Studies in the Relations Between Literature and the Other Arts

This course will explore the writings of Walter Benjamin and his interlocutors. We will consider selections from Benjamin‚s writing and correspondence.  Benjamin‚s own modes of reading will provide a guide to understanding topics such as: performance and memory, Surrealism, translation, messianism, and chance.

Required texts include:

Walter Benjamin, Reflections

Walter Benjamin, Illuminations

Walter Benjamin, The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project

Susan Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing

Margaret Cohen, Profane Illumination: Walter Benjamin and the Paris of Surrealist Revolution

and seletions from Baudelaire, Brecht, Breton, Adorno, Scholem, and Szondi.