The Origin of German Tragic Drama (Radical Thinkers) by Walter Benjamin (PDF)

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Cited by Lukács as a principal source of literary modernism, Walter Benjamin’s study of the baroque stage-form called Trauerspiel (literally, “mourning play”) is the most complete document of his prismatic literary and philosophical practice. Engaging with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century German playwrights as well as the plays of Shakespeare and Calderón and the engravings of Dürer, Benjamin attempts to show how the historically charged forms of the Trauerspiel broke free of tragedy’s mythological timelessness. From its philosophical prologue, which offers a rare account of Benjamin’s early aesthetics, to its mind-wrenching meditation on allegory, The Origin of German Tragic Drama sparkles with early insights and the seeds of Benjamin’s later thought.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Walter Benjamin is the most important German aesthetician and literary critic of [the twentieth] century.”—Sunday Times“He drew, from the obscure disdained German baroque, elements of the modern sensibility: the taste for allegory, surrealist shock effects, discontinuous utterance, a sense of historical catastrophe.”—Susan Sontag About the Author Walter Benjamin was a German-Jewish Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. He was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory and is the author of Illuminations, The Arcades Project, and The Origin of German Tragic Drama.George Steiner, author of dozens of books (The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, Heidegger, In Bluebeard’s Castle, My Unwritten Books, George Steiner at the New Yorker), is Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge University.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a wonderful book, but its meaning is obscured by a careless translation of an incredibly dense book. There are a lot of errors of subject-verb agreement that are noticeable, even if you have never read this book in German. It’s no surprise that when other critics cite this translation, they often have to do so with their own amendments.There are also certain translation choices that make it hard for the English version of this book to correlate to other critical works. This translator made the choice to translate “Ausnahmezustand” as “state of emergency,” which is a valid translation of the word, but it obfuscates the intertextual references that other critical works share with this book. Ausnahmezustand can also be translated as “state of exception,” which is notably the English title of one of Agamben’s books. In the English translation of “State of Exception,” the editor had to amend the English translation of “Ausnahmezustand” from “state of emergency” to “state of exception” to maintain the clarity that is apparent in other translations of The Origin of German Tragic Drama.This translation is notorious for obfuscating the meaning of the “Epistemo-Critical Prologue” and discouraging English-readers from engaging with its content, but unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, there isn’t another English translation of this book.

⭐Great if you have an interest in art criticism, philosophy, or just love Benjamin. It isn’t quite as beautiful as some of his later writing, but thats hard to achieve over a 200 page doctoral thesis. While I love the design and feel of verso’s cover, it should be noted that 1. As others have noted, the binding is not great and needs somewhat delicate treatment, and 2. There were quite a few typos especially towards the beginning which was a bit frustrating. Essentially, classic work, attractive but shoddy edition.

⭐”Acceptable” is a subjective term. I needed this book for a class, and I was able to read it, so it did the job. It was in one piece and had nothing to hinder reading. It was dirtier than I expected, but then again I didn’t really know what to expect.

⭐A readable copy.

⭐I found this book interesting. But my book, like that of a previous reviewer, completely fell apart upon the first reading. Frustrating to have to treat my NEW book like some loose sheaf of sibylline leaves bound together with rubber bands.

⭐One of the most illuminating books I’ve ever read. Also, the book itself is nice.

⭐While it concerns baroque Trauerspiel (literally, “mourning play” or “lamentation play,” not “tragic drama”) this book is necessary reading for students of critical theory who don’t have literature as a primary field of interest. In it, Benjamin develops his critique of allegory (which he later amended in his work on Baudelaire and would play a major role in The Arcades Project) as well as his method of philosphical history, which would decisively influence Theodor Adorno (see, for example, Adorno’s book on Kierkegaard and his lecture “The Idea of Natural History”). Don’t let the notoriously opaque prologue dissuade you from reading beyond the opening pages–the rest of the book has more stylistic and conceptual clarity (which doesn’t mean it’s easy!). In fact, you may want to skip the prologue and return to it after reading the body of the text. In any case, this book will give you a solid grounding for understanding the foundations of Benjamin’s work–it should not be slighted. I deduct a star not because of Benjamin but because of the translation (less than sterling) and Steiner’s introduction which, despite correcting the title’s translation, restricts itself to literary concerns.

⭐Does anybody know if Verso bothered to improve the binding on the 2009 reprint edition? My first copy started falling apart the day I bought it too–annoying, although I suppose you could say it’s rather fitting as well…

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