Walter Benjamin: Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend (Social and Critical Theory)

In Walter Benjamin. Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend Stéphane Symons offers an innovative reading of the work of German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). Oftentimes interpreted as being either of a theological (Jewish-Messianic) or a materialist (neo-Marxist) nature, Benjamin's writings are here characterized as \'neither a-theological, nor immediately theological.\' Starting from Benjamin's philosophy of history, his interpretation of the work of Franz Kafka, his study on the German Baroque and his critique of modernity, Walter Benjamin. Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend zooms in on the issue of how a belief in the possibility of redemption and an attentiveness [ Aufmerksamkeit ] to expressions of an absolute force can endure within a universe that is nevertheless confronted as unfulfilled Contents 7 Volume Foreword 9 Acknowledgments 11 Bibliographical Note 13 Preface 15 Introduction. Melancholy, Hope, Redemption 19 Chapter One. Benjamin's Philosophy of History: The Messianic Is Now 31 Introduction 31 1. The Notion of 'Weak Messianic Power' in On the Concept of History 33 2. Redemption and 'Rejuvenation' of the Past 37 2.1. Introduction 37 2.2. The Dialectical Image and Its Ethical-Political Relevance 39 2.3. Renewed Legibility and Redemption 46 2.4. The Relation between Benjamin's Materialism and His Jewish Messianism 50 Conclusion 61 Chapter Two. The Kafka-essays and The Origin of German Tragic Drama: On Failure and the Limits of Human Understanding 69 Introduction 69 1. Franz Kafka, the Unknowability of the Divine and the Decline of Experience 70 1.1. Introduction 70 1.2. The Kafka-Essay and the 'Inaccessibility of Doctrine' 74 II.I.3. Kafka's Last Will and Shame 77 1.4. The Kafka-Letter and the Decay of Tradition 81 1.5. The Conscious Experience and Benjamin's Critique of Modernity 89 2. The Origin of German Tragic Drama and the 'Empty World' of the Baroque 96 2.1. Presentation of the Subject Matter 96 2.2. Trauerspiel and Allegory 107 Chapter Three. The 'Will to Allegory' and the 'Distortion' of Truth in History 113 Introduction 113 1. Benjamin's Iconography 116 1.1. Benjamin and Alois Rieglwrite indexwrite {98:Riegl, Alois} 116 1.2. Benjamin and Aby Warburg: The Survival of Ancient Gods in 'an Unsuitable, Indeed Hostile, Environment' 119 1.3. Conflicts and Compromises: The Timeless 'Hybridity' of Logos and Magic 124 2. The 'Distortion' of Truth in History 131 2.1. Kafka, the Trauerspiel and the Messianic 131 2.2. The Relation between Benjamin's Messianism and His Historical Analyses 142 2.3. A Case in Point: Technological Reproducibility 145 Conclusion 152 Appendix. Relational 'Purity,' the Collector and the Fl›neur 153 Introduction. The Concept of Purity 153 1. The 'Representational Impulse' of Truth and the Movement of the Absolute 159 2. The Collector and the Fl›neur 163 Conclusion. Walter Benjamin and Joseph Roth 169 Bibliography 173 Essays by Walter Benjamin 173 Books by Walter Benjamin 175 Letters from/to Walter Benjamin 175 Other Sources (Selection) 175 Index of Names 183 In Walter Benjamin. Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend Stphane Symons offers an innovative reading of the work of German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) that characterizes his writings as "neither a-theological, nor immediately theological." In Walter Benjamin. Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend Stéphane Symons offers an innovative reading of the work of German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) that characterizes his writings as "neither a-theological, nor immediately theological." In Walter Benjamin. Presence of Mind, Failure to Comprehend Stephane Symons offers an innovative reading of the work of German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) that characterizes his writings as "neither a-theological, nor immediately theological."