A Missed Encounter: Walter Benjamin and Antonio Gramsci

This book marks a missed encounter between two of the most influential Marxists thinkers of our age, Walter Benjamin, and Antonio Gramsci, studied here for the first-time side by side. Dario Gentili, Elettra Stimilli, Gabriele Guerra provide an indispensable new perspective on Marxism with leading voices on Benjamin and Gramsci.

Dario Gentili is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts at Roma Tre University. He is co-director of the Master ＂Environmental Humanities - Studi dell’Ambiente e del Territorio＂. He co-directs the editorial serie ＂MaterialiIT＂, published by the Italian publishing house Quodlibet. He is co-founder of the Italian Walter Benjamin Association and a member of its Board of Directors. Among his publications: Il tempo della storia. Le tesi ＂Sul concetto di storia＂ di Walter Benjamin (2002; 2019); Topografie politiche. Spazio urbano, cittadinanza, confini in Walter Benjamin e Jacques Derrida (2009); Italian Theory. Dall’operaismo alla biopolitica (2012); Crisi come arte di governo (2018; 2022), translated into German, English and Spanish.

Elettra Stimilli is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the Sapienza University of Rome. She directs the editorial series ＂Filosofia e Politica＂ and ＂MaterialiIT＂ by the Italian publishing house Quodlibet. She is part of the scientific committee of the Bloomsbury book series ＂Political Theologies＂ and of the Editorial Board of the Journal ＂Political Theology＂. She is also co-founder of the Italian Walter Benjamin Association and a member of its Board of Directors. Among her publications The Debt of the Living, New York: Suny Press 2017; Debt and Guilt, London: Bloomsbury 2018; Jacob Taubes. Sovranità e tempo messianico (2004), Macerata: Quodlibet 2019; Filosofia dei mezzi. Per una nuova politica dei corpi, Vicenza: Neri Pozza 2023.

Gabriele Guerra is Professor of German Literature at the Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies at the Sapienza University of Rome. His main research interests are German Jewry in the literature and thought of the first half of the 20th century, the Konservative Revolution and Ernst Jünger, the historical avant-garde, and more generally the connection between aesthetics and religion and between theology and politics in German Literature and Culture. He is editor of the journal ＂Links. Journal of German Literature and Culture. Zeitschrift für deutsche Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft＂ and President of the Italian Walter Benjamin Association. Main Publications: Judentum zwischen Anarchie und Theokratie. Eine religionspolitische Diskussion am Beispiel der Begegnung zwischen Walter Benjamin und Gershom Scholem, Bielefeld 2006; La forza della forma. Ernst Jünger dal 1918 al 1945, Rome 2007; Spirito e storia. Saggi sull’ebraismo tedesco 1918-1933, Rome 2012; L’acrobata d’avanguardia. Hugo Ball tra dada e mistica, Rome 2020.