Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940
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Description
Book Introduction
Hannah Arendt's portrayal of Walter Benjamin: A ray of light illuminating a dark age
Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt. "Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940" is a book that brings together these two of today's most notable philosophers.
This essay was originally a biographical and ideological sketch that Arendt published in The New Yorker on October 12, 1960 (at the time she was publishing a series of short biographies of thinkers who had lived through the interwar years, essays that were later collected into the book Men of Dark Times). Arendt also included it as the preface to the first English-language edition of her selected works on Walter Benjamin, entitled Illumination.
This book, which is about 140 pages long, outlines Benjamin's thought system like a contour line.
Arendt gradually explores Benjamin's unfortunate life and the thoughts that arose from it, focusing on the keyword "location," and shows in writing Benjamin's way of thinking, which he thought poetically even though he was not a poet.
Philosopher, writer, and translator Lee Seong-min's translation clearly reveals Hannah Arendt's nuanced thoughts, which are often difficult to read, and paves the way for readers to understand Arendt's metaphorically rich and profound sentences closer to their original meaning.
Along the way, readers will meet Benjamin, the “pearl diver,” who lived the life of a “hunchbacked dwarf,” who was “at the top of the mast” in “dark times.”
Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt. "Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940" is a book that brings together these two of today's most notable philosophers.
This essay was originally a biographical and ideological sketch that Arendt published in The New Yorker on October 12, 1960 (at the time she was publishing a series of short biographies of thinkers who had lived through the interwar years, essays that were later collected into the book Men of Dark Times). Arendt also included it as the preface to the first English-language edition of her selected works on Walter Benjamin, entitled Illumination.
This book, which is about 140 pages long, outlines Benjamin's thought system like a contour line.
Arendt gradually explores Benjamin's unfortunate life and the thoughts that arose from it, focusing on the keyword "location," and shows in writing Benjamin's way of thinking, which he thought poetically even though he was not a poet.
Philosopher, writer, and translator Lee Seong-min's translation clearly reveals Hannah Arendt's nuanced thoughts, which are often difficult to read, and paves the way for readers to understand Arendt's metaphorically rich and profound sentences closer to their original meaning.
Along the way, readers will meet Benjamin, the “pearl diver,” who lived the life of a “hunchbacked dwarf,” who was “at the top of the mast” in “dark times.”
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Translator's Preface
1.
hunchback
2.
Dark Ages
3.
pearl diver
Huzhou
1.
hunchback
2.
Dark Ages
3.
pearl diver
Huzhou
Into the book
Just as recommending Kafka as a short story writer or novelist in 1924 would have been misleading, recommending Walter Benjamin as a literary critic and essayist today would be misleading.
To adequately describe Benjamin's work and Benjamin as an author within our usual framework of reference would require making a number of negative statements.
Something like this.
Although he was very learned, he was never a scholar.
The subject matter encompasses texts and textual interpretation, but he was never a philologist.
Although I was drawn to theology rather than religion, and to a theological type of interpretation that held the text itself sacred, I was never a theologian and had no particular interest in the Bible.
Although a natural writer, his greatest ambition was to produce works composed entirely of quotations.
He was the first German to translate Proust (with Franz Heschel) and Saint-John Perse, and before that he had translated Baudelaire's ??Parisian Scenes??, but he was never a translator.
Although I wrote book reviews and several essays on living and dead writers, I was never a literary critic.
He wrote a book on German Baroque and left behind a formidable and unfinished study of 19th-century France, but he was never a historian, literary or otherwise.
I will try to show that he thought poetically, but he was neither a poet nor a philosopher.
--- p.30~31
But Benjamin didn't know the circumstances.
He had no idea how to deal with such things, and he couldn't get along with such people at all.
Even though “the adversities of external life, which sometimes came at him from all sides like wolves” (Briefe I, 298) had already given him some insight into the ways of the world.
Every time I tried to adapt and cooperate to gain some kind of solid foundation to stand on, things inevitably went wrong.
--- p.45~46
Benjamin was certainly the most idiosyncratic Marxist the Marxist movement has ever produced.
This movement, too, was not without its peculiarities, though who knows?
The theoretical aspect that Benjamin could not help but be fascinated by was the doctrine of the superstructure.
It was only briefly sketched by Marx.
But then this doctrine came to play a disproportionate role in the movement, as a disproportionately large number of intellectuals, those interested only in the superstructure, joined in.
Benjamin used this doctrine only as a heuristic-methodological stimulus, and had little interest in its historical or philosophical background.
--- p.48
The tourist wanders aimlessly through the crowd, deliberately contrasting with the hurried, purposeful activity of the big city crowd.
It is to this traveler that things reveal themselves in their secret meaning.
“The true image of the past is fleeting” (Theses on the Philosophy of History).
And only the leisurely strolling passersby receive the message.
--- p.51~52
Benjamin's spiritual existence was shaped and inspired not by the philosopher but by the poet Goethe, and although he studied philosophy, he was almost entirely inspired by poets and novelists.
He would have found it easier to communicate with poets than with theoreticians (whether of the dialectical or metaphysical type).
And there is no doubt that his friendship with Brecht – unique in that the greatest living German poet met here the most important critic of his time, a fact both were fully aware of – was the second and most important stroke of luck in Benjamin's life.
--- p.57
Collecting comes from a variety of motivations that are not easily understood.
Collecting—Benjamin was perhaps the first to emphasize this—is a passion of children.
For children, things are not yet commodities, and their value is not determined by their usefulness.
Collecting is also a hobby of the wealthy.
They have enough of what is useful that they no longer need it, and so they can afford to make “beautification of things” their business.
--- p.120
The figure of the collector, as old-fashioned as the figure of the traveler, could take on such eminently modern qualities in Benjamin because history itself, the collapse of tradition that occurred at the beginning of this century, had already relieved him of this task of destruction, so that he only had to bend down, so to speak, and pick out his precious fragments from the rubble.
To adequately describe Benjamin's work and Benjamin as an author within our usual framework of reference would require making a number of negative statements.
Something like this.
Although he was very learned, he was never a scholar.
The subject matter encompasses texts and textual interpretation, but he was never a philologist.
Although I was drawn to theology rather than religion, and to a theological type of interpretation that held the text itself sacred, I was never a theologian and had no particular interest in the Bible.
Although a natural writer, his greatest ambition was to produce works composed entirely of quotations.
He was the first German to translate Proust (with Franz Heschel) and Saint-John Perse, and before that he had translated Baudelaire's ??Parisian Scenes??, but he was never a translator.
Although I wrote book reviews and several essays on living and dead writers, I was never a literary critic.
He wrote a book on German Baroque and left behind a formidable and unfinished study of 19th-century France, but he was never a historian, literary or otherwise.
I will try to show that he thought poetically, but he was neither a poet nor a philosopher.
--- p.30~31
But Benjamin didn't know the circumstances.
He had no idea how to deal with such things, and he couldn't get along with such people at all.
Even though “the adversities of external life, which sometimes came at him from all sides like wolves” (Briefe I, 298) had already given him some insight into the ways of the world.
Every time I tried to adapt and cooperate to gain some kind of solid foundation to stand on, things inevitably went wrong.
--- p.45~46
Benjamin was certainly the most idiosyncratic Marxist the Marxist movement has ever produced.
This movement, too, was not without its peculiarities, though who knows?
The theoretical aspect that Benjamin could not help but be fascinated by was the doctrine of the superstructure.
It was only briefly sketched by Marx.
But then this doctrine came to play a disproportionate role in the movement, as a disproportionately large number of intellectuals, those interested only in the superstructure, joined in.
Benjamin used this doctrine only as a heuristic-methodological stimulus, and had little interest in its historical or philosophical background.
--- p.48
The tourist wanders aimlessly through the crowd, deliberately contrasting with the hurried, purposeful activity of the big city crowd.
It is to this traveler that things reveal themselves in their secret meaning.
“The true image of the past is fleeting” (Theses on the Philosophy of History).
And only the leisurely strolling passersby receive the message.
--- p.51~52
Benjamin's spiritual existence was shaped and inspired not by the philosopher but by the poet Goethe, and although he studied philosophy, he was almost entirely inspired by poets and novelists.
He would have found it easier to communicate with poets than with theoreticians (whether of the dialectical or metaphysical type).
And there is no doubt that his friendship with Brecht – unique in that the greatest living German poet met here the most important critic of his time, a fact both were fully aware of – was the second and most important stroke of luck in Benjamin's life.
--- p.57
Collecting comes from a variety of motivations that are not easily understood.
Collecting—Benjamin was perhaps the first to emphasize this—is a passion of children.
For children, things are not yet commodities, and their value is not determined by their usefulness.
Collecting is also a hobby of the wealthy.
They have enough of what is useful that they no longer need it, and so they can afford to make “beautification of things” their business.
--- p.120
The figure of the collector, as old-fashioned as the figure of the traveler, could take on such eminently modern qualities in Benjamin because history itself, the collapse of tradition that occurred at the beginning of this century, had already relieved him of this task of destruction, so that he only had to bend down, so to speak, and pick out his precious fragments from the rubble.
--- p.127
Publisher's Review
Hannah Arendt's most detailed love letter to Walter Benjamin
Writing someone's biography is like writing a long love letter to that person.
This is because it requires a keen perspective, but also the sincerity to delve deep into the subject's life and understand various emotions.
Hannah Arendt's "Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940" is also like that.
Perhaps their meeting was foreseen.
Both men were Jewish, lived through the dark times of World War II, and fled their homeland to escape Nazi Germany.
However, Hannah Arendt survived, and Walter Benjamin ended his life by suicide.
Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940 is so meticulous and affectionate that one might wonder if Hannah Arendt wrote this biography because she saw herself in him.
Benjamin described his life as being followed by a “hunchbacked dwarf.”
Although he was German, he was a foreigner who felt at home in Paris, unclassified and not recognized by the academic world of the time.
Hannah Arendt describes Walter Benjamin's unfortunate life, which was anchored nowhere, by invoking the image of a "hunchbacked dwarf."
While alive, his life was marred by misfortune, recognized only by a few.
Benjamin's misfortune and fate are closely intertwined with his position.
Benjamin said that “every time I tried to adapt and cooperate, to gain some firm footing, things inevitably went wrong.” Even after receiving his doctorate, he turned his back on academia and failed to secure a professorship.
He moved to Paris, but soon found himself in poverty and on the run from the Nazis. He left Paris in search of safety, but ended up in one of the few places in France that was “seriously dangerous during a war without fighting.”
Arendt describes Benjamin's final moments, when he committed suicide on the French-Spanish border while trying to immigrate to the United States:
“Only on this day was disaster possible.” While Benjamin never found a place in life, he was later recognized as one of “the few who took the risk of advancing to the most exposed positions of their time and paid the full price of isolation.”
Arendt gives Benjamin the historical title of “man of letters,” placing him in the same league as Montaigne and Pascal.
Hannah Arendt begins her writing with Benjamin's posthumous fame and divides his life into three parts: "The Hunchback," "The Dark Ages," and "The Pearl Diver."
Arendt, who “discovers the hunchbacked dwarf” everywhere in Benjamin’s life, examines his way of thinking as closely as his life.
Arendt, who says that only by considering the Parisian experience, which was a decisive experience for the young Benjamin, can we understand why the wanderer became a key figure in Benjamin's work, draws a contour line connecting Benjamin's thoughts and works with Benjamin's life, experiences, relationships, and the atmosphere and customs of the German Jewish community at the time.
In particular, Arendt draws attention to Benjamin's often overlooked "metaphorical thinking," and says that Benjamin studied philosophy "not through philosophers but through poets," but was "almost entirely inspired by poets and novelists."
Arendt regards the metaphorical thinking that Adorno rejected in Baudelaire's article that Benjamin contributed to the Journal of Social Studies as a gift from Benjamin, and in this article she seeks to show that Benjamin "thought poetically."
Arendt also gives meaning to Benjamin's poetic thinking and quotation collection by naming him a "pearl diver" who descends to the bottom of the sea to dig up pearls and coral and bring them to the surface.
Translating Hannah Arendt's complex sentences and poetic metaphors into Korean is not an easy task.
『Walter Benjamin』 is even more so when we consider Benjamin's metaphorical thinking, which Arendt tried to show.
Translator Lee Seong-min meticulously compares the English and German versions of Walter Benjamin and delicately brings Hannah Arendt's sentences back to life one by one.
The translator's view that translation must be based on accurate reading clearly reveals Hannah Arendt's detailed thoughts that are not easily readable.
The meticulously translated sentences, which do not overlook even a single sentence, phrase, or expression, seem to encourage readers to think poetically, like Benjamin or Arendt.
Furthermore, the translator guides readers to further reading by revealing the Korean sources of Benjamin's writings, which Arendt quotes abundantly, and provides detailed annotations to parts that are difficult to understand from the text alone, thereby aiding readers' understanding.
For Benjamin's letters that have not yet been translated, the dates and recipients are provided in footnotes so that more interested readers can refer to the English version of the letters.
It will serve as a good guide for readers seeking to understand Walter Benjamin.
Writing someone's biography is like writing a long love letter to that person.
This is because it requires a keen perspective, but also the sincerity to delve deep into the subject's life and understand various emotions.
Hannah Arendt's "Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940" is also like that.
Perhaps their meeting was foreseen.
Both men were Jewish, lived through the dark times of World War II, and fled their homeland to escape Nazi Germany.
However, Hannah Arendt survived, and Walter Benjamin ended his life by suicide.
Walter Benjamin: 1892-1940 is so meticulous and affectionate that one might wonder if Hannah Arendt wrote this biography because she saw herself in him.
Benjamin described his life as being followed by a “hunchbacked dwarf.”
Although he was German, he was a foreigner who felt at home in Paris, unclassified and not recognized by the academic world of the time.
Hannah Arendt describes Walter Benjamin's unfortunate life, which was anchored nowhere, by invoking the image of a "hunchbacked dwarf."
While alive, his life was marred by misfortune, recognized only by a few.
Benjamin's misfortune and fate are closely intertwined with his position.
Benjamin said that “every time I tried to adapt and cooperate, to gain some firm footing, things inevitably went wrong.” Even after receiving his doctorate, he turned his back on academia and failed to secure a professorship.
He moved to Paris, but soon found himself in poverty and on the run from the Nazis. He left Paris in search of safety, but ended up in one of the few places in France that was “seriously dangerous during a war without fighting.”
Arendt describes Benjamin's final moments, when he committed suicide on the French-Spanish border while trying to immigrate to the United States:
“Only on this day was disaster possible.” While Benjamin never found a place in life, he was later recognized as one of “the few who took the risk of advancing to the most exposed positions of their time and paid the full price of isolation.”
Arendt gives Benjamin the historical title of “man of letters,” placing him in the same league as Montaigne and Pascal.
Hannah Arendt begins her writing with Benjamin's posthumous fame and divides his life into three parts: "The Hunchback," "The Dark Ages," and "The Pearl Diver."
Arendt, who “discovers the hunchbacked dwarf” everywhere in Benjamin’s life, examines his way of thinking as closely as his life.
Arendt, who says that only by considering the Parisian experience, which was a decisive experience for the young Benjamin, can we understand why the wanderer became a key figure in Benjamin's work, draws a contour line connecting Benjamin's thoughts and works with Benjamin's life, experiences, relationships, and the atmosphere and customs of the German Jewish community at the time.
In particular, Arendt draws attention to Benjamin's often overlooked "metaphorical thinking," and says that Benjamin studied philosophy "not through philosophers but through poets," but was "almost entirely inspired by poets and novelists."
Arendt regards the metaphorical thinking that Adorno rejected in Baudelaire's article that Benjamin contributed to the Journal of Social Studies as a gift from Benjamin, and in this article she seeks to show that Benjamin "thought poetically."
Arendt also gives meaning to Benjamin's poetic thinking and quotation collection by naming him a "pearl diver" who descends to the bottom of the sea to dig up pearls and coral and bring them to the surface.
Translating Hannah Arendt's complex sentences and poetic metaphors into Korean is not an easy task.
『Walter Benjamin』 is even more so when we consider Benjamin's metaphorical thinking, which Arendt tried to show.
Translator Lee Seong-min meticulously compares the English and German versions of Walter Benjamin and delicately brings Hannah Arendt's sentences back to life one by one.
The translator's view that translation must be based on accurate reading clearly reveals Hannah Arendt's detailed thoughts that are not easily readable.
The meticulously translated sentences, which do not overlook even a single sentence, phrase, or expression, seem to encourage readers to think poetically, like Benjamin or Arendt.
Furthermore, the translator guides readers to further reading by revealing the Korean sources of Benjamin's writings, which Arendt quotes abundantly, and provides detailed annotations to parts that are difficult to understand from the text alone, thereby aiding readers' understanding.
For Benjamin's letters that have not yet been translated, the dates and recipients are provided in footnotes so that more interested readers can refer to the English version of the letters.
It will serve as a good guide for readers seeking to understand Walter Benjamin.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: August 15, 2020
- Page count, weight, size: 148 pages | 112*180*20mm
- ISBN13: 9791157831920
- ISBN10: 1157831923
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