Berlin Childhood around 1900

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Synopsis
An elegant new translation of Benjamin&’s moving evocation of the experiences of his urban childhoodComposed in exile in the 1930s and pub­lished as a whole only after his death, the miniatures that make up Benjamin&’s Berlin Childhood are crystallized images of child­hood experienced in a city later surrendered to fascism. No ordinary autobiography, the book is a Proustian experiment in memory and a meditative tour of the iconic spaces of a city irretrievably lost to the adult. Instead of details of family and friends, these minia­tures evoke the sensory richness of childhood in images of the squares and courtyards, the parks and monuments of Berlin, the child&’s schoolbooks and the gloomy flats of elderly relatives. As Benjamin&’s friend Theodor Adorno writes in his afterword, &‘the images the book brings up into a disturbing prox­imity are not idyllic and not contemplative. The shadow of Hitler&’s Reich falls across them. Dreamlike, they unite that horror with something that has long existed.&’This new translation includes an introduc­tion by Antonia Hofstätter, highlighting the way this nearly century-old work resonates with contemporary readers and inspires hope by providing access to strata of experience not governed by instrumentality and domination.
Copyright:
2025

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
144 Pages
ISBN-13:
9781836740179
Related ISBNs:
9781836740148
Publisher:
Verso Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Verso
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs, Philosophy, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.
Translator:
Shierry Weber Nicholsen

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