Friday 28 November 2008

Shock-experience? I'll give you shock experience...

A message for the Benjaminians amongst you, really...I've just realised that, in a moment of supreme carelessness, I used two different renderings of Benjamin's term for 'that which is lived through' in the thesis. In one place, I have it down as erlebnis, whilst in another I seem to be calling it erleben.

Does anyone know if this is down to a difference between editions? Google is coming up with both words in connection with WB.

This really is an idiotic mistake to make...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't one the noun form, Erlebnis, and the other, erleben, is the verb in the infinitive?

My German is somewhat rusty. I know he contrasts Erlebnis and Erfarhung in the Baudelaire essay in _Illuminations_, but my edition (Pimlico 1999) doesn't give the erleben form... and he quotes Joubert in that essay, for crying out loud...

Joe said...

I think that's right - I used the Pimlico edition in the thesis, but only have Jenny's Penguin copy with me. Effectively, I've read a word that wasn't there: I hope the examiners are feeling generous.

Thanks, Jon - hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't that come under the category of minor correction (you've misquoted German, slightly)?

Joe said...

I would hope so, yes. It's not like my examiners are staunch Germanists anyway: I'll excuse myself by telling them I chose to learn Latin at school instead. Alea iacta est!