The Complete Correspondence, 1928-1940

by Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Henri Lonitz, Nicholas Walker

Overview

The correspondence between Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, which appears here for the first time in its entirety in English translation, must rank among the most significant to have come down to us from that notable age of barbarism, the twentieth century. Benjamin and Adorno formed a uniquely powerful pair. Benjamin, riddle-like in his personality and given to tactical evasion, and Adorno, full of his own importance, alternately support and compete with each other throughout the correspondence, until its imminent tragic end becomes apparent to both writers. Each had met his match, and happily, in the other. This book is the story of an elective affinity. Adorno was the only person who managed to sustain an intimate intellectual relationship with Benjamin for nearly twenty years. No one else, not even Gershom Scholem, coaxed so much out of Benjamin.

The more than one hundred letters in this book will allow readers to trace the developing character of Benjamin's and Adorno's attitudes toward each other and toward their many friends. When this book appeared in German, it caused a sensation because it includes passages previously excised from other German editions of the letters—passages in which the two friends celebrate their own intimacy with frank remarks about other people. Ideas presented elliptically in the theoretical writings are set forth here with much greater clarity. Not least, the letters provide material crucial for understanding the genesis of Benjamin's Arcades Project.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674006898
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	12/07/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.88(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) was a leading figure in the Frankfurt School and one of the twentieth century's most demanding intellectuals. Recognized for his contributions to the fields of philosophy, sociology, aesthetics, literary criticism, and musicology, Adorno continues to be a thinker of extraordinary influence and importance in Germany, and his reputation continues to grow in the English-speaking world as his many works are translated.

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was the author of many works of literary and cultural analysis.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

The Correspondence 1928-1940

Editor's Afterword by Henri Lonitz

Textual Notes and Source References

Bibliographical Index

Name Index

What People are Saying About This

Fredric R. Jameson

The extraordinary and unique qualities of this correspondence stem from the confrontation, in stages, between two of the most intense and energetic minds of the century.
— Fredric R. Jameson, Duke University

Editorial Reviews

The extraordinary and unique qualities of this correspondence stem from the confrontation, in stages, between two of the most intense and energetic minds of the century.

Fredric R. Jameson

The publication in English of the Benjamin-Adorno correspondence (this book was published in German in 1994) is a welcome event. The friendship of these two famous intellectuals was a fruitful one, and since the circumstances of their lives enforced long separations, their letters had to bear the weight of a monumental exchange of ideas...My only complaint would be that the bibliographic references (like the rest of the text) are a straight translation from the German, and thus direct us always to a volume in Benjamin's Gesammelte Schriften. Far more useful for someome reading these letters in English translation would be references to Harvard's superb volumes of Benjamin in translation, three of which have appeared in the last three years. Reading the relevant sections of The Arcades Project (Harvard, 1999) with the Adorno-Benjamin discussions of them in this volume also at hand is an intellectual experience of the very highest order.

World Literature Today - David S. Gross

Aside from the chronicle of an extraordinary friendship lasting 20 years, [this book shows that] it was essentially in dialogue with Adorno—passionate and often adversarial—that Benjamin constructed his materialist view of history.

bn.com - Peter Philbrook

The extensive correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin—now happily available in English—reveals the complexities of their tortured philosophical friendship.

James Miller

To reconsider the relationship between Theodore Adorno and Walter Benjamin is to reflect on one of the most enduring philosophical friendships of the twentieth century.

New Republic - Richard Wolin

The extensive correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin--now happily available in English--reveals the complexities of their tortured philosophical friendship.

New York Times Book Review - James Miller

Aside from the chronicle of an extraordinary friendship lasting 20 years, [this book shows that] it was essentially in dialogue with Adorno—passionate and often adversarial—that Benjamin constructed his materialist view of history.
— Peter Philbrook

bn.com

The extensive correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin—now happily available in English—reveals the complexities of their tortured philosophical friendship.
— James Miller

New York Times Book Review

The publication in English of the Benjamin-Adorno correspondence is a welcome event. The friendship of these two intellectuals was a fruitful one, and since the circumstances of their lives enforced long separations, their letters had to bear the weight of a monumental exchange of ideas…The discussion of intellectual theory and practice in that exchange remains of great value for our work in this new century.
— David S. Gross

World Literature Today

To reconsider the relationship between Theodore Adorno and Walter Benjamin is to reflect on one of the most enduring philosophical friendships of the twentieth century.
— Richard Wolin

New Republic