Berlin Childhood around 1900

I read this book for a literature class. The short pieces are almost in poetic prose. They are vignettes about the author's youth in Berlin. Benjamin had to escape from Berlin because he was Jewish, and he then killed himself when he was denied passage out of Europe. The stories in this book are terse, full of images almost in a journalistic style, and they let us draw our own conclusion. But some knowledge of European history between the two wars definitely helps in understanding the mood of this book.

A great, delicate memoir from the philosopher and critic. He wrote it and revised it several times throughout his life, and this English version has a good way of incorporating alternate texts so that one can read them, but still feel like it it is a cohesive book. The translation notes plays on words so that one can get the meaning of German, but still feels uncluttered.

Benjamin is one of the foremost thinkers on culture. He writes in an exquisite style that offers texture to the lucidity and intricacy of his enigmatic thought. Berlin Childhood is a significant accomplishment both in his ourvre and amidst the turmoil of his circumstances. There are definite connections between this text and his study of Proust. In some senses they explore similar questions with different but not contradictory realisations. WB is pleasure to read and bears rereading time and time again.

The Zeitgeist(s) of Benjamin's time are clear in this piece. It's excellent for use as a poetic introduction into the Berlin Bürgertum or as a research tool for symbolic relationships between man-world.

I love memoirs. This one is soooo interesting and quite well written. The photos make it even more interesting

Brief reminiscences, poignant moments, evocative places in the early life of Walter Benjamin.Written from exile and dreaming of home, with its painful moments, and curious delights.Beautifully written and translated.

There were probably "greater" books written in the last century, but there are none that I would miss more, more regret not having read--that does not make narrative, logical sense, so I think I have to stick with it...

Dense with redeeming sections.

This book is an absolute pleasure and a real find. If you like the work of WG Sebald then you will like this as Sebald cites this and the work of Benjamin as major influences on his work and that comes through in this work. Although autobiographical it is not a book that charts his life history in Berlin and if you are looking for that you had better look elsewhere. This book is a series of sensual cameos of thought and impression that bring the period to life in a way that no other book for me has.

Was hoping for some details of 1900 Berlin, but this author is too self obsessed. Florid and ornate prose recounting a happily dull bourgeois childhood. May have had more poignancy when it was published a few wars later. Its preciousness reminded me of Proust. Note that this edition seems to be 40% original text and 60% gloss and commentary.

such a beautifully written book. metaaa

Crucial and sumptuous, though deliberately episodic work from one of the great European writers of his generation. Will be of great interest to readers of literature as well as theory or philosophy.

Though often known for his more political, dialectical side, here all the poetry of Benjamin's childhood. His foundation and an example of the other side of his character and works .