Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings

393 Pages·1986·17.65 MB·English

by  Walter Benjamin

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Essays,
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utobiograpbical
P itings
Translated byEdmundIephcott
SchockenBooks New York
0
copyright
Englishtranslation © 1978byHarcourtBracejovanovich,Inc.
Edited and
AllrightsreservedunderInternationaland1’-an-An1ericat1CopyrightConven-
tions. Published in the United States by Schocken Books Inc., New York. witb an Introduction
DistributedbyPantheonBooks,:1divisionofRandomHouse,Inc.,NewYork.
by Peter Demetz
These essays have all been published i11 Germany. ‘A Berlin Chronicle" was
published as Berliner Chranik, copyright © 1970 by Suhrkamp Veriag;
"One-Way Street” as Einbaltnstrasse copyright 1955 by Suhrkamp Verlag;
“Moscow,“ “Mr1rseiIIes," “Hashish iu Marseilles,” and “Naples" as “Moskau,"
"Marsez'.l.le," "fIa.rchi.rc[1 inMarsei.!l.'e,"and “Nature!” in GcmmmelteSchr ten,Band
IV—1,copyright © 1972bySuhrkampVerlag;“Paris,CapitaloftheNineteenth
Century," “Karl Kraus,“-zmcl “The Destructive Character" as “Paris, die
Haufitrtadtales XIX.jah1’hundert5," “KarlKmus," and “Derdestmktive Charakter"
in Itluminattomn, copyright 1955 by Suhrkztmp Verlag; "Surrealism," “On
Language as Such and on the Language of Man," and “On the Mimetic
Faculty" as "DerSitrreatistnusf’ “UberdieSprachedberhauptmid berdieSprache
alesMensc}ten.,”and“UberdaismimetischeVermogm”it1Angelu.r1_Vomts,copy1‘ight ©
1g66_by Suhrkamp Verlag; “BrecI1t’s Threepenny Navel" as “BrecIzt’s
Dr.9t'gra5ch nr0man"in Gemmmette Schrzften, Band III, copyright © 1972 by
Suhrkamp Veriag; “Conversations with Brecht” and “The Author as
Producer“as“Gesf.arc'1'chem:'tBrec}1t”and“DerAutarat:Pmzzluzent"inVersuche ber
Brecht, copyright © 1966 bySuhrkampVerlag; “Critique ofViolence,” "Fate
and Character,” and “Theologico-Political Fragment" as “Z-ur Krittz der
G.-await," “ScI'i.z'c.I'a.m.l tmd Chamir.ter,” and "Theoiogisch-potitisches Fra.gment',‘ in
Schrg'ften,Band1,copyright © 195511}!SuhrkatnpVerlag.
PublishedbyarrangementwithHarcourtB1'ace_]ovanovich,Inc.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Benjamin,Walter,1892. 1940.
Reflections:essays,aphorisms,autobiographicalwritings.
Bibliography:p.
Includesindex.
I.Demetz,Peter,1922- 11.Title.
~ PT2Go3.E455A26 1986 834'.g12 85-26232
ISBN0~8052—0802—x
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmeric21
FirstSchockeneditionpublishedin1986
B98765432
copyright
Englishtranslation © 1978byHarcourtBracejovanovich,Inc.
Edited and
AllrightsreservedunderInternationaland1’-an-An1ericat1CopyrightConven-
tions. Published in the United States by Schocken Books Inc., New York. witb an Introduction
DistributedbyPantheonBooks,:1divisionofRandomHouse,Inc.,NewYork.
by Peter Demetz
These essays have all been published i11 Germany. ‘A Berlin Chronicle" was
published as Berliner Chranik, copyright © 1970 by Suhrkamp Veriag;
"One-Way Street” as Einbaltnstrasse copyright 1955 by Suhrkamp Verlag;
“Moscow,“ “Mr1rseiIIes," “Hashish iu Marseilles,” and “Naples" as “Moskau,"
"Marsez'.l.le," "fIa.rchi.rc[1 inMarsei.!l.'e,"and “Nature!” in GcmmmelteSchr ten,Band
IV—1,copyright © 1972bySuhrkampVerlag;“Paris,CapitaloftheNineteenth
Century," “Karl Kraus,“-zmcl “The Destructive Character" as “Paris, die
Haufitrtadtales XIX.jah1’hundert5," “KarlKmus," and “Derdestmktive Charakter"
in Itluminattomn, copyright 1955 by Suhrkztmp Verlag; "Surrealism," “On
Language as Such and on the Language of Man," and “On the Mimetic
Faculty" as "DerSitrreatistnusf’ “UberdieSprachedberhauptmid berdieSprache
alesMensc}ten.,”and“UberdaismimetischeVermogm”it1Angelu.r1_Vomts,copy1‘ight ©
1g66_by Suhrkamp Verlag; “BrecI1t’s Threepenny Navel" as “BrecIzt’s
Dr.9t'gra5ch nr0man"in Gemmmette Schrzften, Band III, copyright © 1972 by
Suhrkamp Veriag; “Conversations with Brecht” and “The Author as
Producer“as“Gesf.arc'1'chem:'tBrec}1t”and“DerAutarat:Pmzzluzent"inVersuche ber
Brecht, copyright © 1966 bySuhrkampVerlag; “Critique ofViolence,” "Fate
and Character,” and “Theologico-Political Fragment" as “Z-ur Krittz der
G.-await," “ScI'i.z'c.I'a.m.l tmd Chamir.ter,” and "Theoiogisch-potitisches Fra.gment',‘ in
Schrg'ften,Band1,copyright © 195511}!SuhrkatnpVerlag.
PublishedbyarrangementwithHarcourtB1'ace_]ovanovich,Inc.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Benjamin,Walter,1892. 1940.
Reflections:essays,aphorisms,autobiographicalwritings.
Bibliography:p.
Includesindex.
I.Demetz,Peter,1922- 11.Title.
~ PT2Go3.E455A26 1986 834'.g12 85-26232
ISBN0~8052—0802—x
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmeric21
FirstSchockeneditionpublishedin1986
B98765432
0NE
TW0
T REE
F0UR
0NE
TW0
T REE
F0UR
Contents
Theologico-Political Fragment
Introduction
OnLanguageasSuch and on the
Language ofMan
On the Mimetic Faculty
Editors Note ,
Useful Further Readings In the mid- fties,Theodor W. Adorno presented the first col-
Index lection ofWalter Benjamin's essays to German audiences, and
in the late sixties, Hannah Arendt prepared a similar volume
for American readers. It was, both in Frankfurt (1955) and in
New York (1968), a matter of rescuing Walter Benjamin from
near-oblivion and of transforming what. had been, in the late
twenties and early thirties, a rumor among the cognoscenti
into an incisive challenge to our ossifying habits of thought.
Today, the situation has radically changed, and Walter Ben-
jaminhasbecome anewclassic, at leastamong themembersof
the philosophical left on the European continent, who study
hisessaysasavidlyas those ofAntonio Gramsci, GeorgLukacs,
or Ernst Bloch. We now have a nearly complete edition of his
collected works in which even some of his improvised reviews
are
preserved (as they shouldbe) with a philological care never
bestowed on Sainte-Beuve or N. G. Chernyshevski; and many
groups of partisan interpreters ally their political cause, by
quoting chapter and verse, with the ideas of a writer obsessed
with protecting the privacy ofhis experience. Reading and in-
terpretingan authorhaveneverbeen activities thatevolveout-
side a complexnetofcommittedinterests and social pressures,
and I cannot pretend to approach Walter Benjamin from a
more impersonal view than others have done. My di icultyis
that I ndmyselfunable to share his assumptions in the tradi-
' tions of Romantic metaphysics or Hegelian dialectics, but I
hope to balance these serious de cienciesby a compassionate
effort to understand the tragic quality of his life and the inter-
nal contradictions of his thought, which was intent, at least at
Contents
Theologico-Political Fragment
Introduction
OnLanguageasSuch and on the
Language ofMan
On the Mimetic Faculty
Editors Note ,
Useful Further Readings In the mid- fties,Theodor W. Adorno presented the first col-
Index lection ofWalter Benjamin's essays to German audiences, and
in the late sixties, Hannah Arendt prepared a similar volume
for American readers. It was, both in Frankfurt (1955) and in
New York (1968), a matter of rescuing Walter Benjamin from
near-oblivion and of transforming what. had been, in the late
twenties and early thirties, a rumor among the cognoscenti
into an incisive challenge to our ossifying habits of thought.
Today, the situation has radically changed, and Walter Ben-
jaminhasbecome anewclassic, at leastamong themembersof
the philosophical left on the European continent, who study
hisessaysasavidlyas those ofAntonio Gramsci, GeorgLukacs,
or Ernst Bloch. We now have a nearly complete edition of his
collected works in which even some of his improvised reviews
are
preserved (as they shouldbe) with a philological care never
bestowed on Sainte-Beuve or N. G. Chernyshevski; and many
groups of partisan interpreters ally their political cause, by
quoting chapter and verse, with the ideas of a writer obsessed
with protecting the privacy ofhis experience. Reading and in-
terpretingan authorhaveneverbeen activities thatevolveout-
side a complexnetofcommittedinterests and social pressures,
and I cannot pretend to approach Walter Benjamin from a
more impersonal view than others have done. My di icultyis
that I ndmyselfunable to share his assumptions in the tradi-
' tions of Romantic metaphysics or Hegelian dialectics, but I
hope to balance these serious de cienciesby a compassionate
effort to understand the tragic quality of his life and the inter-
nal contradictions of his thought, which was intent, at least at
viii Introduction Introduction ix
times, upon avision ofhistory violently disrupted by the com- elated by either Scholem or Adorno. Scholem’s religious views
ingoftheMessiahand/or therevolutionoftheproletariat. thuscompete witharich arrayofhighly differentiated Marxist
Over a long period, Gershom (Gerhard) Scholem and Theo- readings of Benjamin, and yet I prefer a third way, suggested
dor W. Adorno collaborated loyally in editing Benjamin's re- by Martin _]ay’s sober history of the Frankfurt Institut, Han-
vealing letters and in suggesting diverse ways in which we nah Arendt’s biographical essays concerning the paradoxes of
should understand hisideas and commitments. Gershom Scho- Benjamin's personality, and Rene Wellek's judicious" pano-
lem, who was instrumental in introducing Benjamin to the rama of his critical views. I am less concerned with construct-
Jewish spiritual tradition, continues to suggest in his memoirs ing a systematic pigeonhole than with sketching a biographi-
that his restless friend was a religious if not a. mystical thinker cal account of Benjamin’s experiences against crucial years of
who may have been tempted, against the grain of his sensibil- Central European history and with trying to case, if it can be
ities, to superimpose the terms of Marxist discourse upon his done at all, the exhilarating difficulties of reading some of his
metaphysical vision of God, language, and a society ontologi- bestwritings, which are totally alien to thepragmaticand ana-
callyinneedofsalvation. lyticorientationslongprevalentinAmerican thought.
TheodorW. Adorno, Benjamin’sirasciblefriend andhis rst
editor of substantial merit, was inclined to make some allow- In many Jewish families of late nineteenth-century Europe,
ances for an early metaphysical infatuation that was followed, gifted sons turned against the commercial interests of their
to be sure, by a more important though uneasy alliance with fathers, who were largely assimilated (after moving from the
a critical philosophy basically incarnated in the work of the provinces to the more liberal cities) to bourgeois success, and,
Frankfurt Institut fiir Sozialforschung, which was continued, in building their counterworlds in spiritual protest, they inci-
after Hitler had come to power, in Geneva and New York. In sively shaped the future of science, philosophy, and literature.
_his own sophisticatedway, FredricJameson, in one of the rst Articulatinganinsightoffar-reachingimplications,KarlKraus,
important essays on Benjamin published in this country, fully the belligerent Viennese satirist, suggested in his Magical
supportsAdorno’sclaims and addsa dash ofinevitable melan- Operetta (muchenjoyedbyBenjamin) thatlittleJewishfamily
choly characteristic of American academic Marxists in their dramaswere beingplayed all over, the stern fathers concerned
_
frustratingsearchforanold-fashionedproletariat Yet the neat with tackles--pro tablebusiness ploys—and the spiritual sons
division between a metaphysical and a materialist reading of with shmonzes--the less pro tablematters of the pure mind.
Benjamin, advanced by Scholem and the critical Marxists re- Whether we think of Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl, or
spectively, has been modi edmore recently by the German Franz Kafka, we need few modi cationsto apply this descrip-
critic Helmut Heissenbiittel and some younger interpreters tion to what happened in these families, and in the story of
emerging from the radical German student movement of the Benjamin’s development, the fundamental pattern reasserts it-
late sixties, who rightly stress the substantial differences be- self with particular clarity. Walter Benjamin's parents be-'
tween Adorno’s and Benjamin's way of using Marxist ideas. longed to the Berlin Jewish upper-middle class, and his child-
These criticssay, withagooddeal ofjustification, that we can- hood was protected by an elegant household of re neddiners
not entirelyunderstand Benjamin's particular brand of Marx- andprescribedshoppingexcursions, theinevitablegovernesses,
ismwithoutlookingmorecloselyathiscreativefriendshipwith and the best schools. His father was a knowledgeable auction-
theplaywright Bertolt Brecht, a relationship very I-ittle appre- eer, artdealer, andinvestor whobelieved thathe was distantly
viii Introduction Introduction ix
times, upon avision ofhistory violently disrupted by the com- elated by either Scholem or Adorno. Scholem’s religious views
ingoftheMessiahand/or therevolutionoftheproletariat. thuscompete witharich arrayofhighly differentiated Marxist
Over a long period, Gershom (Gerhard) Scholem and Theo- readings of Benjamin, and yet I prefer a third way, suggested
dor W. Adorno collaborated loyally in editing Benjamin's re- by Martin _]ay’s sober history of the Frankfurt Institut, Han-
vealing letters and in suggesting diverse ways in which we nah Arendt’s biographical essays concerning the paradoxes of
should understand hisideas and commitments. Gershom Scho- Benjamin's personality, and Rene Wellek's judicious" pano-
lem, who was instrumental in introducing Benjamin to the rama of his critical views. I am less concerned with construct-
Jewish spiritual tradition, continues to suggest in his memoirs ing a systematic pigeonhole than with sketching a biographi-
that his restless friend was a religious if not a. mystical thinker cal account of Benjamin’s experiences against crucial years of
who may have been tempted, against the grain of his sensibil- Central European history and with trying to case, if it can be
ities, to superimpose the terms of Marxist discourse upon his done at all, the exhilarating difficulties of reading some of his
metaphysical vision of God, language, and a society ontologi- bestwritings, which are totally alien to thepragmaticand ana-
callyinneedofsalvation. lyticorientationslongprevalentinAmerican thought.
TheodorW. Adorno, Benjamin’sirasciblefriend andhis rst
editor of substantial merit, was inclined to make some allow- In many Jewish families of late nineteenth-century Europe,
ances for an early metaphysical infatuation that was followed, gifted sons turned against the commercial interests of their
to be sure, by a more important though uneasy alliance with fathers, who were largely assimilated (after moving from the
a critical philosophy basically incarnated in the work of the provinces to the more liberal cities) to bourgeois success, and,
Frankfurt Institut fiir Sozialforschung, which was continued, in building their counterworlds in spiritual protest, they inci-
after Hitler had come to power, in Geneva and New York. In sively shaped the future of science, philosophy, and literature.
_his own sophisticatedway, FredricJameson, in one of the rst Articulatinganinsightoffar-reachingimplications,KarlKraus,
important essays on Benjamin published in this country, fully the belligerent Viennese satirist, suggested in his Magical
supportsAdorno’sclaims and addsa dash ofinevitable melan- Operetta (muchenjoyedbyBenjamin) thatlittleJewishfamily
choly characteristic of American academic Marxists in their dramaswere beingplayed all over, the stern fathers concerned
_
frustratingsearchforanold-fashionedproletariat Yet the neat with tackles--pro tablebusiness ploys—and the spiritual sons
division between a metaphysical and a materialist reading of with shmonzes--the less pro tablematters of the pure mind.
Benjamin, advanced by Scholem and the critical Marxists re- Whether we think of Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl, or
spectively, has been modi edmore recently by the German Franz Kafka, we need few modi cationsto apply this descrip-
critic Helmut Heissenbiittel and some younger interpreters tion to what happened in these families, and in the story of
emerging from the radical German student movement of the Benjamin’s development, the fundamental pattern reasserts it-
late sixties, who rightly stress the substantial differences be- self with particular clarity. Walter Benjamin's parents be-'
tween Adorno’s and Benjamin's way of using Marxist ideas. longed to the Berlin Jewish upper-middle class, and his child-
These criticssay, withagooddeal ofjustification, that we can- hood was protected by an elegant household of re neddiners
not entirelyunderstand Benjamin's particular brand of Marx- andprescribedshoppingexcursions, theinevitablegovernesses,
ismwithoutlookingmorecloselyathiscreativefriendshipwith and the best schools. His father was a knowledgeable auction-
theplaywright Bertolt Brecht, a relationship very I-ittle appre- eer, artdealer, andinvestor whobelieved thathe was distantly