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HIST 15D – Benjamin’s Paris

Fall views of Autumn foliage and ivy framing a window and a lion statue in the courtyard of The Center for European Studies

NEW COURSE

HIST 15D – Benjamin’s Paris

Semester: Fall
Offered: 2022
Instructor: Peter Gordon
Meeting Time: W 9:45am-11:45am

This weekly undergraduate seminar will wander through the streets of Paris in the company of Walter Benjamin, the cultural and literary critic.  With close attention to his study of the Parisian ‘arcades’ (the so-called Passagenwerk), we will seek to understand why Benjamin saw these walkways as paradigms of modern urban experience.  Topics will include: Benjamin’s life as a German-Jewish intellectual in exile; the rise of mass politics in France (Communism, Fascism, and the Popular Front); the encounter with surrealism; the relationship with Brecht, Scholem, and the Frankfurt School; and theories of literature, photography, and film.

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.