Name: Unpacking My Library
Price: 214.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Walter Benjamin
ISBN: 9781912475841

Type

Physical Book

Author

Walter Benjamin

Translated by

Harry Zohn

Publisher

Eris

Language

English

Pages

Format

Paperback

ISBN13

9781912475841

Synopsis "Unpacking My Library"

"I fully realize that my discussion of the mental climate of collecting will confirm many of you in your conviction that this passion is behind the times, in your distrust of the collector type. Nothing is further from my mind than to shake either your conviction or your distrust." Walter Benjamin was one of the great cultural critics of the twentieth century. In Unpacking My Library he offers a strikingly personal meditation on his career as a book collector and on the strange relations that spring up between objects and their owners. Witty, erudite and often moving, this book will resonate with bibliophiles of all kinds. Eris Gems make available in the form of beautifully produced saddle-stitched booklets a series of outstanding short works of fiction and non-fiction.

Walter Benjamin

(Author)

View Author's Page

Walter Benjamin was a prominent philosopher, literary critic, and art and history theorist born in Berlin, Germany. His work and critical thinking have had a profound influence on 20th century cultural studies.
Benjamin was born into a wealthy Jewish family and grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment. From an early age, he showed an interest in literature, music, and art.
In the 1920s, after serving in the German army during World War I, he joined the Frankfurt School, a circle of German intellectuals and social critics interested in transforming Marxist ideas. There, he met other thinkers like Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer who were major influences on his work and worldview.
Throughout his life, Benjamin was also deeply interested in politics and social issues. During the years of the Weimar Republic, he actively participated in the cultural and literary field. However, the rise of Nazism to power in 1933 forced him to leave Germany. He first went into exile in Paris and after the French occupation, Benjamin tried to escape to Spain to embark towards the United States, but was detained at the French-Spanish border. Faced with the imminent threat of being handed over to the German authorities, the author decided to end his life.

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