Walter Benjamin: experience, criticism and history
It is from the 1960s that Walter Benjamin’s work has received an increasing reception both in the field of Critical Theory and in the criticism of art and literary theory, as well as in the field of mediological studies, the theory of history and experience, philosophy of language, among others. Relatively recent, although complex and extensive, this reception seems to pass in recent years through a moment of renewal in the global north, based on the interpretation of thinkers as diverse as Giorgio Agamben and Judith Butler, and by its consolidation in the global south, where each Benjamin’s critical theory resonates again as a model of historical investigation for post-dictatorial societies. At the same time, the recent appearance of the critical edition of his writings by the publisher Suhrkamp points to a new level of treatment for this work,
In order to celebrate the memory of Walter Benjamin, and bearing in mind that in September 2020, 80 years have passed since his death, Dissonância magazine dedicates a special dossier to his thoughts. The proposal aims to contribute to the investigation of Benjamin’s critical theory and its relevance to face current and historical problems. We seek to open a space for debate to investigate the repercussions of his critical view on 20th century philosophy in studies on the relationship, for example, between literature and society, between progress and history, between politics, technology and the art.
The dossier Walter Benjamin: experience, criticism and history invites the submission of unpublished articles, reviews and translations that explore the different aspects of Benjamin’s critical theory and shed light on poorly studied issues or renew the view on better known issues. Among the various fields of knowledge intertwined in Benjamin’s writings, we encourage contributions with both a transdisciplinary bias and research of a philological character from the most different areas of the humanities and philosophy.