Sofia Cumming's doctoral thesis focuses on the life and work of German-Jewish writer, philosopher and critic, Walter Benjamin. It takes an analysis of Benjamin’s engagement with French literature, as well as research into his Parisian exile and interactions with notable French intellectuals, as the foundation from which to explore the post-war reception of his philosophy in France. From a wider angle, the project aims to examine the history of Franco­-German cultural and intellectual relations throughout the twentieth century and the ways in which philosophies from both nations were exchanged, inherited and developed. Reconciling Marxist and Surrealist analytical frameworks, it ultimately seeks to contribute to a recontextualization of Benjamin’s role as an innovator of both form and content within twentieth-century critical theory.