From Messianism to Materialism
The Later Aesthetics of Walter Benjamin
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4071091 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard Wolin (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Issue | 22 |
| Pages | 81 |
| Publication date | 1981-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New German Critique (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-033X • E-ISSN: 1558-1462 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/487865 |
| OpenAlex | W2319073090 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
Despite its pronounced esotericism and manifestly recondite character, Benjamin's early literary criticism is consistent, at times single-minded, in the pursuit of its program. At issue is the character of human such that it takes on the appearance of natural history, a history that is consigned to an inexorable, rigid fate of decay and decline. subjective corollary of this fate is an inescapable network of guilt, a guilt which originates with man's expulsion from Paradise, which is redoubled with each subsequent transgression, and which serves as a ceaseless testimony to the seemingly infinite distance that separates historical man, man in the here and now, from the state of grace represented by the Messianic era. Benjamin takes his stand, initially, in the midst of profane life. And from his lowly station in the fallen historical world he sifts through the ruins of by-gone ages for traces of redeemed life. He does this in the hope that, if these traces can be renewed for the present upon entering into contact with the re-vitalizing powers of theological insight possessed by the critic, the link between the Messianic era, the key to which is mysteriously inscribed in man's past, and the present era, however godforsaken it may appear, can be, if not guaranteed, at least prevented from fading into oblivion: The past carries with it a temporal index by which it is referred to redemption. There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. Like every generation that preceded us, we have been endowed with a weak Messianic power, a power to which the past has claim. That claim cannot be settled cheaply.' Thus, the paradox, the magic, the labor of Sisyphus of Benjamin's early aesthetics consisted in the effort to conjure traces and images of 'Messianic time,' which represent possible links to the sphere of redeemed life, in the midst of an iniquitous historical era that could only seem emphatically removed from all hope of salvation. In contrast, the aesthetic concerns of the later Benjamin are hardly so
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Historical materialism · Judaism · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Messianism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Theology · Law · Literature, Culture, and Criticism · Philosophy · Psychology · Walter Benjamin Studies Compilation
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,29 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2020 (9) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |