Walter Benjamin and History

“Walter Benjamin has arrived….In the introduction to the collection of essays, the second in the ‘Walter Benjamin Studies Series’, editor Andrew Benjamin describes the intent of the volume as the development of the detail of Benjamin’s thinking on history and, moving with Benjamin’s Gesamtwerk, the exploration of the philosophical, political and theological interconnections of the project…One may come to the end of this collection wondering about the lack of material on how fascism, in its cultural rather than political manifestations, is to be historicized. But this is not to deny the volume’s strength: it allows Benjamin’s thinking on history to emerge not demarcating lines, but rupturing them by calling them into question. As such, Benjamin’s exigency lies in his ability to evade our appropriations and to compel us to read him again.” —Wayne Stables, Philosophy in Review

“Walter Benjamin has arrived….In the introduction to the collection of essays, the second in the ‘Walter Benjamin Studies Series’, editor Andrew Benjamin describes the intent of the volume as the development of the detail of Benjamin’s thinking on history and, moving with Benjamin’s Gesamtwerk, the exploration of the philosophical, political and theological interconnections of the project…One may come to the end of this collection wondering about the lack of material on how fascism, in its cultural rather than political manifestations, is to be historicized. But this is not to deny the volume’s strength: it allows Benjamin’s thinking on history to emerge not demarcating lines, but rupturing them by calling them into question. As such, Benjamin’s exigency lies in his ability to evade our appropriations and to compel us to read him again.” –Wayne Stables, Philosophy in Review