The Cambridge Companion to Walter Benjamin

Offering a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Walter Benjamin, the highly influential twentieth-century critic and theorist, this Companion examines different significant aspects of Benjamin´s work. Topics of contributions include Benjamin´s relationship to the avant-garde movements of his time; his theories on language, mimesis and modernity; and his relevance to modern cultural studies. Additional material includes autobiographical writings, a guide to further reading and a chronology.
Introduction: Reading Benjamin. DAVID S. FERRIS
1 Walter Benjamin and the European avant-garde. MICHAEL JENNINGS
2 Art forms. JAN MIESZKOWSKI
3 Language and mimesis in Walter Benjamin’s work. BEATRICE HANSSEN
4 Walter Benjamin’s concept of cultural history. HOWARD CAYGILL
5 Benjamin’s modernity. ANDREW BENJAMIN
6 Benjamin and psychoanalysis. SARAH LEY ROFF
7 Benjamin and the ambiguities of Romanticism. REBECCA COMAY
8 Body politics: Benjamin’s dialectical materialism between Brecht and the Frankfurt School. RAINER NÄGELE
9 Method and time: Benjamin’s dialectical images. MAX PENSKY
10 Benjamin’s phantasmagoria: the Arcades Project. MARGARET COHEN
11 Acts of self-portraiture: Benjamin’s confessional and literary writings. GERHARD RICHTER