Selected Writings Volume 1, 1913-1926

Comprising more that 65 pieces–journal articles, reviews, extended essays, sketches, aphorisms, fragments–this first volume shows Benjamin’s astonishing intellectual range and depth even as a young man. His topics include poetry and fiction (Hölderlin, Goethe, Novalis, Baudelaire, Stifter, Dostoevsky), drama (Calderón, Hebbel), philosophy (Socrates, Schlegel, Duns Scotus) , history, religion, love, violence, morality, mythology, painting, and much more. When musing on riddles or children’s books, he is as compelling as when considering symbolic logic or epistemology. Included are several of Benjamin’s most important works, including “Two Poems by Friedrich Hölderlin,” “Goethe’s Elective Affinities,” “The Concept of Criticism in German Romanticism,” “The Task of the Translator,” and “One Way Street.”