Week 1: Introduction to the philosophy of Walter Benjamin of the 1930’s: key concepts, reception of Marxism.

Week 2: Benjamin’s method of investigation – concept of dialectical image. Reading: Convolute N of The Arcade’s Project.

Week 3: Political and social conditions of 19^th century’s Paris. Reading: Convolute N of The Arcade’s Project.

Week 4: Technological progress in the 19^th century. Reading: The Work of Art in the Age of its Reproducibility.

Week 5: Emergence of the phenomenon of mass. Reading: Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire.

Week 6: Baudelaire and the figure of flaneur. Reading: Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire.

Week 7: Baudelaire and modernity. Reading: Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire.

Week 8: Modern poetry – Baudelaire vs. Hugo. Investigation of Fleurs du mal.

Week 9: Fleurs du mal – analysis part II: the concept of aura. Reading: The Work of Art in the Age of its Reproducibility.

Week 10: Modern painting vs. photography & film. Reading: Reading: The Work of Art in the Age of its Reproducibility, Little History of Photography.

Week 11: Modern architecture – steel constructions. Reading: Convolute K of The Arcade’s Project.

Week 12: Paris and the phenomenon of a modern city. Reading: Convolute K of The Arcade’s Project.