One-Way Street: And Other Writings - Softcover

Benjamin, Walter

3.96

1,896 ratings by Goodreads

9780860918363: One-Way Street: And Other Writings

Softcover

ISBN 10: 086091836X ISBN 13: 9780860918363

Publisher: Verso Books, 1985

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

This volume contains a selection of Benjamin's writings, including the set of aphorisms 'One-Way Street', which enables the reader to appreciate the magnitude of his intellectual achievement.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Back Cover:

Translated by J. A. Underwood
With an Introduction by Amit Choudhuri

'There has been no more original, no more serious, critic and reader in our time' George Steiner

Walter Benjamin - philosopher, essayist, literary and cultural theorist - was one of the most original writers and thinkers of the twentieth century. This new selection brings together Benjamin's major works, including 'One-Way Street', a series of aphoristic observations prompted by urban life in 1920s Europe; 'Unpacking My Library', a delightful meditation on book-collecting; the confessional 'Hashish in Marseille'; and 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', his seminal essay on how technology changes the way we appreciate art. Also including writings on subjects ranging from Proust to Kafka, violence to surrealism, this is the essential volume on one of the most prescient critical voices of the modern age.

'One of the most celebrated intellectuals of the twentieth century' Guardian

About the Author:

Walter Benjamin was born on July 15, 1892 to a German-Jewish family in Berlin. He was educated at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg and the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. An essay on Goethe's Elective Affinities published in 1924 earned him swift recognition but he struggled to find a position to support himself and build on its success. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Benjamin fled to Paris and became a prominent critic of Hitler's regime. During this period he worked on his immense study of 19th century Parisian life known as The Arcades Project (which was posthumously published in unfinished form).Following the Nazi invasion of France Benjamin attempted to escape to the United States where a visa had been obtained for him.Trying to get through to neutral Portugal, Benjamin was prevented from crossing the Spanish border and committed suicide on September 27 1940.

Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist, poet, critic and musician.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.