Richard Lane

Reading Walter Benjamin (eBook, PDF)

Writing through the catastrophe

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

'Reading Walter Benjamin' explores the persistence of absolute in Benjamin's work by sketching-out the relationship between philosphy and theology apparent in his diverse writings, from the early youth-movement essays to the later books, essays and fragments.

The book examines Benjamin from two main perspectives: a history-of-ideas approach situating Benjamin in relation to the new German-Jewish thinking at the turn of the twentieth-century, as well as the German youth movements, Surrealism and the 'Georgekreis'; and a conceptual approach examining more critical issues in relation to Benjamin and Kant, modern aesthetics and narrative order.

Chapters cover: 'Kulturpessimismus' and the new thinking; metaphysics of youth: Wyneken and 'Rausch'; history: surreal Messianism; Goethe and the 'Georgekreis'; Kant's experience; casting the work of art; disrupting textual order; and exile and the time of crisis. The book uses new translations of Benjamin's essays, fragments and his 'Arcades Project', and makes substantial reference to previously untranslated material.

Lane's text allows the non-specialist entry into complex areas of critical theory, simultaneously offering original readings of Benjamin and twentieth-century arts and literature.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Seitenzahl: 224
• Erscheinungstermin: 4. Juni 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781526183927
• Artikelnr.: 70894415

Autorenporträt

Richard J. Lane is Professor of English at Malaspina University-College, Canada

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. 'Kulturpessimisus' & the new thinking The decline of the West
Messianic new thinking 3. Metaphysics of youth: Wyneken & 'Rausch' Wyneken
Youth's legacy
'Rausch' - youth's intoxication
The metaphysics of youth 4. History: Surreal messianism Eternal return
Profane illumination
Surrealism
Messianic time 5. Goethe and the 'Georgekreis' The struggle with an angel
The essay form
Goethe as critical constellation
Death's detour 6. Kant's experience Reduction & restriction
The despot of pure reason
The Kantian distance 7. Casting the work of art Aesthetic judgement
"Space Under My Steel Chair"
The series
Fixed-explosive
Memorial aesthetics 8. Narrative order & modern fiction Shuffle, or, order and de-formation
Just gaming
Benjamin, Johnson & Wittgenstein
Aphorism 9. Conclusion: Exile & the time of crisis Reconfiguring repetition
Weapons of mass destruction
disrupting singularity
Postscript on crisis time Glossary of German words and expressions Bibliography