Radio Benjamin: Gypsies

Magic (once again!), deception, melancholy, and constant persecution, dog German philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin's description of the history of the Gypsies of Europe, in this radio piece broadcast in its original for children in German, and read here in English by artist Corey McCorkle. From origin myths to popular ideas about cannibalism, the Gypsies were depicted as idle, and therefore against the moral (historical) imperative to work to be of use. Here mass expulsion and resettlement are inevitable options for the ultimate "other" and, as with most Benjamin stories, they seem to be written just yesterday. This recording also features an amazing musical accompaniment on violin. Walter Benjamin’s radio broadcasts (1929 - 1932) are a selection of children stories written and read by Benjamin during his colossal research project The Arcades Project, an allegorical look into the birth of modernity in 19th Century Paris. Though the series of broadcasts and the Arcades in general are decisively incomplete, the two enterprises echo one another in content, replete with provocative digressions, and unlikely connections (or "secret affinities"). Benjamin was an eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mysticism, he made enduring and influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism.

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