Somebody give me a quick rundown on this guy

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>>9967092
He was an intense mothefucker. There's no way a rundown can be done, trust me. Just consider his post-doctoral thesis was rejected by Max Horkheimer at the University of Frankfurt because 'it was impossible to understand' and 'too obscure'. And that was just the beginning of Benjamin's career, a humble and synthetic overview of the History of Philosophy.
You could check it out, though. It's called The Origin of German Tragic Drama.

How 'mystic' is he exactly?
Makes me not want to read him.

>>9967224
That happened when he was older and paranoic (running away rom the Nazis). Also because of his heavy substance abuse. Anyway, he keeps ir interesting and philosophically relevant.

Why not start with one of his essays such as The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction?

>>9967314
It is a good idea to start from there, but it is important not to forget it represents almost nothing from the whole of his works. There are some interesting ideas in The work of Art..., but not the most relevant in Benjamin's thinking.

Looks like Nietzsche.

>>9968268
he looks like trotsky

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>Marxist

>>9968281
Trotsky looks like Nietzsche in a particular light

Theses on the Philosophy of History is one of the greatest works of all time.

On Hashish is one of the greatest works of all time.

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>>9967314
>mfw reading it right now (for uni) and it's just as relevant as (if not more than) it was eight decades ago