Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2, part 1, 1927-1930

Translated by Rodney Livingstone and Others

Edited byMichael W. Jennings, Howard Eiland, and Gary Smith

    [Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
    For those who know only the small selection of essays and longer texts previously translated into English, this book may be a revelation. Selected Writings: Volume 2 spanning the period from his abandonment of academia and his emergence as an important literary journalist in 1927 to his near silencing after the Nazis seized power and his exile in 1934, shows the writer at his sparkling best.
       --Paul Mattick, New York Times Book Review

    [Praise for the one-volume hardcover edition]
    The period from 1927 to 1934 spanned in this volume was for Walter Benjamin both grievous and fertile...The range of topics and perspectives is immense. It extends from considerations on kitsch and pornography to repeated encounters, personal or indirect, with Gide, Kierkegaard and surrealism. The cultural history of toys fascinates Benjamin as he records his own Berlin childhood. Insights into 'Left-Wing Melancholy' alternate with thoughts on Mickey Mouse, on Chaplin, and on graphology.
       --George Steiner, The Observer

  • Cover: Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2, part 1, 1927-1930
  • A photo of the author

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) was the author of many works of literary and cultural analysis.

Michael W. Jennings is Professor of German, Princeton University.

Howard Eiland is Lecturer in Literature at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Gary Smith is an editor at work on the Einstein Papers project.