Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin: Biography

Walter Benjamin was born in 1892 to a Jewish family in Berlin. He was the firstborn of Emil and Pauline Benjamin and subsequently had two siblings. His early years were spent in Berlin, then one of Europe's busiest metropolitan centres. Benjamin's parents provided him with an upper-middle-class childhood. During this time, Benjamin was tutored by a governess at home. However, the family moved several times within well-to-do areas near Berlin.

Benjamin's sheltered life was disrupted for the first time when he was enrolled in Kaiser Friedrich School just before his ninth birthday. In 1905, Benjamin was sent to a boarding school in Haubinda, outside of Berlin but returned to the Kaiser Friedrich School in 1907. At the school, he completed his final exam in 1912. After completing his primary education, he took a short trip to Italy. Benjamin then enrolled at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Freiburg im Breisgau to study philosophy. Benjamin also attended the University of Munich, where he made friends with writers and thinkers like Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). In 1917, Benjamin enrolled at the University of Berne to do a doctoral dissertation.

Benjamin faced many financial and intellectual obstacles while he enjoyed fame and recognition as the foremost cultural critic of his generation. Benjamin travelled widely through Europe and is known for being in correspondence with prominent intellectuals and writers who were his contemporaries, such as Theodor Adorno (1903–1969), Max Horkheimer (1895–1973), and Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). His major work as a literary critic included essays on famous writers of his time as well as translation theory.

During his lifetime, Benjamin wrote for newspapers and journals and spoke on radio broadcasts. He also had a habit of collecting toys and children's books alongside literary and philosophical works. Benjamin died by suicide at the age of 48 in 1940 at Portbou, located on the French–Spanish border, while trying to escape from the German forces.

The Frankfurt School

Benjamin was an associate of the Frankfurt School of critical theory and philosophy. The Frankfurt school was founded in 1929 by scholars and philosophers at the Institute for Social Research at Goethe University Frankfurt. The Frankfurt school was based on ideologies such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, and existentialism. However, the Frankfurt School had a critical approach towards classical Marxism, which they argued was inadequate to explain modern social issues.

Walter Benjamin: Books

Benjamin's writing ranged from philosophical, autobiographical, academic, and literary. Benjamin used a series of pseudonyms for publishing his works, for personal as well as political reasons. His pseudonyms include Ardor, J. E. Mabinn (an anagram of Benjamin), C. Conrad, Hans Fellner, K. A. Stempflinger, and Detlev Holz.

Between 1914 and 1918, Benjamin wrote essays such as 'The Life of Students' (1915), 'Two Poems by Friedrich Holderlin' (1915), 'On Language in General and on the Language of Man' (1916), and 'On the Program of the Coming Philosophy' (1918).

Fig. 1 Walter Benjamin discussed the representation of art forms in the mechanical age.

Among Benjamin's best-known works are 'The Origin of German Tragic Drama' (1928), One Way Street (1928), Arcades Project (1982), Writings (1955), and the essays 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (1935), and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (1940).

Walter Benjamin: The Storyteller

Although Benjamin is known foremost as an essayist and cultural critic, he also experimented with creative writing. The Storyteller: Tales Out of Loneliness is a collection of Benjamin's fictional works. First published in 2016, it was the first compilation of Benjamin's literary efforts. It is divided into three parts based on genre and themes. Benjamin's stories present the drudgery and excitement of city life, navigating the tensions between reason and illusion, games, gambling and similar themes. Benjamin's writing style is considered by many to be modernist as he aptly combines his philosophical inclinations with the literary.

'The Storyteller' was also the title of an essay by Benjamin published in 1936. The essay discusses the art of storytelling with a hint of nostalgia and is a continuation of Benjamin's critique of art and its representation in a world that is technologically advancing.

Walter Benjamin: Illuminations

Illuminations which was published in 1968, contains two of Benjamin's most famous essays, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (1935) and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (1942).

'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'

In this essay, also published under the title 'The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility', Benjamin raises an important question: what happens to the value of art when you can find cheap copies of even the most famous painting in the world? Benjamin's essay went on to influence theories in the study of visual culture and reproduction and representation of art in the digital age.

The premise of the essay includes:

• The function of art changes with the emergence of technological art forms like cinema and photography.
• As a result, art is no longer appreciated or perceived individually but collectively by a mass audience.

Benjamin introduces a number of concepts in the essay, such as aura and authenticity.

Aura is a characteristic of art that makes it unique. When the existence of art is limited to a particular space in time, its perception is dependent on personal interaction. In contrast, when art is technically recreated on screen or in photographs, it could be consumed by audiences around the world collectively and simultaneously. The essay later inspired the documentary and book The Ways of Seeing (1972) by John Berger (1926–2017).

Walter Benjamin: Quotes

Here are a few notable quotes taken from volumes of Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings (2004-8).

Authenticity is similar to the concept of aura. However, as opposed to aesthetic and artistic qualities of art, Benjamin's concept of authenticity is based on the way a work of art is created and therefore, its reproducibility.

Authenticity is not a quality that a work of art can possess. Instead, Benjamin shifts focus to the political function of art.

There is no role for contemplation in appreciating technology-based art forms like a film because of its fast-paced nature.