/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19903774]

Who do I need to read before reading Walter Benjamin?

[Anonymous No.19903788]

>le epic judenman
>le britbong in our time
>le where do i start thread
Start with a bullet in your head you worthless fuck.

[Anonymous No.19903796]

Everything or nothing.
It's your choice.

[Anonymous No.19903865]

>>19903774
What i've read from him is quite accessible, for his writings on baudelaire i would recommend reading, you guessed it, baudelaire, for his writings on history Marx etc.
Just read him, and then go for context where needed and interested.

[Anonymous No.19903871]

>>19903865 to continue
Illuminations is typically where one starts btw

[Anonymous No.19904020]

>>19903774
Based

[Anonymous No.19904365]

>>19903774
Longtime Benjamin reader here. There really isn't much you need to read before starting to dive into his essays. I would however recommend you supplement some of his philosophical and cultural critical works with texts from the less-read sections of his catalogue, namely his "Berlin Childhood," Gershom Scholem's biography of Benjamin, his novel "One Way Street," and perhaps even his letters if you really want to understand the context he's working in better.

Benjamin was really more of a cultural critic than a philosopher. In fact, many of his essays published in collections like Illuminations and Reflections were first written for newspapers and literary-type journals. Benjamin very much sought to make his work accessible to the sort of people he felt needed to here what he had to say: the German public. While some stuff is more esoteric, particularly his unfinished "Arcades Project," others make quite apparent their source material, and often even reprint poems and stories within the body of the essay such that one could be introduced to it for the first time and still understand Benjamin's commentary.

Ultimately I would suggest diving in with the most popular texts: On Some Motifs in Baudelaire, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Theses on the Philosophy of History, Franz Kafka, Critique of Violence, etc.

After you get a feel for Benjamin's style (and decide whether or not you find it valuable), you might be prompted to go back and gain a better understanding of his influences, namely Baudelaire, Goethe, Brecht, Novalis. But also just as important are his contemporaries. The great triad is Scholem-Brecht-Adorno which in that order represent the early to late Benjamin: the mystic, the radical, and the cultural theorist.

All things considered, Benjamin is a joy to read for many. Others find him very difficult, as he has a very particular way of writing. But give it a try, and he can be quite rewarding.

[Anonymous No.19904387]

>>19903774
Shit I have some of his works been meaning to plunder them.
>>19903871
Not OP here but thanks

[Anonymous No.19904720]

>>19904365
not OP but posts like this are why i keep crawling back to this god-forsaken board. makes drudging through the muck worth it. thanks much, will start with The Work of Art.