Philosophers

Philosophers to consider and understand are the works of  Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes.

Walter Benjamin

The literary-philosophical works of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) rank among the most quietly influential of the post-war era.

He was a German-Jewish Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. who was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

Key Text : lluminations contains his two most celebrated essays, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' and 'Theses on the Philosophy of History'

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. Barthes' work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, Marxism and post- structuralism.

Key Text : "Image--Music--Text" (1977) provides an analogous parallel look at the active and passive, postmodern and modern, ways of interacting with a text.