Walter Benjamin was born in 1892 in Berlin. He was an intellectual, functioning as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster, and essayist. He coined the term “auratic perception”, which describes the aesthetic faculty by means of which civilization may recover an appreciation of myth. He was a member of the Institute of Social Research, which included Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer. He passed away in 1940.
Excerpted from “Illuminations”, published by Schocken in 1969.
Walter Benjamin is featured in Edition: Guest Editor, Bryan Leitgeb