The Arcades Project - Operi
The Arcades Project - Operi The Arcades Project - Operi
two meanings in Belamin's texts; they remain somewhat undivulged, but even so calmot be brought totally in congruence. Once-in the 1935 expose, which in this regard sum marizes dIe motifs of the fint draft-Benjamin localized dialectical liuages as dream and wish images in the collective subconscious, whose "image-making fantasy, which was stimulated by the new" should refer back to the "Ut'-past": "In the dreaIIl, in which each epoch entertains ilnages of its successor, the latter appears wedded to elements of Ur history-that is, to elements of a classless society. And the experiences of such a society as stored in the unconscious of the collective-engender, through interpenetration with what is new, the utopia" (Expose of 1935, section I). "'TIle modem is said to quote [h'-history "by means of the ambiguity peculiar to the social relations and products of this epoch." In turn, "Ambiguity is the manifest imaging of dialectic, the law of dialectics at a standstill. This standstill is utopia, and the dialectical image, therefore, dream image. Such an image is afforded by the commodity per se: as fetish" (Expose of 1935, section V), TIIese statements drew the resolute criticism of Adorno, who could not concede that the dialectical image could be "the way in which fetishism is conceived in the collective consciousness;' since conunodity fetishism is not a ((fact of consciousness" (Letters, 495). Under the influence of AdOlTIO's objections, BeIamin abandoned such lliles of thought; the corresponding passages in his 1939 expose were dropped as no longer satisfactory to their author (see 5:1157). By 1940, in the theses "On the Concept of History," "dialectic at a standstill' ) seems to function almost like a heuristic principle, a procedure that enables the historical materialist to maneuver his objects: A historical materialist cannot do without the notion of a present which is not a transition ) but in which time stands still and has come to a stop. For this notion defines the present in which he himself is vvriting history, ... Materialist historiogra phy , . , is based on a constructive principle. Thinking involves not only the flow of thoughts, but their arrest as welL "Where thilIking suddenly stops in a configuration pregnant with tensions, it gives that configuration a shock, by which it crystallizes into a monad. A historical materialist approaches a historical subject only where he encounters it as a monad. In this structure he recognizes the sign of a messianic cessation of happening, or, put differently, a revolutionary chance in dIe fight for the oppressed past. (Illuminations, pp. 264-265) In fact, Belamin's thinking was invariably in dialectical linages. As opposed to the Marxist dialectic, which "regards every . . . developed social form as in fluid move ment;' 24 Benjamin's dialectic tried to halt the flow of the movement, to grasp each becomlilg as beilig. In Adorno's words, Benjamin's philosophy "appropriates the fetish ism of commodities for itself: everything must metamorphoze into a clling in order to break the catastrophic spell of things."25 His philosophy progressed imagistically, in that it sought to ((read" historical social phenomena as if they were natural llistorical ones. Images became dialectical for this philosophy because of the historical index of every single image, lIn the dialectical image" of this philosophy, "what has been within a particular epoch is always simultaneously lwhat has been from time immemorial'" (N4,1). By so being, it remained rooted in the mythical. Yet at the same time, the historical materialist who seized the linage should possess the skill to "fan the spark of hope in the past;' to wrest historical tradition "anew , , , from a conformism that is about to over power it" (Illuminations, p, 255), Through the irrunobilizlilg of dialectic, the historical "victors" have theli" accounts with history canceled, and all pathos is shifted toward salvation of the oppressed. For Benjamin, freezing the dialectical image was obviously not a method the historian
could employ at any time, For him, as for Marx, historiography was inseparable from political practice: the rescuing of the past through the writer of history remained bound to the practical liberation of humanity, Contrasted with the Marxist conception, however, according to which "capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of nature, its own negation;'26 Benjamin's philosophy preserves anaTchist and Blanquian elements: In reality, there is not one moment that does not carry its own revolutionary opporttmity in itself. , , . The particular revolutionary opportunity of each historical moment is confIrmed for the revolutionary thinker by the political situation. But it is no less confirmed for him by the power this moment has to open a very particular, heretofore closed chanlber of the past. Entry into this chalnber coincides exactly with political action. (1:1231) Political action, "no matter how destnlctive," should always "reveal itself as messianic" (1 :1231), Benjamin's historical materialism can hardly be severed from political meSSial'lism. In a late note, perhaps written under the shock of the Hitler-Stalin pact, Benjamin formulated as "the experience of our generation: that capitalism will not die a natural death" (Xlla,3). In that case, the onset of revolution could no longer be awaited with the patience of Marx; rather, it had to be envisaged as the eschatological end of history: "the classless society is not the ultimate goal of progress in history but its rupture, so often attempted and finally brought about (1:1231). Myth is liquidated in the dialectical image to make room for the " dream of a thing" (1:1174); this dream is the dialectic at a standstill, the piecing together of what history has broken to bits (see Illuminations) p. 257), the tikkun of the Lurian Kabbalah,27 Benjamin did quote the young Mal'x, who wanted to show "that the world has long possessed the drealll of a thing that, made conscious, it would possess in reality" (N5a,l). But for the interpreter of dialectical llllages, true reality cannot be lluen-ed from existing reality, He undertook to represent tlIe imperative alId the final goal of reality as "a preformation of the final goal ofhistoty" (N5,3). The awakening from myth would follow the messianic model of a history immobilized in redemption as the historian of the Passagen-Werk had imagined it. In his dialectical images, the bursting of time coincides with lithe birth of authentic historical time, the time of truth" (N3,1). Since the dialectical images belong III such a way to messianic time, or since they should at least let that time reveal itself as a :Bash of lightning, messianism is llltroduced as a kind of methodology of historical research-an adventtlresome undertaking if ever there was one. "'Tbe subject of historical knowledge is the struggling, oppressed class itself" (Illuminations) p. 260); one may imagine the historian of the dialectic at a standstill as the herald of that class, Belamin himself did not hesitate to call him "a prophet turned backward," borrowing a phrase from Friem'ich Schlegel (1:1237): he did not dismiss the Old Te stament idea that prophecy precedes the Messiah, that the Messiah is dependent on prophecy. But Benjamin's historiographer is "endowed with a weak messianic power, a power to which the past has a claim." Tbe historian honors that claim when he captures that "image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns" and thus "threatens to disappear ilTetrievably" (Illuminations) pp. 256-257). Benjamin was able to recognize only the mythical Ever-Same (I7Ilmergleiclze) III historical evolutions and was unable to recognize progress, except as a Sprung-a " tiger's leap into the pase' (IlluminatioJlJ) p. 263), which was in reality a leap out of history and the entry of the messianic kingdom, He tried to match this mystical conception of history with a version of dialectics in which mediation would be totally eclipsed by reversal, in which atonement would have to yield to criticism and destruction, His "blasting" the dialectical image "out of the continuum of historical process" (NIOa,3) was akin to that anarchistic impulse which tries to stop history during revolutions by lllstituting a new calendar, or by shooting at church
- Page 908 and 909: Expose of 1935, Early Version The e
- Page 910 and 911: The flaneur as counterpart of the "
- Page 912 and 913: essence of the images which the dre
- Page 914 and 915: Materials for the Expose of 1935 Th
- Page 916 and 917: Gaslight in Baudelaire Passage de l
- Page 918 and 919: The untranslatable literature of fl
- Page 920 and 921: To ols and workers with Haussmann (
- Page 922 and 923: Dialectic of the commodity A canon
- Page 924 and 925: No. 10 (Boredom) EconOll1ic rudimen
- Page 926 and 927: No. 12 Methodological Dialectical i
- Page 928 and 929: No. 198 {The merit of this little v
- Page 930 and 931: No. 21 I Fragments of the general l
- Page 932 and 933: (The cashier as livillg image, as a
- Page 934 and 935: Materials for "Arcades" Among Benja
- Page 936 and 937: How a first-class restaurant comes
- Page 938 and 939: A factory producing cockades for we
- Page 940: A bookstore places together an neig
- Page 944 and 945: Dialectics at a Standstill Approach
- Page 946 and 947: with and finally overgrown by quota
- Page 948 and 949: teenth century, and in it a specifi
- Page 950 and 951: the immersion of what has been into
- Page 952 and 953: various reasons. Retrospectively, h
- Page 954 and 955: (Expose of 1935, section I). To beg
- Page 956 and 957: image. Physiognomic thought was ass
- Page 960 and 961: clocks, as during the July revoluti
- Page 962 and 963: continued, "told me how to find you
- Page 964 and 965: He said that his decision to spend
- Page 966 and 967: Mter the vineY31-d, we rested on a
- Page 968 and 969: For all that came later. l11en, bac
- Page 970 and 971: Translators' Notes Abbreviations GS
- Page 972 and 973: Expose of 1939 The second expose, "
- Page 974 and 975: 2. The Passage du Caire was the fir
- Page 976 and 977: ing; Friederike Kempner (1836-1904)
- Page 978 and 979: 3. Benjamin is quoting from an open
- Page 980 and 981: in GlO,l is on p. 239. Benjamin cit
- Page 982 and 983: deavor to maintain a Juste milieu.)
- Page 984 and 985: 42. Baudelaire, "The Painter of Mod
- Page 986 and 987: 96. Baudelaire, The Complete verse)
- Page 988 and 989: 145. Baudelaire, CotTespondance (Pa
- Page 990 and 991: ice . ... [He] thinks he has been v
- Page 992 and 993: 287. Ibid. 288. Ibid., p. 230. "Ill
- Page 994 and 995: tion between the jack of hearts and
- Page 996 and 997: In English in The Complete Time, p.
- Page 998 and 999: was a site in Paris occupied by wor
- Page 1000 and 1001: Frederick A. Blossom) . The lines b
- Page 1002 and 1003: 29. Ibid., pp. 45-46. "Drifting" is
- Page 1004 and 1005: 2. Reference is to Louis Aragon, Le
- Page 1006 and 1007: 50. TIlls passage is not found in t
could employ at any time, For him, as for Marx, historiography was inseparable from<br />
political practice: the rescuing of the past through the writer of history remained bound to<br />
the practical liberation of humanity, Contrasted with the Marxist conception, however,<br />
according to which "capitalist production begets, with the inexorability of a law of nature,<br />
its own negation;'26 Benjamin's philosophy preserves anaTchist and Blanquian elements:<br />
In reality, there is not one moment that does not carry its own revolutionary opporttmity<br />
in itself. , , . <strong>The</strong> particular revolutionary opportunity of each historical moment<br />
is confIrmed for the revolutionary thinker by the political situation. But it is no<br />
less confirmed for him by the power this moment has to open a very particular,<br />
heretofore closed chanlber of the past. Entry into this chalnber coincides exactly<br />
with political action. (1:1231)<br />
Political action, "no matter how destnlctive," should always "reveal itself as messianic"<br />
(1 :1231), Benjamin's historical materialism can hardly be severed from political meSSial'lism.<br />
In a late note, perhaps written under the shock of the Hitler-Stalin pact, Benjamin<br />
formulated as "the experience of our generation: that capitalism will not die a natural<br />
death" (Xlla,3). In that case, the onset of revolution could no longer be awaited with the<br />
patience of Marx; rather, it had to be envisaged as the eschatological end of history: "the<br />
classless society is not the ultimate goal of progress in history but its rupture, so often<br />
attempted and finally brought about (1:1231). Myth is liquidated in the dialectical image<br />
to make room for the " dream of a thing" (1:1174); this dream is the dialectic at a standstill,<br />
the piecing together of what history has broken to bits (see Illuminations) p. 257), the<br />
tikkun of the Lurian Kabbalah,27 Benjamin did quote the young Mal'x, who wanted to<br />
show "that the world has long possessed the drealll of a thing that, made conscious, it<br />
would possess in reality" (N5a,l). But for the interpreter of dialectical llllages, true reality<br />
cannot be lluen-ed from existing reality, He undertook to represent tlIe imperative alId the<br />
final goal of reality as "a preformation of the final goal ofhistoty" (N5,3). <strong>The</strong> awakening<br />
from myth would follow the messianic model of a history immobilized in redemption as<br />
the historian of the Passagen-Werk had imagined it. In his dialectical images, the bursting<br />
of time coincides with lithe birth of authentic historical time, the time of truth" (N3,1).<br />
Since the dialectical images belong III such a way to messianic time, or since they should<br />
at least let that time reveal itself as a :Bash of lightning, messianism is llltroduced as a kind<br />
of methodology of historical research-an adventtlresome undertaking if ever there was<br />
one. "'Tbe subject of historical knowledge is the struggling, oppressed class itself" (Illuminations)<br />
p. 260); one may imagine the historian of the dialectic at a standstill as the herald<br />
of that class, Belamin himself did not hesitate to call him "a prophet turned backward,"<br />
borrowing a phrase from Friem'ich Schlegel (1:1237): he did not dismiss the Old Te stament<br />
idea that prophecy precedes the Messiah, that the Messiah is dependent on prophecy.<br />
But Benjamin's historiographer is "endowed with a weak messianic power, a power to<br />
which the past has a claim." Tbe historian honors that claim when he captures that<br />
"image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns" and<br />
thus "threatens to disappear ilTetrievably" (Illuminations) pp. 256-257). Benjamin was<br />
able to recognize only the mythical Ever-Same (I7Ilmergleiclze) III historical evolutions and<br />
was unable to recognize progress, except as a Sprung-a " tiger's leap into the pase' (IlluminatioJlJ)<br />
p. 263), which was in reality a leap out of history and the entry of the messianic<br />
kingdom, He tried to match this mystical conception of history with a version of dialectics<br />
in which mediation would be totally eclipsed by reversal, in which atonement would have<br />
to yield to criticism and destruction, His "blasting" the dialectical image "out of the<br />
continuum of historical process" (NIOa,3) was akin to that anarchistic impulse which tries<br />
to stop history during revolutions by lllstituting a new calendar, or by shooting at church
Change language