University of Muri

The University of Muri is the fictional creation of critic and metaphysician Walter Benjamin[1], and historian of Jewish mysticism and Philosopher Gershom Scholem. It is presumed to be located in Muri, Switzerland and though it was shut down by Benjamin and Scholem a number of times it is, or was at last report, still "open." In his essay Walter Benjamin and his Angel[2] Scholem writes, "The guardian angel of the Kabbalah from the year 1921 has become the guardian angel of the University of Muri, in whose Transactions a "philosopher" and a "kabbalist"-- who in a traditional sense were neither a philosopher nor a kabbalist-- made the traditional university and its scholars the object of their derision."

While a complete course offering was never really available, Scholem does report that he and Benjamin mutually agreed to put Robert Eisler in charge of a course titled, "Ladies' coats and Beach Cabanas in light of the History of Religion."[3]

References

  1. ^ The bulk of the information for this imaginary institution comes from the book edited by Gershom Scholem called "Walter Benjamin: The story of a Friendship." The longest sustained discussion of the topic is on pg.58. [The first book is the 1980 Schocken edition, the second is the 1981 JPS edition.]
  2. ^ "Walter Benjamin and his Angel" is an essay in the collection by Gerschom Scholem called "Jews and Judaism in Crisis," Schocken Books, 1976, p.212.
  3. ^ Scholem, Gershom, "From Berlin to Jerusalem: Memories of my youth," p. 129.