Walter Benjamin
The Pearl Diver
Published on 14. April 2026
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-300-21686-8 (ISBN)
Description
An accessible and authoritative biography of Walter Benjamin that guides the reader through the complexity of his intellectual legacy and the turbulence of his time
"A short, serene volume. . . . Gordon avoids treating his subject in allegorical terms, in part because Benjamin always resisted conscription into a story larger than his own."-Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker
Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is widely considered one of the most creative cultural critics of the twentieth century. Esteemed for his literary acumen and capacious imagination, he developed a unique style of criticism-his friend Hannah Arendt called it pearl-diving-that sought out fragments of redemption in the ruins of bourgeois civilization.
Award-winning author Peter E. Gordon tells Benjamin's story in a vivid and poetic style, inviting the reader to look beyond the image of Benjamin as a tragic figure of German-Jewish history and portraying him as a complex personality of unique and multifaceted gifts. Tracing Benjamin's life from his Berlin childhood to his Parisian exile, through the romanticism of the youth movements and the conflicts over modernism and Marxism, Gordon brings Benjamin to life.
"A short, serene volume. . . . Gordon avoids treating his subject in allegorical terms, in part because Benjamin always resisted conscription into a story larger than his own."-Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker
Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is widely considered one of the most creative cultural critics of the twentieth century. Esteemed for his literary acumen and capacious imagination, he developed a unique style of criticism-his friend Hannah Arendt called it pearl-diving-that sought out fragments of redemption in the ruins of bourgeois civilization.
Award-winning author Peter E. Gordon tells Benjamin's story in a vivid and poetic style, inviting the reader to look beyond the image of Benjamin as a tragic figure of German-Jewish history and portraying him as a complex personality of unique and multifaceted gifts. Tracing Benjamin's life from his Berlin childhood to his Parisian exile, through the romanticism of the youth movements and the conflicts over modernism and Marxism, Gordon brings Benjamin to life.
Reviews / Votes
"A short, serene volume. . . . Gordon avoids treating his subject in allegorical terms, in part because Benjamin always resisted conscription into a story larger than his own."-Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker"Gordon doesn't belabour the tragedy of Benjamin's death. Instead, he writes the life, and explains why his subject remains of value through works of striking critical insight."-Stuart Jeffries, Financial Times
Financial Times, "What To Read in 2026"
"This fine and concise biography by Harvard professor Peter E Gordon is a beautifully written corrective."-Matthew D'Ancona, New World
"By reading Benjamin's own texts against the grain of the hagiography that has come to surround him, Peter Gordon unwinds the myths, and in the most learned and informed fashion, gives us back the human being."-Susan Buck-Morss, CUNY Graduate Center and Cornell University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
8 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
412 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-21686-8 (9780300216868)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Peter E. Gordon teaches social theory and philosophy at Harvard University. His books include Migrants in the Profane: Critical Theory and the Question of Secularization and A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity. He lives in Cambridge, MA.