Radio Benjamin by Walter Benjamin

Radio Benjamin

Walter Benjamin, Lecia Rosenthal

Verso Books · Paperback · December 7, 2021

Walter Benjamin was fascinated by the impact of new technology on culture, an interest that extended beyond his renowned critical essays.

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Who it’s for
Readers interested in Walter Benjamin’s radio broadcasts and creative work
Themes
Radio and culture, Popular sensibilities, Everyday life and natural disasters
Genres
Essay Collections, German Literary Collections, Radio

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About this book

Walter Benjamin was fascinated by the impact of new technology on culture, an interest that extended beyond his renowned critical essays. From 1927 to ’33, he wrote and presented something in the region of eighty broadcasts using the new medium of radio. Radio Benjamin gathers the surviving transcripts, which appear here for the first time in English. This eclectic collection demonstrates the range of Benjamin’s thinking and his enthusiasm for popular sensibilities.

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His celebrated “Enlightenment for Children” youth programs, his plays, readings, book reviews, and fiction reveal Benjamin in a creative, rather than critical, mode. They flesh out ideas elucidated in his essays, some of which are also represented here, where they cover topics as varied as getting a raise and the history of natural disasters, subjects chosen for broad appeal and examined with passion and acuity. Delightful and incisive, this is Walter Benjamin channeling his sophisticated thinking to a wide audience, allowing us to benefit from a new voice for one of the twentieth century’s most respected thinkers.

Who it’s for

  • Readers interested in Walter Benjamin’s radio broadcasts and creative work
  • Readers seeking essays on varied cultural and everyday topics

Where it sits

Radio41%
Essay Collections30%
German Literary Collections27%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • 20th-Century Literary Criticism
  • Radio History
  • Critical Theory
Authors
Walter Benjamin, Lecia Rosenthal
Publisher
Verso Books
Published
December 7, 2021
Format
Paperback
Theme
Radio and culture · Popular sensibilities · Everyday life and natural disasters
Reading lane
20th-Century Literary Criticism