Walter Benjamin's "Goethe's Elective Affinities” is one of the richest texts of the philosopher’s œuvre, comprising a multilayered set of issues that range from those explicitly raised by the novel – such as marriage, fate, etc. – to those pertaining to a philosophical theory of criticism: that is, to the very idea of engaging with such issues as marriage or fate by way of interpreting a literary text. The aim of the upcoming workshop is to acquire a fresh understanding of the essay and to explore its relevance to contemporary debates in aesthetics, the philosophy of love, and film philosophy.

The workshop will take place on March 30 from 14:30 to 18:00 and will consist of a 90-minute discussion of Benjamin's text (chaired by Georg Bertram), followed by two sessions with presentations of Andrea Messner ("The Afterlife of Some Motifs from the Elective Affinities in Benjamin's Late Work") and Jochen Schuff ("Physical Process and Human Passion. Some Affinities of Film").

We are very sorry to inform you that Eli Friedlander will not be able to attend our workshop due to the political situation in Israel.

Dates: March30th (14:30 - 18:00)

Venue: GRK „Normativity, Critique, Change", FU Berlin, Altensteinstraße 15, 14195 Berlin

If you are interested please register via m.fasbender@fu-berlin.de. As the space at the venue is limited, first come first serve applies.