An edition of The Disenchantment of Art (1995)

The disenchantment of art

the philosophy of Walter Benjamin

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by ImportBot
October 30, 2010 | History
An edition of The Disenchantment of Art (1995)

The disenchantment of art

the philosophy of Walter Benjamin

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

Fifty years after committing suicide at the French-Spanish border, Walter Benjamin remains one of the great cultural critics of this century. Yet despite his wide acclaim, his philosophical ideas remain elusive to most, often considered an intentionally desegregated set of thoughts not meant to cohere. Rainer Rochlitz brings a new perspective to Benjamin's work, arguing that throughout his writings runs a constant theme, that of the struggle to clarify and disenchant language.

Providing an insightful, systematic analysis of Benjamin's works and applying them to current philosophical debates, The Disenchantment of Art is the first book to lay claim to his status as a philosopher.

Beginning with Benjamin's early works, Rochlitz highlights his search for truth in art. Benjamin believed that art constituted a pure language directly related to God. This language existed prior to the everyday language we use to communicate, and only it could express truth. Benjamin was convinced that analytic philosophy, which had broken away from theology, had no chance to discover truth on its own.

As Rochlitz shows, Benjamin's views later changed to a more materialist conception of art based on the idea that it was necessary for politics to take the place of theology as the basis of aesthetics. Further, he felt that traditional art and its aura had to be sacrificed to mass reproduction and immediate efficiency in the revolutionary context of the 1930s. In his later works, Benjamin addressed this sacrifice as a danger for the emancipatory potentials of art.

For him, critical history (art criticism included) provided a look at the past and contained all the struggles of humanity to overcome mythical obscurity, oppression, and violence. Offering critical discussions of Benjamin's ideas in the context of his time and exploring their application to current philosophical thought, The Disenchantment of Art will appeal to readers with an interest in philosophy, literature, cultural studies, and art.

Publish Date
Publisher
Guilford Press
Language
English
Pages
298

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Disenchantment of Art
The Disenchantment of Art: The Philosophy of Walter Benjamin
February 15, 1998, The Guilford Press
Paperback in English - New Ed edition
Cover of: The disenchantment of art
The disenchantment of art: the philosophy of Walter Benjamin
1996, Guilford Press
in English
Cover of: The Disenchantment of Art
The Disenchantment of Art: The Philosophy of Walter Benjamin
April 12, 1995, The Guilford Press
Hardcover in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-284) and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
111/.85/092
Library of Congress
B3209.B584 R6313 1996

The Physical Object

Pagination
vi, 298 p. ;
Number of pages
298

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL963813M
ISBN 10
0898624088, 089862407X
LCCN
96000026
Library Thing
1130877
Goodreads
149390
2616119

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 11, 2011 Edited by ImportBot add ia_box_id to scanned books
October 30, 2010 Edited by ImportBot Added new cover
October 30, 2010 Edited by ImportBot Found a matching Internet Archive item record
July 30, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 25, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Add goodreads IDs.