Walter Benjamin's Concept of the Image

177 Pages·2014·0.751 MB·English

by  Alison Ross

Walter Benjamin’s Concept of
the Image
“ Ross’s argument is original and refreshing. It is masterful in its c onceptual
program, exegetical details, and argumentative force, and its polemical
verve is gripping. By introducing the image (dialectical or otherwise) as the
pivot of her investigation, she demonstrates a greater thematic continuity
to Benjamin’s thought than is usually imagined—a continuity that force-
fully underscores the dramatic fault-lines fi ssuring the entire corpus. Par-
ticularly notable is Ross’s reading of Benjamin’s early essay on Goethe’s
Elective Affi nities—a generally admired but oddly under-commented work.
She brings out the fundamental importance of this essay to Benjamin’s entire
project, and offers the most sustained reading in English that I’m aware of.”
—Rebecca Comay, University of Toronto, Canada
In this book, Alison Ross engages in a detailed study of Walter Benjamin’s
concept of the image, exploring the signifi cant shifts in Benjamin’s approach
to the topic over the course of his career. Using Kant’s treatment of the topic
of sensuous form in his aesthetics as a comparative reference, Ross argues
that Benjamin’s thinking on the image undergoes a major shift between his
1924 essay on ‘Goethe’s Elective Affi nities,’ and his work on T he Arcades
Project from 1927 up until his death in 1940. The two periods of Benjamin’s
writing share a conception of the image as a potent sensuous force able to
provide a frame of existential meaning. In the earlier period this function
attracts Benjamin’s critical attention, whereas in the later he mobilises it for
revolutionary outcomes. The book gives a critical treatment of the shifting
assumptions in Benjamin’s writing about the image that warrant this altered
view. It draws on hermeneutic studies of meaning, scholarship in the history
of religions, and key texts from the modern history of aesthetics to track
the reversals and contradictions in the meaning functions that Benjamin
attaches to the image in the different periods of his thinking. Above all,
it shows the relevance of a critical consideration of Benjamin’s writing on
the image for scholarship in visual culture, critical theory, aesthetics, and
philosophy more broadly.
Alison Ross is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in Philoso-
phy, Monash University, Australia. She has research interests in aesthet-
ics, the history of modern philosophy, and critical theory. She is the author
of T he Aesthetic Paths of Philosophy: Presentation in Kant, Heidegger,
Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy.
Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Philosophy
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Levinas, and Husserl of the Image
Soren Overgaard Alison Ross
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Walter Benjamin’s
Concept of the Image
Alison Ross
First published 2015
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ross, Alison, 1968–
Walter Benjamin’s concept of the image / by Alison Ross.
pages cm. — (Routledge studies in twentieth-century philosophy ; 38)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Benjamin, Walter, 1892–1940. 2. Image (Philosophy) I. Title.
B3209.B584R67 2014
193—dc23
2014022056
ISBN: 978-1-138-81148-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74925-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Feeling 20
2 Form 47
3 Similitude 73
4 History 102
5 Image 135
Conclusion 149
Index 161
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Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to record my sincere thanks to the two anony-
mous reviewers from Routledge. Their insightful suggestions and criticisms
came at just the right time and helped me in arriving at the fi nal version of
the manuscript. Amir Ahmadi also read the manuscript in its entirety and
offered a number of valuable suggestions for improvement. At Routledge,
Margo Irvin, Katie Laurentiev and Lynne Askin-Roush were a pleasure to
work with.
An earlier version of chapter 2 was published as ‘The Problem of the
Image: Sacred and Profane Spaces in Walter Benjamin’s Early Writing,’
Critical Horizons 1 4.3 (2013) (www.maneyonline.com/cri). The version
published here substantially amends and supersedes that version. No other
material in this book has been previously published.
The research undertaken for this book had the support of the Australian
Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project: ‘Persuasive Force: the role of
aesthetic experience in moral persuasion.’ I would like to thank the ARC
for the opportunity to conduct this study. I have also been fortunate to have
a period of study leave from Monash University to complete the project.
I would like to thank the Faculty of Art’s Outside Study Program and suc-
cessive supportive faculty, school, and departmental heads and colleagues:
Pauline Nestor, Sue Kossew, Brett Hutchins, and Toby Handfi eld.
Particular acknowledgement is due to the people who read and offered
their advice on the ARC application: Andrew Benjamin, Graham Oppy,
Chris Worth, Bernadette McSherry, Lisa Trahair, and Joanne Witheridge.
Jeff Malpas deserves special thanks for talking me through the technicalities
of good grant writing. The project grant was held with Krzysztof Ziarek and
Andrew Benjamin. This book has benefi ted from the many workshops and
informal conversations held with these two colleagues. Andrew Benjamin’s
initiative in establishing the Research Unit in European Philosophy provided
a congenial home at Monash for research into aesthetics.
A number of people who have participated in workshops on topics in
contemporary aesthetics over the past few years in New York, Paris, Mel-
bourne, and Prato gave very helpful critical evaluations of early versions
of some of this material and generously shared their own research. I am