Publication Studio Hudson 2015 ISBN 9781935662136 Acqn 25271 Pb 12x17cm 326pp 32ills 1col 20 This fresh translation by Carl Skoggard of philosopher Walter Benjamin's (1892-1940) engaging memoir remains faithful to the author's voice. Readers are offered glimpses of an anonymous Berlin childhood, which might have been Benjamins, own, with recollections of an affluent Jewish home in Berlin's West End, circa 1900. Focusing less on events and characters than on places and things, Benjamin vividly re-imagines a young child's idiosyncratic private world. Written in the months before and after the Nazi takeover of Germany, these recollections served as a coping mechanism for Benjamin, a way of working through irrevocable loss. This edition is illustrated with 30 black-and-white images and comes with a foldable colour map of Berlin circa 1900 as well as a translator's essay and an extensive commentary.
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Walter Benjamin - The "Berlin Chronicle" Notices
Publication Studio Hudson 2015 ISBN 9781935662853 Acqn 25270 Pb 12x17cm 294pp 15ills 1col 20 A companion volume to Walter Benjamin's (1892-1940) memoir Berlin Childhood circa 1900, The "Berlin Chronicle" Notices is now in a new translation by Carl Skoggard. The German-Jewish philosopher, theorist and critic Walter Benjamin began to ruminate on his comfortable Berlin childhood in 1932, not long before he would flee Germany for good to escape the Nazis. The resulting "Berlin Chronicle" notices--40 in all--do not result in a linear narrative but instead remain fragmentary recollections of Benjamin's young years, from his early childhood to the threshold of adulthood. More generally, they are a series of profound explorations of memory and of the ways memory relates to place. Rich in and of themselves, these notices greatly illuminate "Berlin Childhood circa 1900," written by Benjamin months later. This translation, in a charming pocketsized format, comes with an extensive commentary, a historical map of Berlin and numerous illustrations.
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Walter Benjamin Sonnets
Publication Studio Hudson 2015 ISBN 9781624620812 Acqn 25274 Pb 11x17cm 394pp 5ills 20 Walter Benjamin's sonnets, written to mourn his friend Fritz Heinle, constitute an important though little-known part of the philosopher's literary achievement and a unique contribution to the history of the German sonnet. Benjamin would add to their number over a decade, having begun his project soon after the outbreak of World War I and the suicide of his friend. They were among the writings that Benjamin, forced to flee France, entrusted to Georges Bataille in 1940 for safekeeping. Here, for the first time, readers of English are offered translations of all 73 "Heinle sonnets" along with the original German text and an extensive commentary. The Introductory Essay examines the poems' biographical context as well as Benjamin's bold approach to sonnet writing. These poems weave the deeply personal together with Benjamin's evolving religious and philosophical perspective--shedding new light on the emergence of the man and the thinker.