A selection of the literary and philosophical essays written by Walter Benjamin accompanied by an introduction by Hannah Arendt.

Illuminations

Literature & Fiction

ARENDT, HANNAH

ZOHN, Harry

BENJAMIN, WALTER

Essays & Correspondence

Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group)

<p>Walter Benjamin discusses whether art is diminished by the modern culture of mass replication, arriving at the conclusion that the aura or soul of an artwork is indeed removed by duplication. In an essay critical of modern fashion and manufacture, Benjamin decries how new technology affects art. The notion of fine arts is threatened by an absence of scarcity; an affair which diminishes the authenticity and essence of the artist's work. Though the process of art replication dates to classical antiquity, only the modern era allows for a mass quantity of prints or mass production. Given that the unique aura of an artist's work, and the reaction it provokes in those who see it, is diminished, Benjamin posits that artwork is much more political in significance. The style of modern propaganda, of the use of art for the purpose of generating raw emotion or arousing belief, is likely to become more prevalent versus the old-fashioned production of simpler beauty or meaning in a cultural or religious context.</p>

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: An Influential Essay of Cultural Criticism; the History and Theory of Art (Hardcover)

Arts & Photography

lulu.com

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: An Influential Essay of Cultural Criticism; the History and Theory of Art

Karl Kraus (1874-1936) is widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential satirists of the twentieth century. He was an enormously productive writer of poetry, critical essays, and aphorisms, and spent the bulk of his life in Vienna. The key to his work is his love of language, and his disdain for those who abuse it. To him, language was the moral criterion and accreditation for a writer. He set about to provide an imperishable profile of his age from the very perishable materials of newspaper reports. Kraus is famous as editor of the satirical journal Die Fackel (The Torch), and as author of the immense play, Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Humanity, 1918-19). This is the first attempt to analyze the most significant literary criticism on the works of Karl Kraus, an undertaking that reveals even more about the literary establishment in Vienna than about the great writer.

Karl Kraus and the Critics (Literary Criticism in Perspective, 43)

History & Criticism

Camden House

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