Berlin Childhood around 1900

Walter Benjamins Berliner Kindheit um neunzehnhundert gehörte zu den ersten Büchern, die Peter Suhrkamp 1950 veröffentlichte. Benjamins Kindheitsbuch ist eine der schönsten autobiographischen Schriften des 20. Jahrhunderts und zugleich ein Schlüsseltext der Moderne.

In Prosaminiaturen oder Momentaufnahmen beschreibt Benjamin seine Kindheit im Berlin der Jahrhundertwende, auf das im Rückblick bereits der Schatten des Exils fällt. Benjamin hat von 1932 bis 1938 an der Berliner Kindheit gearbeitet, aber keine der drei Fassungen lag für diese erste Buchfassung vor, die Theodor W. Adorno aus verschiedenen Manuskripten, Typoskripten und Teilabdrucken zusammenstellte. Erst 1981 wurde in der Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris ein show more Typoskript der 1938 entstandenen Fassung letzter Hand wiedergefunden. Eine weitere, noch später zugänglich gewordene Fassung ist bis heute unveröffentlicht geblieben. Sie erscheint zum Jubiläum des Verlages. Ihr beigegeben sind historische Photographien aus dem Berlin der Jahrhundertwende und Dokumente aus dem Nachlaß Walter Benjamins. show less

I'm certain I haven't read any Walter Benjamin since college, although I always recall "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" quite fondly. This is a series of very short descriptions of his memories of childhood. Despite being very narrow in focus -- he's a young child so many of the remembered incidents are specific to his own home and his family, they do come together to give you a very ephemeral sense of life in Berlin at this time. This fascinated me a lot -- it's as if you catch glimpses of Berlin much like a person might remember only brief impressions of a place he or she experienced as a small child. He's pretty upfront about the fact that his family's Berlin life was more comfortable than most, too. Benjamin show more wrote this series when he was living outside of Germany in the late 30s, unable to return because of his Jewish background. A few years later, he was trying to get to the US, and killed himself when his traveling party was stopped at the French border. The details are a little murky, but it would seem the premise was that he didn't want to risk deportation to Germany. This is the first complete English collection of Berlin Childhood and it also includes a few pieces that were original to the manuscript, but edited out by Benjamin before publication. It's not in the text, and it's quite possible I'm projecting it myself, but I believe this book does have the feel of something written about a very beloved time and place, with an added urgency and confusion about the current state of things. "You can't go home again" is a common enough theme, but you feel the special keenness of that in this book.

Grade: B+
Recommended: Benjamin translated Proust for German publication, and you definitely get the idea that Berlin Childhood owes a lot to Remembrance of Things Past (although not in length). The episodes are extremely philosophical and contemplative, they aren't the "funny things I did as a kid" type. This would probably be enjoyed by people who like Proust and/or Rilke, or have a specific interest in German life during this period. Oh, it's probably also much more satisfying to read if you have the leisure to sit back and allow time for your own musings on the topics raised, I get the feeling it would be a particularly frustrating book to rush through. show less

About the thinking and feeling of a boy, who, in spite of being grown up in a steady, materially safeguarded parental home, feels himself lonely at an early stage. Due to this fact, Benjamin conceives his own position throughout live as extremely labile.

Esta obra central en el universo benjaminiano se empezó a escribir en los años treinta del pasado siglo como contrapeso al mítico (y extrañado) proyecto del Libro de los Pasajes y al ascenso de los nazis al poder.

Benjamin se torna a mirar su propia infancia: el nacimiento del «apetito de historias» en un niño enfermizo. No obstante, influido por Proust (de quien fue traductor), el autor alcanza una resonancia mayor y le devuelve su libertad fundacional a la forma ensayística: capta la compleja trama de temporalidades que nos conforma, la resistencia del pasado a marcharse y su promesa de futuro. Con un acercamiento detallista y ensoñado, Benjamin observa un teléfono, un costurero o un parque en medio de la ciudad, y extrae de show more ellos el fundamento de la imaginación infantil, la magia de un pensar en imágenes, porque este libro es un mapa de la ciudad y un manual de instrucciones de la infancia en un momento en que ambas, ciudad y niñez, han desaparecido. Sin embargo, como siempre en Benjamin, lo extinguido adquiere una súbita modernidad. Y su mirada, entrenada en el arte de la espera, se transforma en una cartografía de los sueños contemporáneos. show less

Benjamins majesteitelijke vertelstem overdondert. Evocatieve precisie van de zuiverste graad, memoires die zinderen van beeldende rijkdom, eenduidig maar tegelijk zinnenprikkelend, betekenisvol uitwaaierend tot verre, fantasievolle horizonten. Poëtisch proza zoals enkel poëzie prozaïsch kan zijn.

Recordaba este libro como de prosa preciosa y nostálgica de cuando lo leí hace años en la edición de Alfaguara traducido por Klaus Wagner, pero esta edición de Periférica no me ha gustado, resulta áspera y rígida y poco acogedora y está llena de arcaicismos que imagino que serán técnica o académicamente apropiados pero que molestan al leer.

un bambino che gioca e cresce in una Berlino a cavallo di due secoli, che ci racconta le sue strade, e anche se ci avverte che non possiamo mai recuperare interamente quanto si è dimenticato, lui ci racconta molti dei suoi ricordi infantili, ci fa rivere quello stupore, quella magia con la quale spesso, fortunatamente, i bambini guardano al mondo intorno a loro.