Benjamin Reads Picture Books: The Ethical and Aesthetical Dimensions of the Picture Book

Abstract

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) is now widely recognized as one of the most perceptive cultural critics of the modern society. Compared with many literary and cultural issues that Benjamin explores, however, his essays on children's picture books have received relatively little sustained scholarly attention in their own right. The paper proposes that there is a fitness about Benjamin's role as a thinker who theorizes children's picture books, evident in such notable examples as ”A Child's View of Color” (1914-1915), ”Notes for a Study of the Beauty of Colored Illustrations in Children's Books” (1918-1921), ”Old Forgotten Children's Books” (1924), and ”A Glimpse into The World of Children's Books” (1926). The first two were unpublished notes, and the latter two were published in literary magazines of Benjamin's times. These notes or essays are indeed part of his early writings, in which Benjamin's reflections on picture books are not systematically theorized. They are, however, inseparable from Benjamin's other writings, and constitute part of the testimonies of the development of key concepts upon which he dwells in his exploration of knowledge of experience. Picture books are, as the paper indicates, not only essential in his childhood reading, but also take an integral part in his personal collection. It is important to note that picture books also become a telling indication of Benjamin's mediation between art and philosophical contemplation when the First World War obliges him to search for a new form of knowledge of experience. In his notes and essays, the paper argues, Benjamin demonstrates that picture books are by no means a mere tool designed for pedagogical purposes. Instead, Benjamin is concerned to explore the ethical and aesthetical dimensions of children's picture books. In order to shed light on his concern, the paper teases out the issues that engage Benjamin, such as language of picture book (particularly, colors in picture books), children's perception, and the social usage (or production) of picture books.