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One-Way Street and Other Writings
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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One-Way Street and Other Writings
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Walter Benjamin - philosopher, essayist, literary and cultural theorist - was one of the most original writers and thinkers of the twentieth century. This title brings together Benjamin's major works, including "Unpacking My Library"; "One-Way Street"; "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"; and, "Brief History of Photography".
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Description
Introduction by Amit Chaudhuri; translated by J.A. Underwood
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, his dreamlike, aphoristic observations of urban life in Weimar Germany; 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.
Contains: Unpacking My Library; One-Way Street; The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; Brief History of Photography; Hashish in Marseille; On the Critique of Violence; The Job of the Translator; Surrealism; Franz Kafka and Picturing Proust.
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780141189475
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 29 October 2009
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by J. A. Underwood
- Introduction by Amit Chaudhuri
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 17.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 223g
Pages: 304
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.
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