In 1923, when Walter Benjamin published his translations of Baudelaire's" Tableaux parisiens," he prefaced them with a short essay entitled" Die Aufgabe des Ubersetzers." 1 Was this intended to unfold for us the nature of the difficult task that claimed so many years of Benjamin's life? Does it signify an unprecedented consideration for the understanding of his readers-for those to whom the reading of lyric poetry would present difficulties? No less than the introductory poem of Baudelaire's" The Flowers of Evil,"(" Au lecteur"), the opening lines of Benjamin's essay close the gates ab-ruptly on such illusions of brotherly concern." The poem to the reader closes with the apostrophe:'Hypocritical reader,-my likeness,-my brother!'The situation turns out to be more productive if one re-formulates it and says:[Benjamin]... has written an [essay]... that, from the beginning, had little expectation of an immediate public success"(from" Uber einige Motive bei Baudelaire," 1.2: 6072)." Nowhere does consideration for the per-ceiver with respect to a work of art or an art form prove fruitful for their understanding.... For no poem is intended (gilt) for the

1 Translated as" The Task of the Translator," in Walter Benjamin, Illuminations (New York: Schocken, 1969). Harry Zohn's lucid translations have made a decidely meaningful contribution to the understanding of Benjamin by an English-speaking audience. The criticism that appears here and there in my text should be recognized more as a play between possible versions than as a claim to establish a more" correct" translation.