The Complete Correspondence, 1928-1940 [Walter Benjamin / Theodor Adorno]

Adorno, Theodor. Walter Benjamin. Henri Lonitz, ed.; Nicholas Walker, trans

ISBN 10: 0674154274 / ISBN 13: 9780674154278

Edité par Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999

A propos de cet article

As New condition in grey boards with red spine text, 382 pages in a Very Good dust-jacket.

N° de réf. du vendeur 3563

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Complete Correspondence, 1928-1940 [Walter Benjamin / Theodor Adorno]
• Éditeur: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
• Date de parution: 1999
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0674154274
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780674154278
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: First Edition.
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Very Good
• Poids: 2 livres
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Theory
  • Ex Libris Lucy Sante

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The correspondence between Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, which appears here for the first time in its entirety in English translation, must rank among the most significant to have come down to us from that notable age of barbarism, the twentieth century. Benjamin and Adorno formed a uniquely powerful pair. Benjamin, riddle-like in his personality and given to tactical evasion, and Adorno, full of his own importance, alternately support and compete with each other throughout the correspondence, until its imminent tragic end becomes apparent to both writers. Each had met his match, and happily, in the other. This book is the story of an elective affinity. Adorno was the only person who managed to sustain an intimate intellectual relationship with Benjamin for nearly twenty years. No one else, not even Gershom Scholem, coaxed so much out of Benjamin.The more than one hundred letters in this book will allow readers to trace the developing character of Benjamin's and Adorno's attitudes toward each other and toward their many friends. When this book appeared in German, it caused a sensation because it includes passages previously excised from other German editions of the letters--passages in which the two friends celebrate their own intimacy with frank remarks about other people. Ideas presented elliptically in the theoretical writings are set forth here with much greater clarity. Not least, the letters provide material crucial for understanding the genesis of Benjamin's "Arcades Project."

Revue de presse

"[In this volume] the reader witnesses the hesitant, tension–filled process by which two individuals come together – individuals who could scarcely have approached each other in any other way than through the mediation of this literary form. True, they both repeatedly affirm their desire for personal meetings and face–to–face conversation. But the continued series of postponed and prevented visits (Adorno came to Paris, briefly, only twice) does not simply reflect adverse circumstances; it also bespeaks an unavowed preference for the obliqueness of letter writing. One gets the impression that the constraints of this medium protect the withdrawn Benjamin from the uncertainties and importunities of direct contact, and at the same time grant the austere Adorno greater freedom of critical expression." Jurgen Habermas, Die Zeit

"Where Benjamin′s cycles reveal the deliberately closed and enigmatic self–defensive nature of his personality, Adorno′s letters are among the most remarkable things he himself ever wrote. Those letters document one of the most painful moments in Benjamin′s life. Not the least interest of this correspondence is the questionable light in which it throws both of its protagonists: Benjamin for the riddle–like nature of his personality and the withdrawals and strategic or tactical evasions, so often evident here; and Adorno for the often self–important way in which he stages the flights of his own intelligence. The extraordinary and unique qualities of this correspondence stem from the confrontation in stages between two of the most intense and energetic minds of the century" Fredric Jameson, Duke University

"These are complex, challenging texts that highlight the intellectual achievements of these two important thinkers. In discussions of such central concepts as the dialectical image, the problem of mediation between socioeconomic formations and cultural products, and especially the interrelation of new media technologies and aesthetics, these letters offer some of the most penetrating cultural theory written this century in any language." Michael Jennings, Princeton University