Name: Understanding Brecht
SKU: 56720931
Price: 706.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Walter Benjamin

Type

Physical Book

Author

Introduction by

Translated by

Publisher

Language

English

Pages

144

Format

Paperback

Weight

0.37 kg.

ISBN13

9781804294796

Synopsis "Understanding Brecht"

A collection of essays of political philosophy by the renowned mid 20th-century critical theorist and literary critic The relationship between philosopher-critic Walter Benjamin and playwright-poet Bertolt Brecht was both a lasting friendship and a powerful intellectual partnership. Having met in the late 1920s in Germany, Benjamin and Brecht, both independently minded Marxists with a deep understanding of and passionate commitment to the emancipatory potential of cultural practices, continued to discuss, argue and correspond on topics as varied as Fascism and the work of Franz Kafka. Faced by the onset of the 'midnight of the century', with the Nazi subversion of the Weimar Republic in Germany and the Stalinist degeneration of the revolution in Russia, both men, in their own way, strove to keep alive the tradition of dialectical critique of the existing order and radical intervention in the world to transform it. In Understanding Brecht we find collected together Benjamin's most sensitive and probing writing on the dramatic and poetic work of his friend and tutor. Stimulated by Brecht's oeuvre and theorising his particular dramatic techniques--such as the famous 'estrangement effect'--Benjamin developed his own ideas about the role of art and the artist in crisis-ridden society. This volume contains Benjamin's introductions to Brecht's theory or epic theatre and close textual analyses of twelve poems by Brecht (printed in translation here) which exemplify Benjamin's insistence that literary form and content are indivisible. Elsewhere Benjamin discusses the plays The Mother, Terror and Misery of the Third Reich, and The Threepenny Opera, digressing for some general remarks on Marx and satire. Here we also find Benjamin's masterful essay "The Author as Producer" as well as an extract from his diaries that records the intense conversations held in the late 1930s in Denmark (Brecht's place of exile) between the two most important cultural theorists of this century. In these discussions, the two men talked of subjects as diverse as the work of Franz Kafka, the unfolding Soviet Trials, and the problems of literary work on the edge of international war.

Walter Benjamin

(Author)

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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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