Walter Benjamin and Cultural Translation

Birgit Haberpeuntner is a Translator and Researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria.

• List of FiguresList of Abbreviations Introduction: Obscurity and Tension Part I: Walter Benjamin 1. The Iconic Text in Context 2. The Conceptual Relevance of Translation in Benjamin’s Early Writings 3. Terminological Gaps, Translation Practice and Literary Criticism 4. Umschmelzungsprozesse, and a Late Return to Translation Part II: … Meets Cultural Translation 5. Benjamin’s Arcade 6. Benjamin’s Afterlife 7. Benjamin’s Untranslatability Conclusion: Unforeseen Constellations ReferencesIndex

Why have the theorist Walter Benjamin and the term cultural translation become irrevocably connected? This is the mystery that the author attempts to elucidate. The resulting quest is accompanied by the very engaging voice of the narrator, who tells the story with the intensity of a novel — making for a rich and rewarding voyage into conceptual history.