“The furious energy with which Benjamin cast about for publishing venues was underlain by an equally ambitious reading program. Several books had a profound effect on him, and some were surprises - foremost among them Thomas Mann's 1924 epic, The Magic Mountain. [...] It was not only the sweeping and intimate portrayal of the key intellectual currents of the early twentieth century that Benjamin found compelling; it was also, his letter suggests, the perception that Thomas Mann had moved beyond the Nietzschean conservatism of his early years toward a new and more dialectical, if still pessimistic and mythically charged, Dionysian humanism (something epitomized in the protagonist's divagations in the chapter 'Snow').”
Quote by Howard Eiland
Work
Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: The Phoenix
“People recover differently. Some change cities, some fall in love and some begin writing.”
Source: Ashes, Wine and Dust
Source: Truth, Love & A Little Malice
“The dictator’s black hand had made China a birdcage wrapped in red flags.--From "Balloons”
Source: Butterfly Tears
“It's Easy To Feel Like A Big Fish, When Your Pond is Just A Puddle!”
“You Can't Be A Hero To The World, If Your Aren't First A Hero In Your Home!”