Brian Dillon and Esther Leslie on Walter Benjamin

Seventy-five years ago, on 26 September 1940, perhaps the 20th century's greatest cultural critic died in a small town on the Spanish border as he attempted to leave France, escaping the Nazis. This summer, writer and commentator Brian Dillon imagined a retracing of Benjamin's steps, tracking his life's work to that terminus in the Pyrenees. Scholar and Benjamin biographer Esther Leslie has recently edited and translated Benjamin's *On Photography* (Reaktion Books) and translated his *Archive* (Verso Books). Together they considered the extraordinary range, achievement and reach of this remarkable and hugely influential writer. The evening was hosted by Gareth Evans.

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