Benjamin's Voices: Irresolution and Textual Practice in ON THE CONCEPT OF HISTORY

Abstract

Benjamin’s final treatise On the Concept of History has generated significant criticism with its profound yet enigmatic statements on his historical materialism. Its internal references range from the philosopher Hegel to satirist Karl Kraus; these interludes of scientific and poetic language have garnered notable readings through Marxian lenses, as well as ample theological and literary interpretations. Reading against any simplified tradition of unity, I suggest instead an insoluble collection of distinct voices at play in the entanglements of the text. Constellating these ‘Benjamins’ as self-conscious reflective and speculative identities nonetheless actualizing to their human character, this article illustrates a text which is intrinsically in deep conversation with its own medial limitation and consequently transforms that textuality into a locus of power. Structurally, Benjamin’s theses perform a harmonic, musical feat, embedding a true praxis of historical critique within an image from which it unendingly springs forth.

Keywords

• aesthetics
• Walter Benjamin
• materialism
• history
• image