In this captivating discussion, Walter Benjamin, a celebrated 20th-century thinker known for his profound insights into philosophy and cultural history, takes center stage. The guests explore his groundbreaking ideas about the impact of film and photography on art and politics, and the significance of his Arcades Project as a lens into 1920s Paris. They also delve into his struggles as a Jewish exile during the rise of the Nazis, revealing how his legacy continues to resonate in contemporary cultural discussions.
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Quick takeaways
Walter Benjamin's exploration of modern media reveals how film and photography can politicize art while transforming the nature of politics.
His Arcades Project critically analyzes 19th-century Paris as a lens to understand the complexities of modern capitalist culture.
Deep dives
Walter Benjamin: A Multifaceted Thinker
Walter Benjamin, born in Berlin in 1892, defies straightforward categorization as a philosopher, critic, historian, and cultural investigator. He explored the relationship between modern media like film and photography, and their impact on both art and politics, positing that these mediums could politicize art and transform politics into art. Throughout his life, he was influenced by various educational reform movements and critiques of traditional humanism, especially the teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche. His Jewish heritage and eventual exile from Germany due to rising anti-Semitic sentiments profoundly shaped his philosophy and writings.
The Influence of Gershom Scholem
Gershom Scholem played a crucial role in Benjamin's intellectual development as his friend and a significant figure in Jewish thought. They connected through shared interests in philosophy, politics, and the theological implications of their time, particularly surrounding the events following the Russian Revolution. Benjamin’s letters to Scholem reveal the evolution of his ideas, showcasing the tensions and collaborations in their discussions about Kabbalah and Jewish traditions. Scholem’s proposal for Benjamin to move to Palestine remained unrealized, as Benjamin found himself too embedded in European culture and intellectualism to leave.
Benjamin's Fiscal Struggles and Writing Career
Walter Benjamin encountered significant challenges in his academic aspirations, notably failing to secure a permanent academic position after withdrawing his professorial dissertation. Consequently, he transitioned to freelance writing, where he aimed to establish himself as a prominent critic within German literature. His income stemmed primarily from writing for newspapers and magazines, allowing him to pursue various intellectual projects, though he often lamented the necessity of such work competing for his time against more significant undertakings. Despite these struggles, his published texts retained intellectual rigor, reflecting his ability to network and garner support within literary circles.
The Arcades Project and Modernity
Benjamin’s Arcades Project examined 19th-century Paris, specifically its arcades, to unravel the complexities of modern capitalist culture. He saw these arcades as both representations of a bygone era and as manifestations of modernity’s transient nature – spaces where consumerism and urban life converged. Through literary explorations and personal reflections, Benjamin analyzed the role of the flâneur and how modern architecture influenced urban experience. His work reveals a profound critique of industrial capitalism and an attempt to connect historical inquiry with contemporary realities, positioning the past as instrumental in understanding the present.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most celebrated thinkers of the twentieth century. Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, critic, historian, an investigator of culture, a maker of radio programmes and more. Notably, in his Arcades Project, he looked into the past of Paris to understand the modern age and, in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, examined how the new media of film and photography enabled art to be politicised, and politics to become a form of art. The rise of the Nazis in Germany forced him into exile, and he worked in Paris in dread of what was to come; when his escape from France in 1940 was blocked at the Spanish border, he took his own life.
With
Esther Leslie
Professor of Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London
Kevin McLaughlin
Dean of the Faculty and Professor of English, Comparative Literature and German Studies at Brown University
And
Carolin Duttlinger
Professor of German Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
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