This new edition of The Origin of German Tragic Drama is translated by John Osborne and comes with an introduction by George Steiner.
Cited by Lukács as a principal source of literary modernism, Walter Benjamin’s study of the baroque stage-form called
Trauerspiel (literally, “mourning play”) is the most complete document of his prismatic literary and philosophical practice. Engaging with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century German playwrights as well as the plays of Shakespeare and Calderón and the engravings of Dürer, Benjamin attempts to show how the historically charged forms of the Trauerspiel broke free of tragedy’s mythological timelessness. From its philosophical prologue, which offers a rare account of Benjamin’s early aesthetics, to its mind-wrenching meditation on allegory, The Origin of German Tragic Drama sparkles with early insights and the seeds of Benjamin’s later thought.
The fourth question in our Radical Thinkers giveaway competition is:
Which Marxist thinker stayed with Benjamin on Capri whilst he was writing The Origin of German Tragic Drama?
UPDATE:
Entry to the competition for Radical Thinkers question 4 is now closed! The answer is:
Ernst Bloch, whose Atheism in Christianity is now available from Book Depository, Amazon, and all good bookshops.
Verso! Why republish a work that is readily available when a work like Benjamin’s Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism is impossible to buy at real earth prices and in a good condition?! This is such an essential work for all studying the most familiar aspects of Benjamin’s work. It too is crying out for a new edition, perhaps with a new introduction which demonstrates how Benjamin’s theories on the flaneur have been enormously influential in the fields of literature, modernity, postmodernity, etc.
Thank you!
Hi
On the contrary – Benjamin’s Origins of German Tragic Drama had gone out of stock, hence why we have done this new edition.
We could be wrong, but we think Benjamin’s book on Baudelaire is now available from Harvard under the name of The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire.
Thanks for replying. I’m very glad Verso has brought out this new edition, by the way. It’s an astonishing work. I think you are right about Harvard’s edition; thanks for reminding me about it.
All the best