Benjamin, Walter, 1892–1940, German essayist and critic. He is known for his synthesis of eccentric Marxist theory and Jewish messianism. In particular, his essays on Charles Baudelaire Baudelaire, Charles (shärl bōdlâr`), 1821–67, French poet and critic.
..... Click the link for more information. and Franz Kafka Kafka, Franz (fränts käf`kä), 1883–1924, German-language novelist, b. Prague.
..... Click the link for more information. as well as his speculation on symbolism, allegory, and the function of art in a mechanical age have profoundly affected contemporary criticism. Benjamin was influenced by his close friendship with the historian of Jewish mysticism Gershom Gerhard Scholem Scholem, Gershom Gerhard (gĕr`shôm gĕr`härt shō`ləm), 1897–1982, Jewish scholar, b. Berlin.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1933, he moved to France because of the rise of the Nazis. When the Nazis invaded France, he fled to Spain, was denied entry, and committed suicide.

Bibliography

See collections of his essays edited by H. Arendt (1968, 1978); his Moscow Diary (1986); The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin, 1910–1940 (1966, tr. 1994) edited by Manfred R. and Evelyn M. Jacobson; Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship (1981) by G. Scholem; studies by R. Wolin (1982), S. Handelman (1991), and B. Witte (1991); essays by G. Scholem (1965, 1981).

Benjamin, Walter

(born July 15, 1892, Berlin, Ger.—died Sept. 27?, 1940, near Port-Bou, Spain) German literary critic. Born into a prosperous Jewish family, Benjamin studied philosophy and worked as a literary critic and translator in Berlin from 1920 until 1933, when he fled to France to avoid persecution. The Nazi takeover of France led him to flee again in 1940; he committed suicide at the Spanish border on hearing that he would be turned over to the Gestapo. Posthumous publication of his essays has won him a reputation as the leading German literary critic of the first half of the 20th century; he was also one of the first serious writers about film and photography. His independence and originality are evident in the essays collected in Illuminations (1961) and Reflections (1979). His writings on art reflect his reading of Karl Marx and his friendships with Bertolt Brecht and Theodor Adorno.