In this volume.
81.
3/23/1932
Berlin
“The Mississippi Flood of 1927”
Youth radio
In this volume.
82.
3/30/1932
Frankfurt
“The Railway Disaster at the Firth of Tay”
Youth radio
In this volume.
83.
5/16/1932
Frankfurt
The Cold Heart
(with Ernst Schoen)
Radio play for children
In this volume.
84.
7/6/1932
Frankfurt
“Denksport” [Mental Exercise]
Youth radio
See “A Crazy Mixed-Up Day: Thirty Brainteasers” in this volume.
85.
9/9/1932
Cologne
Much Ado About Kasper
Radio play for children
In this volume.
86.
1/19/1933
Frankfurt
“Von Seeräubern und Piraten” [On Pirates and Privateers]
Youth radio
Lost or missing.
87.
1/29/1933
Frankfurt
“Aus einer unveröffentlichten Skizzensammlung
Berliner Kindheit um 1900
” [From an unpublished collection of sketches,
Berlin Childhood around 1900
]
Reading
Lost or missing. See the related material, translated as
Berlin Childhood Around 1900
, in SW, 3, 345–413.
1 Information on this broadcast was provided by Thomas Küpper, coeditor (with Anja Nowak) of Benjamin’s radio writings in the new critical edition, Werke und Nachlaß (Berlin: Suhrkamp, forthcoming). The announcement of the broadcast was discovered by Mr. Gregor Ackermann, who found in the newspaper Frankfurter Nachrichten, vol. 208, no. 230 (August 20, 1929), a listing indicating that “Walter Benjamin would read the works of Robert Walser on Frankfurt radio the same day” (email from Thomas Küpper, February 8, 2013). Unfortunately, no surviving text for this broadcast has been found.
2 Based on comments made by Benjamin in both “Borsig” and “The Rental Barracks,” Schiller-Lerg speculates that Benjamin’s broadcast for March 29, 1930 was on the subject of “Baugeschichte Berlins unter Friedrich Wilhelm I” [The Building History of Berlin under Frederick William I] (Walter Benjamin und der Rundfunk, 141–3, 530).
3 Schiller-Lerg suggests that “The Rental Barracks” was most likely broadcast on this date (Walter Benjamin und der Rundfunk, 112, 142, 532).
4 There is some debate on the title and subject-matter of this broadcast, as well as that of the subsequent broadcast on January 17, 1931. Schiller-Lerg lists “Vom Leben der Autos” as the title for the broadcast on September 20, 1930, and “Das Leben des Antos” for the broadcast on January 17, 1931. Her discussion of the broadcast makes a compelling case for a focus on “Autos,” or cars (Walter Benjamin und der Rundfunk, 169). The editors of the GS, however, dispute the spelling of “Autos” and insist that the title ought to be “Das Leben des Antos” (GS, 2.3, 1442).
5 Schiller-Lerg suggests “Postage Stamp Swindles” as a possible candidate for this broadcast (Walter Benjamin und der Rundfunk, 165).
Table 2: Broadcasts whose precise dates are not known
These titles should be read in conjunction with the dates listed in Table 1, where the exact title or content, as indicated in brackets, has not been determined.
Date
Station
Title
Category
Reference
1.
[probably Nov. or Dec. 1929]
Berlin
“Berlin Dialect”
Youth radio
In this volume.
2.
[probably end of 1929 or beginning of 1930]
Berlin
“Street Trade and Markets in Old and New Berlin”
Youth radio
In this volume.
3.
[probably 1929/1930]
Berlin
“Fontane’s
Wanderings Trough the Mark Brandenburg
”
Youth radio
In this volume.
4.
[probably spring or summer, 1930]
Berlin
“The Rental Barracks”
Youth radio
In this volume.
5.
[probably the second half of 1930]
Berlin
“Postage Stamp Swindles”
Youth radio
In this volume.
6.
[probably 7/6/1932]
Frankfurt
“A Crazy Mixed-Up Day: Thirty Brainteasers”
Youth radio
In this volume.
Table 3: Broadcasts that were planned, started, or completed, but never delivered on air, or broadcasts for which there is no further information
Status
Title
Category
Reference
1.
Completed, but never broadcast
Lichtenberg: A Cross-Section
Radio play
In this volume.
2.
Started
“Leben, Meinung und Taten des Hieronymus Jobs
von Kortum” [Kortum’s
Life, Opinions, and Deeds of Hieronymus Jobs
]
Youth radio
Lost or missing.
3.
Planned
[Radio play on Spiritism]
Radio play
No known text was ever produced.
4.
Planned
Hörmodell III: “Kannst Du mir bis Donnerstag aushefen?” [Listening model III: Can You Help Me Out Until Thursday?]
Listening model
Lost or missing.
5, 6, 7.
Possibly broadcast with Wolf Zucker
[Listening models IV–VI]
Listening models
Lost or missing.
Notes on Contributors
Jonathan Lutes is a translator living in Berlin.
Lisa Harries Schumann lives outside Boston, Massachusetts, and is, among other things, a translator of texts whose subjects range from penguins to Heidegger and Brecht.
Diana K. Reese is the author of Reproducing Enlightenment: Paradoxes in the Life of the Body Politic (Walter de Gruyter, 2009). She has taught German Literature at Cornell and Harvard Universities. She currently lives in New York City and translates for Artforum.
Lecia Rosenthal is the author of Mourning Modernism: Literature, Catastrophe, and the Politics of Consolation (Fordham University Press, 2011). She has taught at Columbia and Tufts Universities. She lives in Los Angeles.
Index
Abraham a Santa Clara
Adorno, Theodor, itr.1, itr.2, itr.3
Agrippa von Nettesheim
Amanullah Khan
Arnheim, Rudolf, itr.1n4, itr.2
Basedow, Johann Bernhard
Basse, Wilfried
Baudouin, Philippe
Becker, Rudolf Zacharias
Behne, Adolf
Benjamin, Walter
number of radio broadcasts