Question
Why do American poets seem more interested in quoting Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" than Martin Heidegger's "The Origin of the Work of Art" when discussing poetics?
(This was actually part of a discussion between Ray Hsu and me, before we were sidetracked by Alex's tangent on Scottish clan politics)
(This was actually part of a discussion between Ray Hsu and me, before we were sidetracked by Alex's tangent on Scottish clan politics)
Comments
Benjamin's pretty hip right now in literature circles, or so I've heard. I read "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" WAY before I read Heidegger. (No philosophy background for me!) B.'s essay was required reading for composition/rhetoric. I even taught it a couple of times.
I think the reason writers like B. so much is because his writing is like a box of spark plugs. Just find a sentence or two at random, and you can go off. D.H. Lawrence's criticism is like that, too.
YMMV, of course.