The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 1932-1940 [Paperback]

Gershom Scholem (Author), Anson Rabinbach (Author), Gary Smith (Translator), Andre LeFevere (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An impassioned glimpse into the death throes of the German-Jewish tradition can be gleaned from the correspondence between Walter Benjamin, the great literary-social critic who lived in exile in Paris, and Gershom Scholem, scholar of the Jewish mystical tradition who migrated to Palestine in 1923. These close friends might seem totally dissimilar: Benjamin was a Marxist, comrade of Brecht, Scholem a Zionist who found in the Kabbalah the seeds for an anarchist spiritual renewal of Judaism. Yet both exiles sought divine sparks in profound texts and the ruptures of history. Their dialogue on Kafka is instructive: for Benjamin, the Czech writer was a prophet of planetary annihilation, while Scholem read Kafka as a latter-day Jewish gnostic commentator on divine judgment. The letters end in early 1940, a few months before Benjamin fled to the Spanish border and committed suicide.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674174151
• ISBN-13: 978-0674174153
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The letters of two geniuses, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 1932-1940 (Paperback)

Walter Benjamin and G. Scholem are two of the most important thinkers of this century. And in this book we can listen to their voices and thoughts. In my opinion the most interesting part of the book are the letters related to Franz Kafka. In fact, I think the way they understand and illustrate Kafka is still unsurpassed, and just for that is really worth to read this book.