The Arcades Project - Operi

deed of nihilism, which is suicide" (cited in Lowith, Nietzsches Philosophie, p. 108
Zarathastr-a, ed. Kroner [Leipzig], p. 215). "'17 [JSl,2]
Comparison of the " sinuous fleece" with the '"deep and spreading starless Night!"
(final lines of "Les Promesses d'nn visage"). "-'Ul [J81,3]
The particulars of the boulevard press are, later, the sum and substance of the
stock market reports. Through the role that it gives to the talk of the town, the
petite jJresse paves the way for this stock market infomlation. [JS!,4]
His confederates obstruct reality for the conspirator as the masses do for the
flfrneur. US! ,5]
On the flight of images in allegory. It often cheated Baudelaire out of part of the
returns on his allegorical imagery. One thing in particular is missing in Baude·
laire's employment of allegory. This we can recognize if we call to mind Shelley's
great allegory on the city of London: the third part of "Peter Bell the Third;' in
which London is presented to the reader as hell. The incisive effect of
this poem depends, for the most part, on the fact that Shelley's grasp of allegory
makes itself felt. It is this grasp that is missing in Baudelaire. This grasp, which
makes palpable the distance of the modem poet from allegory, is precisely what
enables allegory to incorporate into itself the most immediate realities. With what
directness that can happen is best shown by Shelley's poem, in which bailiffs,
parliamentarians, stockjobbers, and many other types figure. The allegory, in its
emphatically antique character, gives them all a sure footing, such as, for exam·
pIe, the businessmen in Baudelaire's "Crepuscule du soir" do not have.-Shelley
rules over the allegory, whereas Baudelaire is ruled by it. [JS! ,6]
Individuality, as such, takes on heroic outlines as the masses step more decisively
into the picture. This is the origin of the conception of the hero in Baudelaire. In
Hugo, it is a matter not of the isolated individual as such but of the democratic
citizen. That implies a fundamental difference between the two poets. The resolu·
tion of this discord would have, as precondition, the dispelling of the illusion
which it reflects. This illusory appearance comes from the concept of the
masses. Considered apart from the various classes which join in its formation,
the mass as such has no primary social significance. Its secondary significance
depends on the ensemble of relations through which it is constituted at any one
time and place. A theater audience, an army, the population of a city comprise
masses which in themselves helong to no particular class. The free market multi·
plies these masses, rapidly and on a colossal scale, insofar as each piece of