L’Ange de l’Histoire

Abstract

The “Angel of History” is stuck at the heart of the theses On the concept of history, today considered the philosophical legacy of Walter Benjamin. This poetical figure draws an apocalyptic picture of the European 1930’s. Beyond this political context this allegory bears witness to, it also involves methodological questions. The Angel affects first the historian, but it also strikes any social scientist listening to the defeated of history, the refuse of the big city or the scraps from the scientist storytelling. Benjamin suggests with this image that apocalypse could be a methodological principle, and that it is necessary to accelerate the process of ruining in order to paint a truth portrayal of an era. Benjamin himself depicts such apocalyptic landscapes in his work. Therefore, he develops the art, or the science, of making the ruins talk.

Keywords

• Angel of History
• Walter Benjamin
• Paul Klee
• allegory
• destructive character