This fresh translation by Carl Skoggard of philosopher Walter Benjamin's
(1892-1940) engaging memoir remains faithful to the author's voice.
Readers are offered glimpses of an anonymous Berlin childhood which
might have been Benjamin's own, with recollections of an affluent Jewish
home in Berlin's West End, circa 1900. Focusing less on events and
characters than on places and things, Benjamin vividly reimagines a
young child's idiosyncratic private world. Written in the months before
and after the Nazi takeover of Germany, these recollections served as a
coping mechanism for Benjamin, a way of working through irrevocable
loss.
This edition is illustrated with 30 black-and-white images and comes
with a foldable color map of Berlin circa 1900 as well as a translator's
essay and an extensive commentary.