Benjamin’s Shadow
With the Arcades Project, Benjamin tried to crystallize a unique philosophy of history, and to present the possibility of a radical experience of the present time through its relation to the past, namely 19th century Paris. For Eli Friedlander, the Arcades Project is Benjamin’s most extreme attempt to realize his philosophical task. Benjamin has not usually been considered a philosopher in his own right, partly due to the inter-disciplinary scope of his work as well as the esoteric method used. The Arcades Project is famous for the lack of actual commentary itself, mainly consisting of a collage-like presentation of quotations. However the thrust of Benjamin’s philosophical project is not contained in the theoretical commentary. Instead, Friedlander emphasises, the presentation of the material itself was for Benjamin a philosophical project, ‘a philosophical investigation of historical experience’.
Eugene Brennan reviews Eli Friedlander‘s Walter Benjamin: A Philosophical Portrait.
An Uninteresting Weirdo
I ended up in Manchester through weird chance – I was travelling around the north of England on a narrowboat with my girlfriend at the time and Manchester was the place we liked most, so we decided to stay here. I think there is a kind of literary scene here – there is a community of friendly people, all trying to produce good work who encourage each other. I guess the words ‘literary scene’ sort of make you think about gangs of acerbic intellectuals, prowling around coffee shops and smoking each other to death. It’s not like that.
Ben Myers interviews Socrates Adams.