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Walter Benjamin

File:Klee,_Angelus_novus.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Walter Benjamin

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Also known as Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin

German cultural critic, philosopher and social critic (1892–1940)

OverviewAI-generated

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was a male figure associated with critical theory, philosophy, and audio books. He is also identified as a British composer from the United Kingdom, with genres including 20th century and classical music. Benjamin wrote under the pseudonyms "Benedix Schönflies" and "Detlev Holz."

His literary output includes works such as *Radical Thinkers Set 4*, *Correspondência*, *Berliner Kindheit um Neunzehnhundert*, *Poésie et révolution*, and *Mythe et violence*. One of his recorded quotes is, "I would like to metamorphose into a mouse-mountain."

Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Walter
Family name
Benjamin
Gender
male
Citizenship
German Reich
Place of birth
Berlin
Place of death
Portbou
Occupation
translator
Educated at
University of Freiburg
Languages spoken
German
Native language
German
Notable work
The arcades project
Field of work
philosophy
Movement
Marxism
Image
Walter Benjamin vers 1928.jpg
Work location
Paris
Significant event
Nazi book burnings
Show 15 more facts
influenced by
Georg Lukács
Commons category
Walter Benjamin
date of birth
1892-07-15
date of death
1940-09-26
topic's main category
Category:Walter Benjamin
manner of death
Suicide
described by source
Pax Leksikon
relative
Arthur Moritz Schoenflies
name in native language
Walter Benjamin
writing language
German
pseudonym
Detlev Holz
P8168
Oomycetes
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
IPA transcription
ˌvaltɐ ˈbɛnjamiːn
hashtag
WalterBenjamin
Sources (11)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (/ˈbɛnjəmɪn/ BEN-yə-min; German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈbɛnjamiːn] ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western Marxism, and post-Kantianism, he made contributions to the philosophy of history, metaphysics, historical materialism, criticism, and aesthetics, and had an oblique but overwhelmingly influential impact on the resurrection of the Kabbalah by virtue of his life-long epistolary relationship with Gershom Scholem.

In popular culture and left-wing journalism he often appears as an exemplar whose experience is representative of the tragedy of German Jewish intellectuals under Nazi Germany.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Walter Benjamin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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