The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

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Walter Benjamin

Penguin, London, 2008, English; originally published 1936 in German

Nonfiction, Art and Cultural History

ISBN: 9780141036199

From the Publisher. One of the most important works of cultural theory ever written, Walter Benjamin's groundbreaking essay explores how the age of mass media means audiences can listen to or see a work of art repeatedly—and what the troubling social and political implications of this are.

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Still the most seminal essay on the present relationship between “high-brow” and “low-brow” art. The comparison between cinema and music, which “can be both perceived in a state of distraction,” is prophetic, as are many of the other considerations. A landmark in modern artistic theory.

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