Theorist Walter Benjamin - 1892-1940

Walter Benjamin was many things during the course of his lifetime – a philosopher, literary critic, literary and cultural theorist, sociologist and essayist.  To encompass all these, Walter Benjamin can primarily be considered an intellectual and a critical thinker.  

 

During his life there were many dramatic changes in the social, cultural and political landscape surrounding Benjamin.  As a German-Jew living in pre-WW1 Germany Benjamin at times was living a precarious existence.  Advances in technologies, tumultuous political scenes around Europe, economic chaos, the collapse of traditional values and extreme political views formed the social fabric of life in Germany.  To be living in a country undergoing constant changes in all cultural aspects led Benjamin to recognize the need to rapidly rethink and critique society to keep in check these changes.  This cultural environment helped to form some of the key themes and ideas of his writing – destruction, (re)construction and disorientation.

 Benjamin is a key contemporary thinker.  The purpose of his writing was always a present and often political idea.  His work and writing explored many obscure and historical themes, but always related back to a contemporary issue.  He was a modernist.  Benjamin did not seem to have one particular topic of interest.  He wrote prolifically on literature, politics, language, media, theology and law.  He looked at how these topics influenced and were influenced by culture and society.  His work was eclectic and provocative, but this broad scope has meant that his work is still widely referenced today, although particularly amongst the disciplines in the humanities.   His ideas and criticisms are quite broad, making it easy for current critics to bend his views to support their own. 

Benjamin was ambitious; his goal from early in life was to “be considered the foremost critic of German literature”.  He achieved this, posthumously.    Critical theories were abundant during Benjamin’s lifetime.  Marxism, fascist and communist ideas shaped the political landscape.  Benjamin wanted literary theory to gain the same kind of notoriety.