Talk:Walter Benjamin

Supervisor

The passage on Benjamin's Habilitation thesis formerly read: "When submitted as a Habilitation thesis (a higher degree in the German academic system that, after a PhD, gives legal authority to teach in a university), Benjamin's supervisor Gershom Scholem [Scholem was not Benjamin's thesis supervisor!] claimed it was unreadable and refused to award the degree, thus Benjamin was never allowed to teach in a university again." but I have deleted the very questionable reference to Scholem as thesis supervisor, pending further information. Pinkville 19:01, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

suicide

Why does the article state "alleged suicide"? I've read many accounts of Benjamin's life and none of them ever stated that it might have been anything else. 87.69.85.77 06:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

In 1984 Juan Goytisolo (“El Crimen fue en Port Bou”, El Pais, 5 August ) advanced a hypothesis that WB was murdered by Gestapo. Some English articles a couple of years ago insinuated that Stalin's NKVD was somehow enmeshed too, and that Arthur Koestler had some role to play. I suppose close reading of Lisa Fittko's books might help to either advance or lay these theories to rest. --Feldmarshmellon 21:32, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Working over the article and adding some material about the Arcades Project [which merits its own entry) I edited the bit about his death/suicide somewhat. The wording "alleged suicide" seems unhappy, since it might easily give the idea he died from accidental causes, which is very unlikely. He was certainly aware the Nazis wanted to kill him. i kept the line that "the circumstances of his death are unclear" and stated the case for that it was suicide and that they were halted primarily to get Benjamin. Strausszek September 4, 2006

Huh?

The second sentence of this paragraph is a mess:

Moreover, even a quick read of Benjamin makes it clear that (like Adorno) he was antagonistic of the idea that writing should have an denotative relation to what it is overtly about. As such, he write himself into a modernist in which the philosophical merges with the litterary: through logical argumentation philosophical reasoning cannot account for all experience, especially those which concern self-representation through artistic medium.

I can't correct it myself because I have no clue as to the sentence's intended meaning. Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.186.59.178 (talk) 20:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC).