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/lit/ - Literature

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12015267 No.12015267 [Reply] [Original]

Just finished reading shitload of Walter Benjamin essays and Pessoa's Book of Disquiet. What other books deal with this topic?

Also general flaneur discussion.

>> No.12015290

what topic

>> No.12015321

>>12015267
I've got 100 pages left of BoD; I'm into it, and Pessoa might be /ourguy/, after all. I find a lot of commonality between myself and Soares, as I'm sure most of us here would. I am thankful to not be filled with so much scorn, that seems miserable, but it fueled the work. So, something came from it. I couldn't help feeling sorry for Soares, even though he specifically mentions in one passage how he despises that sort of charity. I should probably finish it before commenting further.

>> No.12015336

>>12015290
Flaneur. Sorry should have been more specific.

>> No.12015351

>>12015336
check out the complete green texts of london frog

>> No.12015389

>>12015336
the stories of Robert Walser

>> No.12015399

>>12015336
Flaneur? More like maneur.

>> No.12015402
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12015402

>>12015351
LF's too personally involved with his own cracked notion of himself to be a flaneur. The type of absorption that fascinates a true flaneur is not at all self absorption but kind of its contrary, one's self being absorbed (by the energy of the city). Less a psychological feel than a social feel, if ultimately neither. Consider Charlie Chaplin's little tramp. There's a hobo dandy aspect to it as well, a 'pataphysical rush.

>> No.12015429

>>12015267
where should I start with walter benjamin op?

>> No.12015467

>>12015429
not op
Illuminations

>> No.12015579
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12015579

>>12015429
OP here. Depends on what you're interested in – art, politics, mysticism. Benjamin is all over the place and most of his "books" on the market are really just collections of essays. I think that's what drew me into him: he was not a man of narrow specialized interests like Marx who is best known for his focus on political-economy but a man of varied interests, the type of man who was well-versed in Kafka and Baudelaire but also acutely interested in the little things of daily life.

Like >>12015467 said, Illumination is a good start and many do start there. It has his best known essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," which really influenced the aesthetic views of the Frankfurt School.

Also highly recommend reading his Angelus Novus essay for his heterodox views on progress being chaotic and btfo'd the typical progressive linear understanding history so oft trumpeted by the Left (sans the edgy "return-to-muh-romanticism" of reactionaries).

His other essay collections on just the random things of life – from experimenting with drugs in "On Hashish" to struggling to make ends meet while analyzing the clash of past and present of early 20th century Paris in "Arcades Project" – are also good reads but I wouldn't recommend reading them all at once, front to back. Benjamin is the sort of guy where you just jump around and feel what connects to you (off topic but also why I found a liking for Pessoa).

>> No.12015615

Is Proust considered a flaneur?

>> No.12015629

>>12015615
In spirit (and when as a young man) sure. No Baudelaire, and certainly no Jarry, however.

>> No.12016523

Bump

>> No.12016604

>>12015267
how do I become a flaneur?

>> No.12016689

>>12016604
1.Live in a walkable big city (ideally outside of burgerland)
2.Have no stable job
3.Spend most of your time outdoors walking around the city and going in cafes