Early Writings (1910-1917)

This is a valuable addition to the available work in English of one of the seminal Jewish critical thinkers of the 20th century, author of the massive Arcades Project. The mostly lambent translations by editor Eiland and others...help place Benjamin's later work within the context of his early preoccupations. Publishers Weekly 20110404 Early Writings (1910-1917) [is] the latest volume to appear in Harvard University Press' Benjamin edition--an exemplary scholarly project that has now been ongoing for 25 years...In these seven years, from the ages of 18 to 25, it's possible to see Benjamin develop from a precocious, pompous adolescent into a daring and profound thinker. The latest pieces in the book--in particular "The Life of Students," "Trauerspiel and Tragedy," and "On Language as Such and the Language of Man"--lead directly to his most important insights into the nature of literature and history. In fact, the last of these, never published in Benjamin's lifetime, can be seen as a kind of skeleton key to his mature work, full of overtly mystical beliefs that would go underground when Benjamin became a professed Communist...One of the things that makes Benjamin so fascinating is the way he seems to translate Jewish ways of thinking into a post-Jewish intellectual culture. Early Writings shows that this fertile dualism was present from the very beginning. -- Adam Kirsch Tablet Magazine 20110510 In the introduction, editor and translator Eiland does a wonderful job of explaining how the essays relate to events in Benjamin's early adult life and to the evolution of his theories...These pieces offer the reader valuable insight into Benjamin's philosophical thought. -- Scott Duimstra Library Journal 20110601 This well-planned, beautifully translated volume collects Benjamin's earliest writings and is a welcome addition to the corpus of his contributions to the fields of philosophy, aesthetics, politics, and literary criticism. From his first attempts as an author in 1910 when he was a student in Munich, Benjamin refined his voice as one of Europe's most independent, fiercely metaphysical writers. Here Eiland et al. allow the reader to witness the emergence of the themes that would occupy Benjamin in the productive decades to follow: language and truth, historical memory, the relation of experience to the active life. The 45 original, direct pieces collected here constitute a crucial context for his developing thought. This collection stands alongside Benjamin's Selected Writings, ed. by Marcus Bullock and Michael Jennings as more evidence of Benjamin's stature as a thinker of world-historical force. Those interested in philosophy, letters, German literature, and intellectual history will undoubtedly find this volume immensely fruitful. -- M. Uebel Choice 20110901