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The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness
A beautiful collection of the legendary thinker’s short stories
The Storyteller gathers for the first time the fiction of the legendary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin, best known for his groundbreaking studies of culture and literature, including Illuminations, One-Way Street and The Arcades Project. His stories revel in the erotic tensions of city life, cross the threshold between rational and hallucinatory realms, celebrate the importance of games, and delve into the peculiar relationship between gambling and fortune-telling, and explore the themes that defined Benjamin. The novellas, fables, histories, aphorisms, parables and riddles in this collection are brought to life by the playful imagery of the modernist artist and Bauhaus figure Paul Klee.
The Storyteller gathers for the first time the fiction of the legendary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin, best known for his groundbreaking studies of culture and literature, including Illuminations, One-Way Street and The Arcades Project. His stories revel in the erotic tensions of city life, cross the threshold between rational and hallucinatory realms, celebrate the importance of games, and delve into the peculiar relationship between gambling and fortune-telling, and explore the themes that defined Benjamin. The novellas, fables, histories, aphorisms, parables and riddles in this collection are brought to life by the playful imagery of the modernist artist and Bauhaus figure Paul Klee.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2016
168 people are currently reading
2975 people want to read
About the author
Walter Benjamin
844 books2,056 followersWalter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, Jewish mysticism, and neo-Kantianism, Benjamin made influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. He was associated with the Frankfurt School and also maintained formative friendships with thinkers such as playwright Bertolt Brecht and Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem. He was related to German political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt through her first marriage to Benjamin's cousin Günther Anders, though the friendship between Arendt and Benjamin outlasted her marriage to Anders. Both Arendt and Anders were students of Martin Heidegger, whom Benjamin considered a nemesis.
Among Benjamin's best known works are the essays "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940). His major work as a literary critic included essays on Charles Baudelaire, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, Nikolai Leskov, Marcel Proust, Robert Walser, Trauerspiel and translation theory. He also made major translations into German of the Tableaux Parisiens section of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal and parts of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu.
Of the hidden principle organizing Walter Benjamin's thought Scholem wrote unequivocally that "Benjamin was a philosopher", while his younger colleagues Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno contend that he was "not a philosopher". Scholem remarked "The peculiar aura of authority emanating from his work tended to incite contradiction". Benjamin himself considered his research to be theological, though he eschewed all recourse to traditionally metaphysical sources of transcendentally revealed authority.
In 1940, at the age of 48, Benjamin died by suicide at Portbou on the French Spanish border while attempting to escape the advance of the Third Reich. Though popular acclaim eluded him during his life, the decades following his death won his work posthumous renown.
Among Benjamin's best known works are the essays "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) and "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1940). His major work as a literary critic included essays on Charles Baudelaire, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Kafka, Karl Kraus, Nikolai Leskov, Marcel Proust, Robert Walser, Trauerspiel and translation theory. He also made major translations into German of the Tableaux Parisiens section of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal and parts of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu.
Of the hidden principle organizing Walter Benjamin's thought Scholem wrote unequivocally that "Benjamin was a philosopher", while his younger colleagues Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno contend that he was "not a philosopher". Scholem remarked "The peculiar aura of authority emanating from his work tended to incite contradiction". Benjamin himself considered his research to be theological, though he eschewed all recourse to traditionally metaphysical sources of transcendentally revealed authority.
In 1940, at the age of 48, Benjamin died by suicide at Portbou on the French Spanish border while attempting to escape the advance of the Third Reich. Though popular acclaim eluded him during his life, the decades following his death won his work posthumous renown.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
August 3, 2016
This collection is stunning. As Elif Shafak once said of Benjamin, "One doesn't read him to feel better – one reads him to feel." This has never been more true than it is with his fiction, which we are seeing for the first time here. I am eagerly anticipating returning to these stories, fragments, and essays for a long time to come.
October 27, 2021
W. Benjamin’in düşünceleri o kadar yoğun ve katmanlı ki anlamak çok zorluyor okuru. Burada hikaye olarak nitelendirilen yarım sayfa gibi çok kısa anlatların yanında 8-10 sayfalık anlatılar da var. Gerçek anlamda anlatıyor Benjamin, ama neyi ? Bir kısmı kolay anlaşılır hikayeler, bir kısmı ise hiç anlaşılmaz metinler olarak okudum dpğrusu.
Daha önceki W. Benjamin okumalarımın içinde en zor ve ağdalı olanı bu kitap oldu. Neyi okuyucuya aktarmak istediğini anlamak için yan okumalar da yaptım, fazlaca bir yol alamadım açıkcası. Önerebileceğim bir kitap değil.
Bu arada kapağından baskısına, sıfıra yakın yazın hatasından sayfa düzenlenmesine kadar çok başarılı olan “Heretik” yayınlarını kutlarım. Adı büyük birçok yayınevinin aksine okuyucuya saygılı punto büyüklüğü ve sayfa kenar açıklıkları ile onlara ders veren bir yayınevi.
Daha önceki W. Benjamin okumalarımın içinde en zor ve ağdalı olanı bu kitap oldu. Neyi okuyucuya aktarmak istediğini anlamak için yan okumalar da yaptım, fazlaca bir yol alamadım açıkcası. Önerebileceğim bir kitap değil.
Bu arada kapağından baskısına, sıfıra yakın yazın hatasından sayfa düzenlenmesine kadar çok başarılı olan “Heretik” yayınlarını kutlarım. Adı büyük birçok yayınevinin aksine okuyucuya saygılı punto büyüklüğü ve sayfa kenar açıklıkları ile onlara ders veren bir yayınevi.
June 27, 2016
This is the first effort to gather the fiction of the legendary philosopher Walter Benjamin, best remembered for his works on modern culture and his affiliation to the School of Frankfurt. The short stories are actually very short, full of dreamy atmosphere and surrealist images. You get the sense that they were not finished, that they needed one last look from the author or maybe it is his own experimental style that leaves that impression.
The translation is very good and you can tell that the three translators really loved this work. Also, there is artwork by Paul Klee, which fits perfectly to the context and I am sure will look great on the printed book. All in all, an interesting collection, not exactly for everyone, but worth discovering.
Many thanks to Verso books for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
The translation is very good and you can tell that the three translators really loved this work. Also, there is artwork by Paul Klee, which fits perfectly to the context and I am sure will look great on the printed book. All in all, an interesting collection, not exactly for everyone, but worth discovering.
Many thanks to Verso books for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
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April 7, 2020Rüya, yol ve çocuk. Walter Benjamin'in imgelerinin dünyasına kafa karıştıran anlatılarla katılıyoruz.
March 24, 2023
These are interesting essays by Walter Benjamin who is now considered to have been the most important German literary critic in the first half of the 20th century.
Born into a prosperous Jewish family, Benjamin studied philosophy in Berlin, Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich, and Bern. He settled in Berlin in 1920 and worked as a literary critic and translator. Benjamin eventually settled in Paris after leaving Germany in 1933 upon the Nazis’ rise to power. He continued to write essays and reviews for literary journals, but when France fell to the invading Germans in 1940 he fled southward with the hope of escaping to the United States via Spain. Informed by the chief of police at the town of Port-Bou on the Franco-Spanish border that he would be turned over to the Gestapo, Benjamin committed suicide.
The book comprises short essays, short stories, and parables. The reason I give this book 2/5 stars is not so much the content but the editing standards of the New York Review of Books. An essay on the Lisbon earthquake gets the date wrong (by 20 years) and in another essay Scott and Stevenson are referred to as 'English' writers (from a country of origin perspective).
Also, if you didn't know about the Tale of Psammenitus the King of Egypt captured by Cambyses the King of Persia, and how he reacted when seeing his daughter dressed as a servant, his son being led to execution, and an old retainer being led away as a captive, before you read the book then you will know the story off by heart by the time you complete this book as the story is mentioned 5 times in 107 pages.
Born into a prosperous Jewish family, Benjamin studied philosophy in Berlin, Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich, and Bern. He settled in Berlin in 1920 and worked as a literary critic and translator. Benjamin eventually settled in Paris after leaving Germany in 1933 upon the Nazis’ rise to power. He continued to write essays and reviews for literary journals, but when France fell to the invading Germans in 1940 he fled southward with the hope of escaping to the United States via Spain. Informed by the chief of police at the town of Port-Bou on the Franco-Spanish border that he would be turned over to the Gestapo, Benjamin committed suicide.
The book comprises short essays, short stories, and parables. The reason I give this book 2/5 stars is not so much the content but the editing standards of the New York Review of Books. An essay on the Lisbon earthquake gets the date wrong (by 20 years) and in another essay Scott and Stevenson are referred to as 'English' writers (from a country of origin perspective).
Also, if you didn't know about the Tale of Psammenitus the King of Egypt captured by Cambyses the King of Persia, and how he reacted when seeing his daughter dressed as a servant, his son being led to execution, and an old retainer being led away as a captive, before you read the book then you will know the story off by heart by the time you complete this book as the story is mentioned 5 times in 107 pages.
February 18, 2021
smart stuff
January 12, 2025
Walter Benjamin needs to stay in his lane methinks! His foray into fiction and dream analysis did nothing for me whatsoever. The fiction stories were nondescript and immemorable. The dreams, well, other than ourselves or our long-suffering partners, who else are dreams interesting to?
A vapid set of stories which didn't impact me at all.
A vapid set of stories which didn't impact me at all.
November 3, 2022
As with most of Benjamin's writings, there are so many easily missable gems that even if the overall composition is unremarkable, these slight wonders left me completely attuned while reading. Granted, there is much repetition here, something Benjamin is known for, so beware for any readers looking for completely original work as there are phrases, ideas, and stories taken whole cloth, just with an altered perspective or completely different observer making the point(s). I was stunned by how modern Benjamin reads, which has as much to do with his academics as it does with how much of what we are living in now varies little from when these writings were done. This is unlikely to be a good introduction to Benjamin, considering its textual overlaps and brevity, but more of a filling out of his overall works. Requires a close read for best results.
September 29, 2019
Disappointed. Bits and bobs from the magazines and journals of yore.
Read
November 20, 2025I really like fables and myths and, also, obviously, novels, so it was interesting to read about the differences between the modern novel and older, oral forms (such as the epic).
November 27, 2021
I have run into Walter Benjamin a lot in my reading recently so I needed to read some of his work. This was the wrong place to start. This is a book of fragments and juvenalia. There are moments of good writing and stories that could have been good. There are some interesting themes here beyond the ones of dreams, travel and play that make up the three sections of the book. Mr. Benjamin had an interest in the borderline world between the real and the unreal, appearance vs. reality, the unconscious mind. He clearly had a deep knowledge of German literature and philosophy. He seems to be drawn to some of the themes of German Romanticism, but without the crazy nationalism. So there are tantalizing tidbits here. I'd like to know more, so I will read more of his work, but this is a book for someone who already knows Mr. Benjamin's writings and just needs to round out their knowledge with a few missing details.
May 28, 2023
This collection is a miscellany that is hard to characterize—anecdotes, vignettes, diary fragments, records of dreams, outlines of novels, book reviews, and puzzles. Rarely more than three pages, each chapter is selected from the later volumes of Benjamin's collected writings, showing the wide range of his free-lance commissions and the small tidbits he submitted to different newspapers and radio programs. In isolation, the chapters are often inscrutable and hard to appreciate, but there is a unifying logic to the collection as a whole. Whether jotting down dreams or writing about his travels around southern Europe or compiling riddles, Benjamin was constantly making experiments with different expressions of 20th-century German romanticism: the liberated spirit mystically plumbing the unconscious to cultivate the imagination, the adventurous rebel exploring the fantastical edges of civilization, the carefree adult returning to the innocence and spontaneity of childhood play.
I found many of the stories to be uninteresting, but "The Cactus Hedge" stands out as particularly provocative and enigmatic. It tells the tale of an aloof Irishman who settles in Ibiza and becomes well-known for his ability to tie knots and for his collection of African masks, which he claims magically came into possession but in fact were his own forgeries. The story forms a subtle critique of colonialism and the western fetishization and commercialization of prehistorical heritage. On the whole, I was most drawn to Benjamin's book reviews, which read more as manifestos of his philosophy and commitment to Romanticism. In a review of Alois Jalkotzy, Benjamin pushes back against the modernist belief that children's folktales, with their macabre stories of cannibalism and medieval castles and monarchies, are antithetical to contemporary sensibilities. He argues that reforming fairytales for a more modern context only destroys their genuineness and originality. And throughout the collection, whether lambasting works on art history or uninspiring travelogues, Benjamin opines on the modern degradation of art and story-telling, searching for a new spiritual and literary revival.
I found many of the stories to be uninteresting, but "The Cactus Hedge" stands out as particularly provocative and enigmatic. It tells the tale of an aloof Irishman who settles in Ibiza and becomes well-known for his ability to tie knots and for his collection of African masks, which he claims magically came into possession but in fact were his own forgeries. The story forms a subtle critique of colonialism and the western fetishization and commercialization of prehistorical heritage. On the whole, I was most drawn to Benjamin's book reviews, which read more as manifestos of his philosophy and commitment to Romanticism. In a review of Alois Jalkotzy, Benjamin pushes back against the modernist belief that children's folktales, with their macabre stories of cannibalism and medieval castles and monarchies, are antithetical to contemporary sensibilities. He argues that reforming fairytales for a more modern context only destroys their genuineness and originality. And throughout the collection, whether lambasting works on art history or uninspiring travelogues, Benjamin opines on the modern degradation of art and story-telling, searching for a new spiritual and literary revival.
June 7, 2022
i liked it
February 13, 2025
És un recull d'historietes de Benjamin. Alguna és prou divertida, però en general ni fu ni fa. Un parell de cites del conte que m'ha agradat més, The Morning of the Empress:
"Healthy people must turn to the books of poets in order to feel life in all the deep and undivided sovereignty that cannot be grasped intentionally..."
"And, indeed the children seemed to understand her question; but she understood the language of children as little as that of thunder..."
"Healthy people must turn to the books of poets in order to feel life in all the deep and undivided sovereignty that cannot be grasped intentionally..."
"And, indeed the children seemed to understand her question; but she understood the language of children as little as that of thunder..."
July 28, 2021
This is not a review of Walter Benjamin's writing in general - that review would read: probably the greatest critical thinker I know. Amazing depth and insight. You don't have a complete understanding of modern art and history in general without reading The Task of the Translator and The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Essential and deeply profound - probably the best.
With this book - there's a few minor issues - this is Benjamin in translation. Great thinkers aren't always great writers and my German is insufficient to judge fairly but Benjamin doesn't always read so easily. Having said that - compared to many critical theorists - he's very clear and relatively easy to follow but he's a thinker more than a writer. It's not a problem - but don't expect this to read like like the writers he knows well like Leskov, Walser, and even Dickens. Another minor issue is that some of these writings are fragments...not completely polished essays that might benefit from editing etc. but that's understood. Benjamin wrote so much and his ideas are worth presentation regardless of the fact that they might not have been polished to perfection before his death at his own hands.
What's great about this book is that the essays are well selected and provide a comprehensive view of his writing on the subject of story telling. Aura, myth, montage - all key Benjamin concepts - here in clear form. There's also a small selection of essays present from many of the writers discussed in these essays. In that regard - this might serve as the best introduction to Benjamin for the uninitiated out there. You can't expect people to just crack open the Arcades Project and digest it in whole - too dense - too complex. Perhaps it's Illuminations that one might select as the place to start - I'd support that, but this isn't that much easier - it's just more concise and with the density of thought being presented here - there's nothing wrong with that.
This book comes as advertised - it's not an overview of his entire career - look to Arendt for that. I imagine over the next 50 years the research on Benjamin will only increase and it's for the benefit of everyone that reads him. Again - I will not claim to have any comprehensive knowledge of his total output - that would take nearly a life's work. But I have read many of the essays and the Arcade Project and am a better thinker for it.
For the uninitiated - take it slow - read what he's read (it's in this book also) and be prepared to change how you think about writers and writing. This is an excellent place to start. I can't place a higher value on his ability to think and share those thoughts. This is the greatest critical thinker I've read and this is a welcome volume for anyone that wants to be a better critic, thinker, reader and writer.
With this book - there's a few minor issues - this is Benjamin in translation. Great thinkers aren't always great writers and my German is insufficient to judge fairly but Benjamin doesn't always read so easily. Having said that - compared to many critical theorists - he's very clear and relatively easy to follow but he's a thinker more than a writer. It's not a problem - but don't expect this to read like like the writers he knows well like Leskov, Walser, and even Dickens. Another minor issue is that some of these writings are fragments...not completely polished essays that might benefit from editing etc. but that's understood. Benjamin wrote so much and his ideas are worth presentation regardless of the fact that they might not have been polished to perfection before his death at his own hands.
What's great about this book is that the essays are well selected and provide a comprehensive view of his writing on the subject of story telling. Aura, myth, montage - all key Benjamin concepts - here in clear form. There's also a small selection of essays present from many of the writers discussed in these essays. In that regard - this might serve as the best introduction to Benjamin for the uninitiated out there. You can't expect people to just crack open the Arcades Project and digest it in whole - too dense - too complex. Perhaps it's Illuminations that one might select as the place to start - I'd support that, but this isn't that much easier - it's just more concise and with the density of thought being presented here - there's nothing wrong with that.
This book comes as advertised - it's not an overview of his entire career - look to Arendt for that. I imagine over the next 50 years the research on Benjamin will only increase and it's for the benefit of everyone that reads him. Again - I will not claim to have any comprehensive knowledge of his total output - that would take nearly a life's work. But I have read many of the essays and the Arcade Project and am a better thinker for it.
For the uninitiated - take it slow - read what he's read (it's in this book also) and be prepared to change how you think about writers and writing. This is an excellent place to start. I can't place a higher value on his ability to think and share those thoughts. This is the greatest critical thinker I've read and this is a welcome volume for anyone that wants to be a better critic, thinker, reader and writer.
April 1, 2020
These are "Kleinigkeiten", small things, often no more than fragments of short stories, book reviews, children's puzzles - in short all the things that fascinated Walter Benjamin. Some were published during his life time in newspapers, and some remained unpublished at the time of his death.
One finds that some of the fragments beg for completion, or at the very least expansion into full length stories. Yet here they are, complete, in the form of sketches and studies, just like the accompanying artwork by Paul Klee.
One finds that some of the fragments beg for completion, or at the very least expansion into full length stories. Yet here they are, complete, in the form of sketches and studies, just like the accompanying artwork by Paul Klee.
February 5, 2017
This is a magisterial book full of beauty, wit, quips, and humor. While there are certainly some chapters that are not to my liking or less of interest to me, there are a serious number that I will be returning to again.
May 14, 2018
What a delight. The king of the situationist derive/city drift. Queer antiquarian. Book fetishist. Strange philosopher.
March 28, 2022
A wonderful and profound collection of essays detailing attitudes towards various literary forms at the turn of the 20th century when industrialization had already stifled and degraded countless cultural and social activities, things, institutions, etc. The conception and function of the modern novel isn’t something I ever really thought of, but this book has forever changed the way that I see them. I now find myself longing for something I never had the opportunity to experience, something now long lost to time.
“The storyteller is the man who can allow the wick of his life to be entirely consumed by the gentle flame of his story.”
“The storyteller is the man who can allow the wick of his life to be entirely consumed by the gentle flame of his story.”
June 4, 2023
I wonder if Jonathan Sturgeon would call this “an event” or if Judith Butler would call it a “marvellous gift” if it was written by some nameless undergraduate instead of Walter Benjamin. If you have read Calvino or Borges, save your money by leaving this on the store shelf and reading them again, instead.
July 2, 2025
I have no idea what happened in this
October 16, 2019
3* Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life
4* The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness
TR Unpacking my Library
TR Il narratore. Considerazioni sull'opera di Nikolaj Leskov
4* The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness
TR Unpacking my Library
TR Il narratore. Considerazioni sull'opera di Nikolaj Leskov
December 19, 2016
Perhaps this assessment is unfair since I am a huge fan of Illuminations and The Arcades Project, but I was not blown away by these stories of fiction. The novellas, fables, histories, aphorisms, parables, and riddles are interesting but do not hold the same weight as his cultural critiques. Perhaps this is a book reserved for Benjamin completionists or those who've never read him.
August 13, 2025
Around 20 essays comprise this book, but really, there is only one essay, titled "The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov." All other essays are supplemental to this core essay. They are burgeoning ideas which will eventually lead to the main essay. The purpose of this particular book is to track how Benjamin's nascent ideas on "storytelling" took shape and worked their way to the completion.
Hence, there are numerous repeated ideas and even phrases (nearly verbatim) in different essays in this book. Unless you'd really like to study how Benjamin's thought makes a progress from its inception to the final form, you are fine with just reading the core essay titled "The Storyteller."
The 4-star is due to the format of the book, not for the quality of the essay. The main essay deserves 6-star rating.
A librarian that I am who teaches on "information literacy," my fascination lies with Benjamin's prophetic statement on information: how it is different from storytelling, how it only lives in the present, and most crucially, how its rampant proliferation (due to communication technologies like smartphone and A.I., which of course didn't exist 100 years ago when this essay was written) will dissolve not only our ability to tell and share stories, but also the community itself. Benjamin was mainly referring to modern machinations that allow facile replications (hence his reference to printing press which nurtured the culture of newspapers and novels), but his essay still stands glaringly relevant.
Even as a literary critic who dabbles in the theoretical aspects of literature, his focus here is on the practical importance of storytellers.
He bemoans the decline in our "ability to exchange experiences," our innate ability. Sure, we still share our lived experiences via social media, but we share by posting snippets, not by telling a story that could bring people (listeners) together, a story that requires a prolonged attention from the audience (but now, we only have time to flicker through short clips). Not only that we lost the ability to truly "experience" things. Whether people go on a trip or a concert, they are "recording" the experiences with their smartphones, not really "experiencing" the experiences. When they share, they share the externally recorded version of the experience, not the experience that must have somehow changed the person and should hence narrated from the subjective heart that belongs to a particular storyteller. Plus, there is a crisis of collective experience.
"The art of storytelling is coming to an end because the epic side of truth, that is, wisdom, is dying out."
"It is a side effect of historical secular forces of productivity that have gradually eliminated the storyteller from the realm of living speech and at the same time have made a new beauty visible in what has disappeared." (a new beauty here doesn't really seem to mean something positive, but the beauty that merely gets noticed)
His comparison of storytelling (epic-form, orally passed on) to novel (narrative recorded in a book) is interesting. Benjamin writes on the solitary aspect of reading and writing of a novel. From this, we can deduce that the merits of storytelling lie primarily with bringing people together (whereas a reader of a novel reads alone, unless she joins the book club to discuss with other readers). Seeing how the society is turning more atomistic, where the sense of community is ever disappearing (hence the fertile ground for conspiracy theories), Benjamin's call for reviving the art of "storytelling" is ever more urgent.
But how to do so?
It has a lot to do with the proliferation of information, or rather, how we now mostly use information for different purposes, that is to stimulate and to attract our attention, rather than actually inform or teach. Information's main function has warped to the point that the word is beginning to attain a negative connotation.
Rather than reaching for information, we need to reach for "storytelling" (or things that bring community together.) Rather than create and share information, we need to create and share what brings us together. Information, by its nature, only lives in the present, and is only effective momentarily unless it becomes a part of a longer story. Information contains only affects, not effects, that is, unless it becomes a part of something bigger.
Benjamin also writes about how a truly wonderful storytelling never explicates but merely describes (hence leaving the psychological analysis to the listener/reader.)
According to this essay, truly great storytellers are Leskov, Poe, Kipling, Stevenson, and Hauff.
Benjamin continues with the difference between the epic and the novel. The novelist's primary role is to inherit the memory to posterity. Hence the time (through which the memory descends down) is an important aspect of the novel. Lukacs sees in the novel "the form of transcendental homelessness," which could mean that the novel is grounded in real world, no divine anchor fixes the novel since the mortal clock is continuously ticking. Lukacs refers in his book "Theory of the Novel" to further elaborate "...becomes the divinatory-intuitive grasping of the unattained and therefore inexpressible meaning of life."
Hence,
Meaning of life (novel) vs. Moral of the story (epic; storyteller)
From other essays:
"... no incidents reach us any longer not already permeated with explanations. Almost nothing occurs to the story's benefit anymore, but instead it all serves information."
New kind of poverty to human life.
Our poverty of experience is not only an impoverishment of private experience but of human experience as a whole. It is, therefore, a new kind of barbarism.
Brecht declares that communism does not consist in the just distribution of wealth but of poverty.
Hence, there are numerous repeated ideas and even phrases (nearly verbatim) in different essays in this book. Unless you'd really like to study how Benjamin's thought makes a progress from its inception to the final form, you are fine with just reading the core essay titled "The Storyteller."
The 4-star is due to the format of the book, not for the quality of the essay. The main essay deserves 6-star rating.
A librarian that I am who teaches on "information literacy," my fascination lies with Benjamin's prophetic statement on information: how it is different from storytelling, how it only lives in the present, and most crucially, how its rampant proliferation (due to communication technologies like smartphone and A.I., which of course didn't exist 100 years ago when this essay was written) will dissolve not only our ability to tell and share stories, but also the community itself. Benjamin was mainly referring to modern machinations that allow facile replications (hence his reference to printing press which nurtured the culture of newspapers and novels), but his essay still stands glaringly relevant.
Even as a literary critic who dabbles in the theoretical aspects of literature, his focus here is on the practical importance of storytellers.
He bemoans the decline in our "ability to exchange experiences," our innate ability. Sure, we still share our lived experiences via social media, but we share by posting snippets, not by telling a story that could bring people (listeners) together, a story that requires a prolonged attention from the audience (but now, we only have time to flicker through short clips). Not only that we lost the ability to truly "experience" things. Whether people go on a trip or a concert, they are "recording" the experiences with their smartphones, not really "experiencing" the experiences. When they share, they share the externally recorded version of the experience, not the experience that must have somehow changed the person and should hence narrated from the subjective heart that belongs to a particular storyteller. Plus, there is a crisis of collective experience.
"The art of storytelling is coming to an end because the epic side of truth, that is, wisdom, is dying out."
"It is a side effect of historical secular forces of productivity that have gradually eliminated the storyteller from the realm of living speech and at the same time have made a new beauty visible in what has disappeared." (a new beauty here doesn't really seem to mean something positive, but the beauty that merely gets noticed)
His comparison of storytelling (epic-form, orally passed on) to novel (narrative recorded in a book) is interesting. Benjamin writes on the solitary aspect of reading and writing of a novel. From this, we can deduce that the merits of storytelling lie primarily with bringing people together (whereas a reader of a novel reads alone, unless she joins the book club to discuss with other readers). Seeing how the society is turning more atomistic, where the sense of community is ever disappearing (hence the fertile ground for conspiracy theories), Benjamin's call for reviving the art of "storytelling" is ever more urgent.
But how to do so?
It has a lot to do with the proliferation of information, or rather, how we now mostly use information for different purposes, that is to stimulate and to attract our attention, rather than actually inform or teach. Information's main function has warped to the point that the word is beginning to attain a negative connotation.
Rather than reaching for information, we need to reach for "storytelling" (or things that bring community together.) Rather than create and share information, we need to create and share what brings us together. Information, by its nature, only lives in the present, and is only effective momentarily unless it becomes a part of a longer story. Information contains only affects, not effects, that is, unless it becomes a part of something bigger.
Benjamin also writes about how a truly wonderful storytelling never explicates but merely describes (hence leaving the psychological analysis to the listener/reader.)
According to this essay, truly great storytellers are Leskov, Poe, Kipling, Stevenson, and Hauff.
Benjamin continues with the difference between the epic and the novel. The novelist's primary role is to inherit the memory to posterity. Hence the time (through which the memory descends down) is an important aspect of the novel. Lukacs sees in the novel "the form of transcendental homelessness," which could mean that the novel is grounded in real world, no divine anchor fixes the novel since the mortal clock is continuously ticking. Lukacs refers in his book "Theory of the Novel" to further elaborate "...becomes the divinatory-intuitive grasping of the unattained and therefore inexpressible meaning of life."
Hence,
Meaning of life (novel) vs. Moral of the story (epic; storyteller)
From other essays:
"... no incidents reach us any longer not already permeated with explanations. Almost nothing occurs to the story's benefit anymore, but instead it all serves information."
New kind of poverty to human life.
Our poverty of experience is not only an impoverishment of private experience but of human experience as a whole. It is, therefore, a new kind of barbarism.
Brecht declares that communism does not consist in the just distribution of wealth but of poverty.
August 18, 2025
It should have been a pleasure to have a book like this on the shelf: a sprinkling of short Benjamin pieces, drawn from his reviews, notebooks, and correspondence, arranged under three headings — Dreamworlds, Travel, and Play and Pedagogy — and complemented by charming drawings and vignettes by Paul Klee.
However, my enthusiasm is considerably tempered. The introductory essay is not especially illuminating, and more seriously, the translation quality leaves to be desired. While generally serviceable, there are moments of real lapse. All the more surprising given that the translators are explicitly lauded on the publisher’s website for their “beautiful” work and “talents and insights [that] mustn’t go uncelebrated!” I'm flagging two examples here that stopped me in my tracks. I transcribed the original, produced my own rendering (produced off the cuff, without extensive polishing), and set it alongside a DeepL version, a ChatGPT-5 version, and the published translation.
Original (from Colonial Pedagogy, 1930)
Here's another example:
Original (from Landschaft und Reisen, 1928)
If you have a version of the Gesammelte Schriften or the Ausgewählte Werke in your library, there is no need to put this volume on your shelves.
However, my enthusiasm is considerably tempered. The introductory essay is not especially illuminating, and more seriously, the translation quality leaves to be desired. While generally serviceable, there are moments of real lapse. All the more surprising given that the translators are explicitly lauded on the publisher’s website for their “beautiful” work and “talents and insights [that] mustn’t go uncelebrated!” I'm flagging two examples here that stopped me in my tracks. I transcribed the original, produced my own rendering (produced off the cuff, without extensive polishing), and set it alongside a DeepL version, a ChatGPT-5 version, and the published translation.
Original (from Colonial Pedagogy, 1930)
Nicht leicht wird man ein Buch finden, in dem die Preisgabe des Echtesten und Ursprünglichsten mit gleicher Selbstverständlichkeit gefordert, in der die zarte und verschlossene Phantasie des Kindes gleich rückhaltlos als seelische Nachfrage im Sinne einer warenproduzierende Gesellschaft verstanden und die Erziehung mit so trister Unbefangenheit als koloniale Abzatschance für Kulturgüter angesehen würde.My translation
It would be a challenge to find a book that sacrifices with similar aplomb the relinquishment of the most pure and unadulterated, that recklessly reduces the delicate and intimate fantasy world of the child to a fantasmagorical yearning in a commodity-saturated society, and that approaches the task of education with similarly sad insouciance as a colonial market for cultural goods.DeepL
It would not be easy to find a book in which the disclosure of the most genuine and original is demanded with equal self-evidence, in which the delicate and secretive imagination of the child is understood without reservation as a spiritual demand in the sense of a commodity-producing society, and in which education is viewed with such dismal impartiality as a colonial opportunity to exploit cultural assets.ChatGPT 5
It would not be easy to find a book in which the surrender of what is most genuine and original is demanded with equal self-evidence, in which the delicate and guarded imagination of the child is understood with equal lack of reserve as a spiritual demand in the sense of a commodity-producing society, and in which education is regarded with such dismal impartiality as a colonial opportunity to extract cultural assets.Translation Leslie
It is not easy to find a book which demands the relinquishment of that which is most genuine and original with the same taken-for-grantedness that unreservedly dismisses a child's delicate and hermetic fantasy as an emotional demand, having understood it from the perspective of a commodity-producing society, in which education is regarded with such dismal impartiality as an opportunity for colonial sales of cultural wares.Obviously my translation excessively yields to rethorical flourish, but at least it maintains the 'Duktus' of the original. Leslie's version is clunky and flat and collapses Benjamin's three-part symmetry into something that is unnecessarily convoluted.
Here's another example:
Original (from Landschaft und Reisen, 1928)
Aber dies Buch wäre nicht streng über alle Exaktheit, niet belehrend über alles Gelehrte, vor allem, es wäre kein deutsches, käme seine Fülle nicht aus der Not, wäre nicht jeder landschaftliche Umkreis, den hier Historiker under Forscher durchmessen, einem anderen, ihm aber nächstverwandten deutschen Typus as Bannkreis, als gefahrvoller, schiksalhafter Naturraum erfahrbar oder erlebt.My translation
However, this book would not be severe beyond all exactness, would not be instructive beyond everything scholarly, and above all, it would not be a German book if its abundance would not spring from need, if each landscape that was here reconnoitered by historians and researchers would not have been experienced as a magic circle, as a perilous, fatal space of Nature similar to a German exemplar.DeepL
But this book would not be strictly accurate, nor instructive about everything scholarly, and above all, it would not be German, if its richness did not stem from necessity, if every landscape that historians and researchers explore here were not experienced or perceived as a different but closely related German type of enchanted circle, as a dangerous, fateful natural space.ChatGPT 5.0
But this book would not be strictly intent on complete exactitude, nor instructive on every learned matter — above all, it would not be a German book — if its richness did not arise from necessity, if every stretch of landscape traversed here by historians and researchers were not made perceptible or experienced as a spellbound realm for another, closely related German type: a natural space fraught with danger and fate.Leslie/Truskolaski version
But this book would not be strict about exactness, not edifying on all the scholarly material — above all it would not be a German thing — if its fulness did not come from its lack, if each landscape's circuit, which here the historian and researcher measure - were not experiencable or encountered by another closely related German type as a spellbound sphere, as a dangerous fateful space of nature.Here again, the sentence’s enumerative structure is needlessly abandoned. The rendering of durchmessen as “measured” is both childish and inaccurate, and the introduction of “circuit” for Umkreis is equally unwarranted. I also find “type” an inadequate translation of Typus; “exemplar” would be closer to the mark.
If you have a version of the Gesammelte Schriften or the Ausgewählte Werke in your library, there is no need to put this volume on your shelves.
September 9, 2019
There's only two faults about this book, both of which are not its fault.
One: I have an aversion against short stories (and nevertheless always fail in buying books containing them).
Two: It's an English translation and not the Original German text, which would have been my native language. This anthology isn't available in German in this form though and I am a huge fan of Verso books, so well, here we are.
In any case, Benjamin was a masterful storyteller and although some of the stories that are published in this collection feel a bit unfinished, it's clear that they're diamonds in the rough.
His dream diary is fascinating and I really appreciated the book reviews.
One: I have an aversion against short stories (and nevertheless always fail in buying books containing them).
Two: It's an English translation and not the Original German text, which would have been my native language. This anthology isn't available in German in this form though and I am a huge fan of Verso books, so well, here we are.
In any case, Benjamin was a masterful storyteller and although some of the stories that are published in this collection feel a bit unfinished, it's clear that they're diamonds in the rough.
His dream diary is fascinating and I really appreciated the book reviews.
December 31, 2020
To clarify, Benjamin's writings themselves are exceptional. My only gripe is the formatting of the different texts at the ending. These writings' inclusion as an introduction I feel would have made for a more effective strategy for conveying how Benjamin's thoughts coalesced into the final form of the Storyteller Essay. If anything, the emphasis of the essay on temporality within the novel and how the format of the book dictates the transformation of stories into an alternative and new structure makes the sort of awkward order even more glaring. Nevertheless, you can't really go wrong with both Benjamin's writings and the assorted other essays which are interesting and engaging in all the ways I hoped they would be.
January 25, 2020
Walter Benjamin's essay on "The Storyteller" is presented in this finely crafted edition in the context of various short texts in which he developed related arguments, supplemented by a number of texts and extracts of sources that he cites directly in his essay. It is a great edition, as it allows the reader to closely trace Benjamin's developing thought over the years preceding the publication of "The Storyteller." The collection of extracts from authors that appear as sources in the essay is comparatively short, however, it serves the purpose of contextualizing Benjamin's thought further well.
July 5, 2020
It's good, but you have to go into this book with a few things in mind. This was translated from German that was written nearly a century ago. The stories in here are mostly fragments, and most are REALLY out there. It's very difficult to wrap your head around what is going on in the stories, especially with the language usage. Don't expect that this will read as easily as Benjamin's more full-fledged essays.
That said, when Benjamin's work shines, it SHINES. Even though it was a tough read, it was well worth the challenge. The stories with a lot of dialogue between people are especially fascinating. This book made me want to write again.
That said, when Benjamin's work shines, it SHINES. Even though it was a tough read, it was well worth the challenge. The stories with a lot of dialogue between people are especially fascinating. This book made me want to write again.
June 12, 2020
A very dense work of literary criticism, which would probably require two or three readings to appreciate properly. The essential point seems to be the difference between storytelling as an expression of common experience and the novel as an expression of individual time. Benjamin’s argument is that storytelling has been replaced because our common experience has been diminished in favor of “information “
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