WALTER BENJAMIN (1892-1940) was a German literary critic, philosopher, social critic, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist associated with the "Frankfurt School" of social research.

An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mysticism, Benjamin made enduring and influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism.  His turn to Marxism in the 1930s was partly due to the influence of Bertolt Brecht, whose critical aesthetics developed epic theatre and its Verfremdungseffekt (defamiliarisation, alienation).  Another early influence was friend Gershom Scholem, founder of the academic study of the Kabbalah and of Jewish mysticism.

Among Benjamin's best known works are the essays "The Task of the Translator" (1923), "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1936), and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940).  His major work as a literary critic included essays on Baudelaire, Goethe, Kafka, Kraus, Leskov, Proust, Walser, and translation theory.  In 1940, at the age of 48, Benjamin committed suicide in Portbou at the French-Spanish border while attempting to escape from invading Nazi forces.  Though popular acclaim eluded him during his life, the decades following his death won his work posthumous renown.

The 5 volumes of SELECTED WRITINGS, published by Harvard University Press under the general editorship of Michael Jennings, cover Benjamin's entire career and are highly recommended.  Other excellent entry points to his work are the collections REFLECTIONS (1978) and ILLUMINATIONS (2007).


The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise indicated:

* AESTHETICS AND POLITICS (Verso, 1980).  With Theodor Adorno, Ernst Bloch, Bertolt Brecht, and Georg Lukács.  Afterword by Fredric Jameson.

* THE ARCADES PROJECT (Harvard, 1999).  Translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin.

* BERLIN CHILDHOOD AROUND 1900 (Harvard, 2006).  Translated by Howard Eiland.

* THE CORRESPONDENCE OF WALTER BENJAMIN, 1910-1940 (Chicago, 1994).  Edited and annotated by Gershom Scholem and Theodor W. Adorno; translated by Manfred R. Jacobson and Evelyn M. Jacobson.

* THE CORRESPONDENCE OF WALTER BENJAMIN AND GERSHOM SCHOLEM, 1932-1940 (Schocken, 1989).  Edited by Gershom Scholem.  Translated by Gary Smith and Andre Lefevere.

* EARLY WRITINGS, 1910-1917 (Harvard, 2011).  Translated by Howard Eiland & others.

* ILLUMINATIONS: ESSAYS AND REFLECTIONS (Schocken, 2007).  Translated by Harry Zohn; edited with an Introduction by Hannah Arendt. -- PDF + ePUB

* "MOSCOW DIARY", (1985) 35 October 9-135.

* ONE-WAY STREET & OTHER WRITINGS (New Left Books, 1979).  Translated by Edmund Jephcott and Kingsley Shorter.

* THE ORIGIN OF GERMAN TRAGIC DRAMA (Verso, 1998).  Translated by John Osborne; Introduction by George Steiner.

* RADIO BENJAMIN (Verso, 2014).  Edited by Lecia Rosenthal. -- ePUB

* REFLECTIONS: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings (HBJ, 1978).  Translated by Edmund Jephcott.

* SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. 1: 1913-1926 (Harvard, 1996).  Edited by Marcus Bullock and Michael W. Jennings.

* SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. 2, Part 1: 1927-1930 (Harvard, 1999).  Edited by Michael W. Jennings, Howard Eiland, and Gary Smith.

* SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. 2, Part 2: 1931-1934 (Harvard, 1999).  Edited by Michael W. Jennings, Howard Eiland, and Gary Smith.

* SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. 3: 1935-1938 (Harvard, 2002).  Edited by Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings.

* SELECTED WRITINGS, Vol. 4: 1938-1940 (Harvard, 2003).  Edited by Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings.

* UNDERSTANDING BRECHT (Verso, 1998).  Translated by Anna Bostock; Introduction by Stanley Mitchell.

* WALTER BENJAMIN'S ARCHIVE: Images, Texts, Signs (Verso, 2015).  Translated by Esther Leslie.  Edited by Ursula Marx, Gudrun Schwarz, Michael Schwarz, and Erdmut Wizisla. -- ePUB

* THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF ITS TECHNOLOGICAL REPRODUCIBILITY & OTHER WRITINGS ON MEDIA (Harvard, 2008).  Edited by Michael W. Jennings, Brigid Doherty and Thomas Y. Levin; translated by Edmund Jephcott, Rodney Livingstone, Howard Eiland & others.

* THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION (Prism Key, 2012).  Translated by Harry Zohn. -- ePUB

* THE WRITER OF MODERN LIFE: ESSAYS ON CHARLES BAUDELAIRE (Harvard, 2006).  Edited by Michael W. Jennings; translated by Howard Eiland, Edmund Jephcott, Rodney Livingstone & Harry Zohn.

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