Product Description

Walter Benjamin, one of the foremost cultural ommentators and theorists of the 20th century, is perhaps best known for his analyses of art in the modern age and the philosophy of history. Yet, it was through his study of the social and cultural history of late-19th-century Paris, examined particularly in relation to the figure of the great Parisian lyric poet Charles Baudelaire, that Benjamin tested and enriched some of his core concepts and themes. Contained within these pages are, among other insights, his notion of the "flaneur", his theory of memory and remembrance, his assessment of the utopian Fourier and his reading of the modernist movement. First translated in English in 1973, this is a study of the French lyric poet Charles Baudelaire. It should be useful as a text for readers of both Benjamin and Baudelaire, and for students of French literature. Walter Benjamin is the author of "One-Way Street", "The Origins of German Tagic Drama" and "Understanding Brecht".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #816353 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-24
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Indispensable
This excellent book is a collection of texts from various sources, all of them about Baudelaire's lyric poetry in relation to the social conditions that are reflected in it. Benjamin dives into the examination of all his basic theoretical concepts (space and the flaneur, memory and resemblance, time and gambling, readings of Fourier and Haussmann, the modernist movement, etc.) at different analytical depths in each text. This means that many of the themes are examined again and again, but this constant re-examination does not tire the reader, instead it makes things clearer every time. And this is necessary, because Benjamin's prose is thick with intermingling insights, as he moves from the literary to the social analysis and back again. An indispensable book for students of the 19th century, the concepts of modernity and modernism, urban life and the social and cultural aspects of capitalism, and also a very enjoying and rewarding read.