In this book, Alison Ross engages in a detailed study of Walter Benjamin s concept of the image, exploring the significant shifts in Benjamin s approach to the topic over the course of his career. Using Kant s treatment of the topic of sensuous form in his aesthetics as a comparative reference, Ross argues that Benjamin s thinking on the image undergoes a major shift between his 1924 essay on Goethe s "Elective Affinities," and his work on "The Arcades Project" from 1927 up until his death in 1940." "The two periods of Benjamin s writing share a conception of the image as a potent sensuous...