Walter Benjamin
Leslie, Esther
Paperback
$11.02 + $1.99 USPS S/H
$0.55 of your order (5%) will be donated to the school of your choice.
BOOK SUMMARY
Drawing upon a wealth of journal writings and personal correspondence, Esther Leslie presents a uniquely intimate portrait of one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin. She sets his life in the context of his middle-class up
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Drawing upon a wealth of journal writings and personal correspondence, Esther Leslie presents a uniquely intimate portrait of one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century, Walter Benjamin. She sets his life in the context of his middle-class upbringing; explores the social, political, and economic upheaval in Germany during and after World War I; and recounts Benjamin’s eccentric love of toys, trick-books, travel, and ships. From the Frankfurt School and his influential friendships with Theodore Adorno, Gershom Scholem, and Bertolt Brecht, to his travels across Europe, Walter Benjamin traces out the roots of Benjamin’s groundbreaking writings and their far-reaching impact in his own time. Leslie argues that Benjamin’s life challenges the stereotypical narrative of the tragic and lonely intellectual figure—instead positioning him as a man who relished the fierce combat of competing theories and ideas.
Closing with his death at the Spanish-French border in a desperate flight from the Nazis and Stalin, Walter Benjamin is a concise and concentrated account of a capacious intellect trapped by hostile circumstances.
AUTHOR BIO
Esther Leslie is professor of political aesthetics in the School of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. She is also author of Walter Benjamin: Overpowering Conformism, Hollywood Flatlands, and Synthetic Worlds, the last published by Reaktion Books.
BOOK REVIEWS
"Clear and welcome. . . . Leslie records some of the many conjectures about [his death] and some of the fantasies about his survival and purported later life. So much about this man feels unfinished that we cannot let him go."--Financial Times Magazine
Submit a book reviewFOR RELATED BOOKS
Biography & Autobiography Books :: Philosophers Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 1861893434
ISBN(13-digit): 9781861893437
Dewey Decimal: 193
Library of Congress: oc2007167563
Book Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 256
If you like this book, you may also enjoy:
 | |
 | |
 | |
| Descartes | |
The Legacy of Isaiah Berlin | |
Tete-a-tete | |
| Grayling, A. C. | |
Lilla, Mark (EDT)/ Dworkin, Ronald (EDT)/ Silvers, Robert B. (EDT) | |
Rowley, Hazel | |
