Benjamin’s posthumous fame

From Seven Oaks Magazine (via Wood's Lot)

Lucky for us that back in the 1920s Walter Benjamin’s doctoral thesis was far outside the academic mainstream. His subject was the origins of tragic drama in Germany, and his argument was so full of esoteric ideas, Kabbalistic and otherwise, that he was never given a teaching post. Instead he had to eke out a living with pieces for assorted newspapers and magazines. Today some of these writings are among the most often praised, cited and quoted examples of cultural and social criticism in the entire western tradition. All serious general readers should know something about Benjamin and his ideas. One publisher, Harvard University Press, is doing its best to make this a realistic goal.