Benjamin's Blind Spot: Walter Benjamin and the Premature Death of Aura

By Gerhard Richter and Vance Bell

Walter Benjamin's 1936 essay ''The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'' revolutionized the way we look at the social function of the work of art, and the paradigms through which we appreciate it. Using this legendary essay--and its idea of the "aura" in unique works of art--as a springboard, the essays collected in Benjamin's Blind Spot apply Benjamin's insights to a wide range of topics. Subjects range from Benjamin's use of hashish to an analysis of Woody Allen's Zelig , from Wallace Stevens to the early recordings of Elvis Presley, and from the dark epiphanies behind Jackson Pollock's work to the question of whether Benjamin's model is even relevant to contemporary issues. In the same volume, presented in the text's margins, is The Manual of Lost Ideas , a massive manuscript that arrived at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry via an anonymous bequest in 1955. Speculated to be thousands of years old, this is the first time the Manual has been published in over two centuries.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889917044
• ISBN13: 9781889917047
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Institute of Cultural Inquiry
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An exceptional book

It's been months since I've been this excited about a book that's scholarly in nature. Benjamin's Blind Spot is two books in one: a collection of essays by various authors who consider Benjamin's treatment of aura; and reproductions of the Manual of Lost Ideas, an odd compendium of art, text, and objects that was left on the doorstep of the Institute of Cultural Inquiry in the 50s. The critical essays are brief and diverse, and their bibliographies offer useful suggestions for further reading. The impressive use of typography, editing and design made me think about aura as I read the book. And Arturo Ott's descriptions of the contents of the Manual are eerie and provocative. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Walter Benjamin.