The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media

Seven Oaks

A juicy selection of [Benjamin's] many short pieces on pop culture.
— George Fetherling

Times Literary Supplement

Until recently, Walter Benjamin‘s seminal essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, was available to English-speaking readers only in the version that appeared in the 1968 collection Illuminations. Harvard’s new volume of the German cultural critic’s writings on media offers as its title-piece an earlier, edgier incarnation—the second of three composed between 1935 and 1939—in a superior translation...Throughout The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Benjamin‘s startling, often oblique language reveals his subjects from unexpected angles...This volume amply demonstrates the keenness and ingenuity of Benjamin‘s intuitions at the dawn of modern media culture.
— Ross Benjamin

Umbrella

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and other Writings on Media reflects Benjamin's most salient thoughts on media and on culture in general in their most realized form, still maintaining an edge under the skin of everyone who reads it. The visual arts morph into literature and theory and then back to images, gestures and thought, Here the editors have situated this essay as the cornerstone of a vast collection of writings that demonstrates what was revolutionary about Benjamin's explorations on media. He was so prescient, and mind you, Virginia, he was alive only until 1940. We are now talking about 2008 and his work is not just timely, but powerful, important, clairvoyant, and necessary. This is the second and most daring version of the 'Work of Art' essay which tracks Benjamin's observations on the production and reception of art; on film, radio, and photography; on the telephone, on children's books, on Charlie Chaplin and so much more. He was not a critic for the 20th century, he was a theoretician for all time. This volume will probably become a text for some classes, but it is an introduction, a force that must be dealt with by anyone interested in culture, in the media, in the arts, to debates on the digital age. He could explore implications of these themes and be so prescient about what we are experiencing today. Oh, if he were alive today, he would tell us about the future, I am sure. This is a must for anyone who wants to be introduced to Benjamin, or one who wants more and more of what he has to say—and this one is thankfully in English.

The Nation

The editors and publisher of this volume deserve credit for organizing its contents thematically rather than chronologically. Such a format encourages readers to approach Benjamin's work discursively, thereby fostering a superior sense of the recurrent ideas, themes, motifs and concepts that Benjamin employed time and again.
— Noah Isenberg

The Nation

Times Literary Supplement

Umbrella

Seven Oaks

Library Journal

This essay collection by German literary critic and philosopher Benjamin (1892-1940) covers his theories on the relationships between and among culture, history, and art media. The editors have chosen his essays that focus on technologies and art media of the early 20th century, e.g., radio, film, and photography. The first section covers Benjamin's theories on the political possibilities of art and the effects of art on human thought. The second offers brief introductions to Benjamin's application of his theories to specific art media and technologies. Benjamin explains that art media, like film and photography, enables the creation of reproducible works, a fact that has both politicized art and revolutionized our perception of it. Art works, he writes, have become a "collective creation" rather than something created by an individual. While Benjamin's writing style can make his line of reasoning difficult to follow, the editors have done a wonderful job of introducing each section with a historical overview of the essays and a thorough explanation of his theories. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.
—Scott Duimstra