The Origin of German Tragic Drama (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

If the killing of Lorca was Fascism's first great crime against literature, Benjamin's death was undoubtedly its second. -- Listener

Walter Benjamin is the most important German aesthetician and literary critic of this century. -- Sunday Times

Product Description

The Origin of German Tragic Drama is Walter Benjamin's most sustained and original work. It begins with a general theoretical introduction on the nature of the baroque art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, concentrating on the peculiar stage-form of royal martyr dramas called Trauerspiel. Benjamin also comments on the engravings of Drer and the theatre of Caldern and Shakespeare. Baroque tragedy, he argues, was distinguished from classical tragedy by its shift from myth into history. Georg Lukcs, an opponent of Benjamin's aesthetics, singled out The Origin of German Tragic Drama as one of the main sources of literary modernism in the twentieth century.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Verso (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859848990
• ISBN-13: 978-1859848999
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,151,526 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for students of critical theory, August 12, 2002

By	"hoopsandjazz" (Northeastern United States) - See all my reviews

While it concerns baroque Trauerspiel (literally, "mourning play" or "lamentation play," not "tragic drama") this book is necessary reading for students of critical theory who don't have literature as a primary field of interest. In it, Benjamin develops his critique of allegory (which he later amended in his work on Baudelaire and would play a major role in The Arcades Project) as well as his method of philosphical history, which would decisively influence Theodor Adorno (see, for example, Adorno's book on Kierkegaard and his lecture "The Idea of Natural History"). Don't let the notoriously opaque prologue dissuade you from reading beyond the opening pages--the rest of the book has more stylistic and conceptual clarity (which doesn't mean it's easy!). In fact, you may want to skip the prologue and return to it after reading the body of the text. In any case, this book will give you a solid grounding for understanding the foundations of Benjamin's work--it should not be slighted. I deduct a star not because of Benjamin but because of the translation (less than sterling) and Steiner's introduction which, despite correcting the title's translation, restricts itself to literary concerns.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book/poor edition, February 21, 2006

By	Wade Lode - See all my reviews

Benjamin has written a highly valuable book here. My concern is with Verso's treatment of it. The binding is horrible -- my edition literally fell apart on the first read. There are no annotations which, in a book as wide-ranging and dense as this, is a gross oversight. In short, a horrible edition of a great book. Find another version.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mine too, bad glue, June 20, 2007

By	Sir Thomas Wyatt - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Origin of German Tragic Drama (Paperback)

I found this book interesting. But my book, like that of a previous reviewer, completely fell apart upon the first reading. Frustrating to have to treat my NEW book like some loose sheaf of sibylline leaves bound together with rubber bands.