On Fascination - Walter Benjamin's Images

On Fascination: Walter Benjamin's Images Author(s): Ackbar Abbas Source: New German Critique, No. 48 (Autumn, 1989), pp.
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On Fascination: Walter Images Benjamin's

AckbarAbbas
aversion to reposing once and forall in anyone total Profound
-Nietzsche, TheWill to Power'
view of the world. Fascination of the opposing point of view: refus-
of the enigmatic. al to be deprivedof the stimulus
In his essay on Karl Kraus, Walter Benjamin quotes from Kraus' speech "In This GreatAge" where Kraus speaks of "these unspeakable times":
"[I]n these times, when preciselywhat is happening could not be imagined, and when what must happencan no longer be imagined, and if it could it would not happen; ... In the empire bereftof imagination, where man is dying of spiritualstarvationwhile not feeling spiritual hunger, where pens are dipped in blood and swords in ink, that which is not thought must be done, but that which is only thought is inexpressible (R 242-43)."2 1. FriedrichNietzsche, The Will to Power,trans. Walter Kaufmannand R.J. Hollingdale(New York:VintageBooks,1968)262. texts to following 2. Subsequentreferences Benjaminwillbe givenparbyWalter in the essay: enthetically trans.HarryZohn (London: Fontana,1970). I Illuminations, R Reflections, trans.EdmundJephcott (New York:HBJ, 1978). Shorter and Kingsley trans.EdmundJephcott and Other Street OWS One Way Writings, (London: New LeftBooks, 1979). trans.HarryZohn (LonEra ofHighCapitalism, in the A Lyric Poet Baudelaire: CB Charles don: New LeftBooks, 1973). and trans. ofProgress)", ofKnowledge; N (Theoretics KN "Konvolut LeighHafrey Theory 1-39. 1-2 Vol in The Richard XV, Forum, 1983-84): Sieburth, (Fall-Winter Philosophical
TheSphere ofImagery
43
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Abbas Ackbar
Krauswrote his speechtwomonths after theoutbreak ofwar.In its and its if the syntax incongruous labyrinthine images, speechconveys, sheer the nature onlyby trajectory, excessive, blinding overpowering, of modernexperience. Eventshave overtaken the human capacity to As a result, them. havegrown contradicimagine imagesofexperience without hunger,pens dipped in blood and tory:we findstarvation of events. muteness swordsin ink,the congenital a crisis Kraus' ofexpeIn hisownessays, shares sensethat Benjamin adminishas rienceis also a crisisof the image. Modern experience One from whichithas yetto recover. tereda shockto theimagination thepowerof theimage,making of shockis to attenuate effect experione Whena visualimageis too bright, to communicate. ence difficult is overwhen shutsone's eyesdefensively againstit; similarly, reality it.In either one turns case, one perawayfrom defensively whelming, out how ceivesan after-image (I 159). In thesame way,Benjamin points fromthe noticeableit was thatat the end of thewar "men returned - notricher exbut poorerin communicable battlefield grownsilent been contraon to "For never has He say: experience perience." goes thanstrategic dictedmore thoroughly warfare, by tactical experience mechanical economic experienceby inflation, experience by bodily moralexperience warfare, bythosein power"(I 84). The technological unleashedby capitalism and thesocio-economic forces ofproduction entail have the modern unprethey caught imagination organization thanever, thesphereofimbehind.Ifmoreprolific paredand lagging than ever.These are times,Kraus ageryis also more impoverished to misfortune" said,whenlanguageis "subordinate (R 243). offantasy weakenstheimageas well.As capiThe commodification beeven fantasy talist commodification, society approachesuniversal theimagefrom as shockexperience weakens comesa commodity. Just weakensthe image fromthe inside, the outside,so commodification "Satamusement. harmless by makingthe image a sourceof merely a on which cast-iron "become urn'srings," writes, balcony Benjamin of the planettaketheair in theevening"(R 153). For theinhabitants of Grandville thecommodificatithe caricatures exemplify Benjamin, theaura of ofmerchandise, with on oftheimage:"The enthronement art"(R themeof Grandville's amusement it,is thesecret surrounding
OGTD The Originsof GermanTragic Drama, trans. John Osborne (London: New Left
NewGerman 24 (Winter trans. CP "Central Park", 1985):32-58. LloydSpencer, Critique,
Books, 1977).
Images Benjamin's
45
fashionbecomes the one dubious law of 152). In commodification, historical ends in madness. change.3Benjaminadds thatGrandville "The 'Lunaparks'are a prefiguration ofsanatoria" (R 94). One cannot and getawaylightly. dabble in the realmof imagery a weakfrom Thisweakening oftheimagebothproducesand stems on Modem itself now becomes higheninggrip experience. experience can itssocial space themostadvancedelements ly ambiguous:within - and be betrayed and regressive co-exist withthemostprimitive by theloudspeaker," "Without marked them.Fascism justsucha betrayal. Here Hitleronce said, "we would neverhave conqueredGermany."4 ofhowthemodem ambiguities can be manipwe havea clearinstance a ulatedforregressive ends. The sphereof the image also constitutes siteof betrayal. Even KarlKrauseventually succumbedto the contraand indictions he had himself so painstakingly exposedin thebiting interchoateimagesofhiswork.Benjaminhad spokenof"the strange is and that met between reactionary theory revolutionary practice play in "If I of Kraus" must choose the two lesser evils," (R 247). everywhere "I willchoose neither." It would seem thatKraus Krausonce wrote, Three years after could not maintain such a pose indefinitely. fascism. to Austrian Benjamin'sessayappeared,Krauscapitulated of In Benjamin's does notconsist lessa siteofstruggle. case,thestrategy with in a lost rediscover to by identifying images expressiveness trying Nor is it a questionof the forexperience. correlatives better objective of archetypal idealization kindof nostalgic imagesfoundinJung.The linkbetweenartistic Benjamincategoriimagesand nostalgia Jungian to be crass at dismisses as Better (KN 19)5. cally "clearlyregressive" times(as Benjaminsaid of Baudelaire)thanto be sonorous(CP 49). about the imagewillpursuedifferent strategies. Benjamin'sthinking
3. On fashion,see also "Theses on the Philosophyof History"#XIV,where leap intothe past" but adds thatthisjump Benjamindescribesfashionas "a tiger's class givesthe commands"(I 263). "takesplace in an arena wherethe ruling BrianMassumi,(Minneapolis: 4. Quoted inJacquesAttali, trans. Noise, University of MinnesotaPress,1985) 87. the following 5. In "KonvolutN," Benjaminquotes verycritically passage from to thePoeticWorkofArt": ofAnalytic Psychology Jung'sessay"On theRelationship untilitreaches from dissatisfaction with oftheartist retreats thepresent "The nostalgia theone-sidedness whichis suitedto compensate that sourceimagein theunconscious thatintoconoftheage. His nostalgia seizes theimage,and as he brings of thespirit man theimagechangesitsshape untilitcan be adaptedby contemporary sciousness, to his own context"(KN 19).
The image sphere - inflated, commodified,betrayed- is neverthe-
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Ackbar Abbas
Accordingto Adorno, the rebus is the appropriatemodel for We certainly findin Benjamin'sworkmany Benjamin'sphilosophy.6 is more on a dressthan "the like lace trimmings eternal images: striking likean idea"7;"dreamloosensindividuality likea bad tooth"(R 179); "boredomis thedreambirdthat hatches theeggofexperience" (I 91); and "genuine a book as as a cannibal polemics approach lovingly spices a baby" (OWS 67). Moreover, Benjamin's strongest imagestendto apForexample, he explains pearat themostcrucial partofhisargument. Kraus'subversive use of quotation witha complexanalytic image,dehow Kraus"imitates in orderto insert hissubjects thecrowbar scribing ofhishateintothefinest (R252).WhatBenjamin jointsoftheir posture" - that said about Baudelaire he was everprepared to "place theimage in the service of thought" can be said about too. himself (CP 41) GershomScholem,in an attempt to subsume Benjaminunder a defined a tradition, writer, broadly mystical speaksofhimas an esoteric of authoritative and quotablesentences, wheretheilluminatproducer I would contend,however, that ing is meshed withthe enigmatic.8 of use the tends neither toward nor toward Benjamin's image mysticism, as developedby theFrankfurt School, demystificatory political critique a mode ofcritical buttoward reflection thatI call fascination. Bywayof let me begin by contextualizing taking up the subjectof fascination, of the Benjamin's "practice image." ofmodernity, shockexperience where and commodifiIn thecontext or compromised cationhaveweakened theimage,thekindofcommittotheimagethat ment we find in Krausor Baudelaire or Benjamin takes on the statusof heroism."It takesa heroicconstitution," Benjamin "to livemodernism" comments on writes, (CB 74). Benjamin explicitly ofthis thenature modemheroism. ofancient Itis nottheheroism times, of the gladiator, as in the figure but rather a heroismof little deeds, whosefigures includethetraveling theragpicker, thecollector salesman, as well as the writer, of images.Proust, the purveyor to takeone of wasan aesthete, a monomaniac and a snobBenjamin's key examples, offalseconsciousness. a paradigm is WhatredeemshimforBenjamin
6. Theodor W. Adorno, Prisms,trans. Samuel and Shierry Weber (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1981) 230. 7. Quoted in Adorno, Prisms, 231. 8. Gershom Scholem, On Jews and Judaismin Crisis(New York: Schocken Books, 1976) 199.
Dream
Images Benjamin's
47
his ability to empty "the dummy, hisself"in orderto "keep garnering thatthird the The practice oftheimageis there(I 207). image" thing, - hence the aspectof heroism. forea formof cultural resistance The social experience of modernity, context that then,is thelarger in thepractice allowsus to see whatis involved oftheimage.One imlocus of thisexperienceis the Surrealist portant project.Benjamin's comments on Surrealism variouspractices between clearly distinguish of theimageand their remained ambiimplications. Benjamin highly valentabout theSurrealist use oftheimage;nevertheless, bothhis inin Surrealism terest and his reservations about it help us to situate of the image. Benjamin'sown practice In Benjamin'saccount, Surrealism was notjust another avant-garde of "eternal discussion" no decibut movement," "poetic consisting "are not sions(R 177).Surrealist literature but Benjaminsays, writings, and still less withphantasms" theories (R 179). It was themost"integabsoluteof movements," radicalin thewayit pushed ral,conclusive, of utmost limits life' to the to (R 178)and "thefirst "'poetic possibility" sclerotic liberal-moral-humanistic ideal of freedom" the (R liquidate movedtowards a mode ofperception that 189).Above all, Surrealism "a dialectical illumination, Benjamincallsprofane opticthatperceives theeveryday as impenetrable, theimpenetrable as everyday" (R 190).9 forBenjamin in The powerof Surrealism of the its lay recuperation visual:"Balzac was thefirst to speakoftheruinofthebourgeoisie. But Surrealism them to view. The of the of forces only exposed development of reduced the wish the to rubble century symbols production previous evenbefore themonuments themhad crumbled" (R 161). representing a methodforreadingand representing cultural Surrealism discovered ofhighlighting thetemporal the beforms consists which gap, hysteresis, and so and monuthewishsymbols the tween (ofProgress, on) Stability underthe The wishsymbols havecrumbled that embodiedthem. ments of the still but as the ruins an intenofhistory: monuments stand, weight to ofa dreamworld"(R 162).The Surrealists learned the"residues tion, the between read thesedreamresidues threshold by occupying waking and sleeping,and by wearingaway this threshold "by the steps of
9. However,Benjaminis careful to add: "This profane illuminationdid not aland thevery thatproselves, equal to it,or to themwaysfindtheSurrealists writings de Parisand Breton'sNadja, claim it mostpowerfully, Paysan Aragon'sincomparable of deficiency" showverydisturbing (R 179). symptoms
something else .
concerned literallywith experience, not with
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Ackbar Abbas
backand forth" multitudinous (R 178). It is therefore imagesflooding wearsdownbourgeois defenses and exbetween imagesthat thefriction view as a dream a a to while their residue, ruin, facade, reality poses a climberof facades,a climberwho the Surrealist is a cat-burglar, The image/ornament "mustmake thebestuse of every ornament."'0 in at least some the Surrealist's a footing provides progress through ruins. worldof monumental a majorstrategy in thesurrealist of therefore, Appropriately, practice anachronism. Anachronism theimageis deliberate can taketheform of as in ruins as Breton does Nadia. that modern, showing Benjaminsays "to perceive Breton was thefirst therevolutionary that energies appear in the'outmoded,'in thefirst ironconstructions, thefirst buildfactory ings,the earliest photos,the objectsthathave begun to be extinct, restaurants grand pianos, the dressesof fiveyearsago, fashionable whenthevoguehas begunto ebb from them"(R 181).Or anachronism ofshowing can taketheform themodernas ruins, as in LouisAragon's Peasant. In this themodern ofParisas novel, Paris Aragon presented city themostsurrealistic with and "peoobjectofall,as a siteoverlaid myth The experience of such a city boruntecognized pled with sphinxes." ofphantasmagoria derson an experience becauseoftheuneven where, of the different strata thatmake up modernsociety, the development modernand thepremodern co-exist. The readersensesthishistorical differential mostpalpablyin thosepartsof the city whichare on the as a result of"progress." A "modernlight" radipointofdisappearing atesfrom theseunusualplaces,and in no place moreso thanthecovered arcades of Paris,withtheir"glaucous gleam,seemingly filtered willneverknow."" Whenwe consider and thattomorrow Benjamin's workas a whole,it is clearly Surrealism thatbridges thespan between and modernallegory of theArcades baroque allegory Project. HowevercrucialSurrealism was forBenjamin, he nevertheless carehis own on from the those of the fully position distinguished image
10. "The climber of facades must make the best use of everyornament." Quoted ed. by Ernst Bloch in his "Recollections of Walter Benjamin." See On Walter Benjamin, Gary Smith (Cambridge, Mass. and London: MIT Press, 1988) 344. In the Surrealism essay, Benjamin speaks of "the breakneck career of Surrealism over rooftops,lightning conductors, gutters,verandas, weathercocks,stucco work - all ornaments are gristto the cat-burglar's mill" (R 180). 11. Quotations from Louis Aragon, Paris Peasant, trans. Simon Watson Taylor (London, 1978) 28-9.
throughdeep water ...
Places thatwere incomprehensibleyesterday,
Images Benjamin's
49
If Surrealism contributed Surrealists. the notion- withtheforceof a - that and dream toobelongtohistory, revelation theSurimages myth to taketheimportant nextstep:their realists failed to approach history and dreamnever viamyth butingotoutofthedreambackintohistory, hisownproject backintomyth. steadplungedthemfurther Comparing remainsin the withAragon's,Benjaminwrites: "Aragonpersistently ofwaking. butwe wanthereto findtheconstellation realmof dreams, in element on Whilean impressionistic lingers Aragon('mythology') ... of'mythology' intothespace ofhishereis thedissolution whatmatters tory"(KN 2-3). If the Surrealist projectwas concernedto "win the of intoxication fortherevolution," failedon twocounts. energies they as a methodhad no clear direction. On the one hand, anachronism remained too anarchic, so that ofSurrealism Anachronism theenergies in werefrittered what describes as "a praxis away Benjamin sardonically between fitness and celebration in advance"(R 189). exercise oscillating On theotherhand,the Surrealist in thatthe was undialectical, project interested in the of the were side participants only mysteri"mysterious thesakeofthedream, all ofwhich couldonlyprodous," thedreamfor were no better uce "overheated fantasies" which,Benjaminsuggests, of Scheerbart" than"the well-ventilated (R 185). By contrast, utopias a forBenjaminis "the realization of the epitomeof dialectical thinking inwaking," and suchdialectical he is the dreamelements adds, thinking, from the movens ofhistorical (R 162).Theselastfewsentences awakening in disArcades both and to the define interest Benjamin's Expose Project theSurrealist of theimage. tancefrom practice
Fascination
How can one use imagesdialectically forpurposesofhistorical awakthis will To answer it be to defireconstruct a question, ening? necessary of imageforBenjamin, and itsrelation nition to fascination. Benjamin seekshistorical to thefascination of theimunderstanding by acceding abouttheimage,dispersed hiswork, conthroughout age. His thinking as a critical tool. stitutes a manualon how to use fascination is notnormally In ordinaassociated with critical Fascination thought. is often no than a for"inmore sexy "fascinating" surrogate ryparlance, the a which Yet a at reveals OED chequered etymology teresting." glance withdubious practices ambivalence. linked Originally givesit a certain
and the castingof spells which deprive one of any power like witchcraft attractive. of resistance, "fascination" now connotes the irresistibly
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Ackbar Abbas
has notbeen completely We are obliterated. theold meaning However, in theallureoffascination liesa lure.Pertimeand againthat reminded is involved when fascination that of this ambivalence it is because haps of as is most often it in cultural and political disparaged a state theory, the of or loss the characterized illusionand passivity, suspension by Fascination faculties. critical may also become associatedwithsexual forbeingan and criticized of commodities and thefetishism fetishism of social and political instrument manipulation. "cult on Poe and Baudelaire's comments in his demystifying Adorno, on view a of such an illustrious ofthenew,"provides negative example obsession such an that In Minima fascination. Adornoargues Moralia,12 "a rebellion withnewnessis merely againstthe factthatthereis no dominated new" in a society bymassproincreasingly anything longer faceofthealways-the-same. The "new"is therefore duction. justanother "a stimulus was ... Poe and Baudelaire's response to extract (mystifyied) to letevilflowatall costs, sensation to go after dreadand despair," from "not valueofthestimulus: to thenarcotic er.Bothwereblind,however, Neither were Poe, Baudelaire, for nothing types." Wagneraddictive sociowith newsensations for ofthesearch see thecomplicity couldthey in is the many-colored fata morgana politicalreaction:"Its pluralism deits sees self-destruction reason of monism the which glitter bourgeois
as hope ... ceptively
The "new" werenotboring." Socialists atleasttheNational boastedthat even reaction," forthemostunequivocal thenbecomesa "cryptogram become ... has worldwhen"theappeal to newness moreso in today's commanded world:"WhatBaudelaire thanin Baudelaire's universal" fascination." to unbid comes of thepower images, will-less through and poliforms cultural between Adornoseeksto makeconnections at an underarrives ofPoe and Baudelaire buthis"demystification" tics, Adomo's critique on his own insights. ofthemthatforecloses standing ofbourto "themonism Baudelaire himintoassimilating seemstoforce imof Baudelaire's to the of his reference in power geoisreason"; spite the to it and attribute this than register power ages,he can do no more fascination. of deludedand deluding workings workon important Adornodid not entirely approveof Benjamin's and of methodology therearisedifferences critics Between Baudelaire. Baudelaire's UnlikeAdorno,Benjamindid not understand evaluation.
trans.E.F.N. Jephcott, (London: New Lett Moralia, 12. Theodor Adorno,Minima "Late Extra." Books, 1974) 235-238,Section150,entitled
Fascism was the absolute sensation ...
Goebbels
Images Benjamin's
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in bourgeois tomeanan identification itsethos. involvement with society the "When we read Baudelaire," writes, "... Benjamin contrary: Quite ... Bauwe are givena courseofhistorical lessonsbybourgeois society ofthesecret ofhisclass discontent delaire was a secret agent- an agent a arrived at hisreading with itsownrule"(CB 104).Benjamin employing method of from itself which criAdorno's distinguishes methodology and theimin itsuse offascination ways, specifically tiquein important role. He seesin critical itself a fascination method gives age. Benjaminian buta willoflastresort, nottheresponse nota will-less fascination affect, do not our attention that attract to to be drawn yet phenomena ingness out a method works to our understanding. submitentirely Benjamin a methodwhichin to an ambiguousand complexsituation, sensitive oftheimage. the folds to of consists entrusting thought patiently practice Its too hastily dismisses. to look againat whatcritique It neverdisdains is im"All humanerror wellbe one of Kafka's motto aphorisms: might down delusive a of renunciation a method, pinning patience, premature and on fascination ofa delusion."3 We can follow thinking Benjamin's about In of Baudelaire. his studies to first theimageby turning writing enters to showhowsocialexperience is concerned Baudelaire, Benjamin the decisive19thcentury into Baudelaire's experiparticularly poetry, we masses. ence ofthecrowd- theamorphous, Though metropolitan its in crowd of the a direct find Baudelaire, imageis description rarely a as hidden his on nevertheless (CB 120). figure" creativity "imprinted and consciously to thecrowdremained reaction Baudelaire's cautiously becamepartofit,buthe to it,and as afldneur he was drawn ambivalent: thedisdainofthedandy."There himself to dissociate also tried through ambivalence" this about is something (CB 128),Benjamin compelling to sitis itself ofBaudelaire and hisreading writes, guidedbyan attempt which ambivalence The uatetheambivalent image's imageofthecrowd. to thesocialtensions the from in shows now poetry moving Benjamin as a socialambivalence it - is a measureof Baudelaire's thatenergize of the For thisclass,consciousness memberof the petitbourgeoisie. labor has notyetbeen awakoftheir nature commodified (intellectual) hencea classwith much without Theirsis a class ened in them. power, of timeon itshands,in search enjoyment. notmuchto do, with Benjaof thisenjoyment-withthe socialimplications min goes on to unravel out-power:
Willa and EdwinMuir (New York: trans. Wall TheGreat 13. Franz Kafka, ofChina, SchockenBooks, 1970) 162.
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Abbas Ackbar
in thissociety, [T]hemorethisclasswantedto have itsenjoyment themorelimited thisenjoyment wouldbe. The enjoyment promifthisclass foundenjoyment ised to be less limited ofthissociety in thiskindof enjoypossible. If it wantedto achievevirtuosity it could not with commodities ... Finalment, spurnempathizing it had to this with a that ly, approach destiny sensitivity perceives charmeven in damaged and decaying goods (CB 59). The analysis establishes ambivalence not as a modish indecisivewhich enliststhe power of fascinationfor ness, but as a modus operandi is a not Fascination merelyenjoyable delusion: "The deepest critique. of fascinationof this spectacle the crowd for Baudelaire lay in the fact thatas it intoxicatedhim it did not blind him to the horriblesocial reality" (CB 59). Only in assentingto the fascinationof the image of the crowd could Baudelaire, within his class position, experience the nature of the commodityand so become "perhaps the first to conceive of If an originality to the market" (CP 37). fascinationhas a appropriate certainambivalence, it is the ambivalence of the mask thatdoubles as a gas-mask,a criticalapparatus thatallows one to breathe in an inhospitable atmosphere. It allows one to work throughthe social tensions of the age. "The index of heroism in Baudelaire: to live at the heart of (of appearance). To this belongs the fact that Baudelaire did irreality not know nostalgia" (CP 43). Benjamin knew nostalgia but did not give in to it. If he uses fascination forcritique,it is because he uses the image as a critiqueof reason. In the relation between image and reason, the image critiques reason and not the other way round.'4 It critiques the tendencyof reason to explain, to explain away, to rationalize, to turn into myth,to achieve homogeneity.Benjamin notes that "knowledge comes only in flashes. The text is the thunder rolling long afterward"(KN 1). The image is not garrulous. It has a hermetic,monadic quality; it closes itselfoff from explanation. But it is preciselyits monadic character- like the art that is also "free fromexplanation" (I 89) - which alstoryteller's lows the image to arouse "astonishment and thoughtfulness."The monadic image may be closed off(from explanation), but it is not closed up. It relatesto mythiccontinuums dialecticallyby interrupting
14. Benjamin's argument with the Kantian version of critique is that it is based on too narrow a view of experience. See "Program of the Coming Philosophy," trans. Vol. XV, 1-2 (Fall-Winter 1983-4): 41-51. Mark Ritter,in ThePhilosophical Forum,
Images Benjamin's
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them;henceitcan be said to contain time,as "a preciousbuttasteless seed" (I 265). [Benjaminpointsout thatLeibnitz"the philosopher of theMonadology was also thefounder of infinitessimal calculus" (OGTD an agentofhistori48).] Conceivedin thisway,theimageis potentially It is likea seed that whileawaiting itself the cal understanding. protects historical conditions forgermination. When the timecomes, it right promisesto wake us fromthewetdreamsof reason. It also wakensus from"that most terrible drug - ourselveswhichwe takein solitude"(R 190). How can we write an autobiograwithself-infatuation? How can we bypass phythatis not intoxicated the self?Here is one strategy: "He who seeks to approach his own likea man digging... He mustnot buriedpastmustconducthimself ... Forthematto return and be afraid again againto thesame matter a stratum, teritself is onlya deposit, whichyieldsonlyto themostmethereal treasure hiddenwithin ticulousexamination whatconstitutes the earth:the images,severedfromall earlier thatstand associations, of a (R 26). These artifacts prosaicroom of our laterunderstanding" lifestandout against thepsychological cozinessof a stableinteriority, "the prosaic room of our laterunderstanding." They are no longer forquietcontemplation, there in their butrather challenge incongruity our understanding of ourselves. In autobiography as in politics, theno-longer-contemplative imageala form of Thus ofbourconstitutes action. the writer ready revolutionary in of more the can be profitably deployed "sphere imagery" geoisorigin art" (R 191). than in attempts to become a "masterof proletarian essay, Benjaminmakesthispointat the conclusionof his Surrealism he also,following where makes a distinction between imageand Aragon, and so irreconcilably as in politics" (R 191).Whatfor example drastically is thepolitical ofthebourgeois saranswers program parties? Benjamin "a bad poem on springtime, to bursting with filled donically: metaphor" "to expelmoralmetaitis necessary (R 190).To "organize pessimism," in from and a spherereserved to discover action political phor politics whileimcent for one hundred explain, per images"(R 191).Metaphors to with stories evidence. reconcile us power Metaphors ages provide
about newness: images show us thatthe Emperor has no clothes. The image is a form of action whenever it is used not as a contemplative expressive trope but as an apotropaic device. In speaking of metaphor:"nowhere do these two - metaphorand image - collide so - like precious fragmentsor torsos in a collector's galleryin the
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Abbas Ackbar
forobjects as a compensation for temptto preservea factitious identity
to theirlack of originality, to Baudelaire'simages,Benjaminrefers He also refers to their absent-minded their obsessionwithstereotypes. wereengagedin a kindoffantasque as ifthey a fencing escrime, quality, with the shock experiencesof the 19th century (CB 69-70). Or he ofmisunderstanduse ofjokes, ofinvectives, speaksoftheSurrealists' "all cases action forth its of an own where puts image" (R 191). In ing, in these the image for can that and other cases see we now fact, riddled is "an with error" much (CP 103),a hetobject Benjamin very of old and new, of observations and fantasies, erogeneousmixture thatdo notcohere.Proust was to discover that ofelements comprised him" (R 6). As one turns aside horror with an "no imagesatisfies only of so one will have to combat error with error. horror, image An imagethendoes notmakethings are." It is really appear"as they constructed and desire, that exactly inevitably byideology appearance, needsto be questioned. "The history which 'as they showedthings real"was the strongest of the 19th narcotic lywere,"'Benjaminobserves, calls of What the lack (KN 9). century" Benjamin image's appearance or refusal to shoreup appearance, itsinability becomes (Scheinlosigkeit), initiates itsmostradical It a of with theunhide-and-seek quality. game a game of appearanceand disappearance. The imageno derstanding, to givea full, and unbiasedrepresentation satisfactory longerpretends it presents a trace,a displacement It of experience. of events.Rather of itself to to the uncongain entry representation bypassessociety's writes "meansleaving traces" sciousofculture. (CB "Living," Benjamin ofan experience on thewayto beingobliter169) buttraces already about whichone ated, tracesof eminentdisappearance. "Anything knowsthatone soon willnot have it aroundbecomesan image" (CB like some angel of interpretation withthe 87). The image,therefore, of disappearance traces foldedin itswings, enablesus to follow an exfor various which reasonscannotcome to light. perience in hisArcades to reconstruct "theprehistoBenjamin Project attempted of modernity. He follows ryof themodern,"thatis, the unconscious the tracesof disappearance to details.In by attending inconspicuous shock of the 19th when the overwhelms and smothcentury, modernity in ers the individual, to reduce life the to threatening private big city of An the traces life take on a certain mute inconsequentiality, pathos. fondness for covexampleofsuchis the 19th-century bourgeois putting ersand casesoverobjects. is pathetic, Atone level, sucha practice an at-
Images Benjamin's
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muchlikethepractice theloss ofhumanidentity, ofcustomizing autois an unconsuch a practice mobilestoday.Atanother level,however, The encased objectshave blurred scious formof resistance. outlines, this makes it and hence to difficult to likeillegible place handwriting; in most finds a of trace Utopiandesire even the control them.Benjamin ofpathosand resistance in other banal ofcases. One sees thismixture of around fashionable 1840 like the taking practice briefly examples, veiled fora walkin the arcades.This slow pace is thefldneur's turtles of labor which makes the frenetic "division people into protest against notion of protest Even the whom the (CB 54). very dandy, specialists" and hence alien,showstracesof resistance. as inelegant would strike as follows: the reconstructs dandy'sdisplacedsocialmeaning Benjamin
most . .. felt the mostvaried,mostfrequent, The tradenetwork
buthe tremors. A merchant had to react to these, unforeseeable of hisreactions. took not Thedandies could charge display publicly theingenious theconflicts thuscreated. training Theydeveloped an conflicts. combined toovercome these that wasnecessary They and a even slack demeanor reaction with relaxed, extremely quick facial (CB96). expression
all thecollector: thebourgeois loveofcasings, The dandy, thefldneur, destined seem like so social theseambiguous aberrations, many figures ofhistory. forthetrashcan However, Benjamin managesto reconstruct ofthis theseparapraxes. "The experiences a wholeparallel praxisfrom of in "leave their traces a thousand . he writes, configurations society .." to fashions" from life, (CB 159). buildings ephemeral permanent ofdisappearance The moststriking exampleoftheimageas thetrace "A Une on Baudelaire's sonnet in Benjamin's can be found commentary treat thatsonnetand commentary It is hardly a coincidence Passante." in of comes offascination. discussion the thesubject poem Benjamin's was content ofthedetective whose social ofa discussion thecontext story crowd"(CB 43). in thebigcity oftheindividual's traces "theobliteration ofobliteraus of this the erotic trace "A Une Passante" experience gives for thepoet'sfascination twoquatrains tion.Itsfirst beginbypresenting seen forthe as in mourning, an unknown woman,dresseduninvitingly theerotic crowd."Farfrom first and lasttimein an anonymous eluding
him is broughtto him by in the crowd, the apparitionwhich fascinates thisverycrowd.The delightof the urban poet is not so much love at first sight as love at last sight" (CB 45). While the quatrains present what
56
Ackbar Abbas
flame."The oxymoron that thepassionwillhaveno outcome: suggests it is an impotent or what Sartre would call a uselesspassion. passion, of Benjaminnevertheless poses thequestion:whatis thesocialcontent thisimpotent passion? He impliesthatif eroticpassion is now renderedimpotent, thenthisis becausethebourgeois ofsocial experience and political has invaded and even erotic impotence permeated experience.In Central thisparalysis in affective life Park, Benjaminattributes ofsocialfantasy," to "the paralysis whichcomesaboutwhen"thefanof withthe future tasyof the bourgeoisclass ceased to concernitself In "A the productive forcesunleashedby themselves" Une (CP 37). Passante"the coincidenceof passion and paralysis createsof impoof submission tencebotha gesture and a tokenof resistance to social of the age and its "fugitive conditions beaut6." thatfascination is Benjamin'sgloss on Baudelairealreadysuggests not mereabsorption in theimage;it also involves a dialectical seeing relation theimageand history. between We can nowlook moreclosely at whatBenjaminhad to sayaboutfascination and history conbyfirst some of Benjamin'simagesof history. sidering One familiar "To be a Benjaminian image is the wind of history: in one's sails.The sailsare dialectician meansto havethewindofhistory It isn'tenough, theconcepts. to havesailsatone's disposal. The though, them is thedecisive charartofsetting a more factor" (KN21). However, oftheMedusa whose and paradoxical is that acteristic imageof history intoa frozen "The glanceofhisphilosophy lookturns landscape. history is Medusan,"Adornosaid of Benjamin.15 illuminates Adorno'sremark
Medusa
cides exactly with the moment when passion "burst out . . . like a
be no morethana piquantsituation, thetwotercets that follow might show the situation. that the of decisively transfigure They figure fascithemoment whenpassion nationis ultimately an oxymoronic figure: seems frustrated (the woman disappearsback into the crowd)coin-
in Benjamin. and history nicelythe relationbetween fascination
the male spectatorwithhorror.In fact,some of Freud's remarkshave a

15. Adorno, Prisms233.
the Medusa evokesfascination In the classicalmyths, and terror. in a to the short relates the castration note, Freud, image complex:the Medusa represents thefemale and theabsenceof a penisfills genitals,
Images Benjamin's
57
relevanceto Benjamin'stheoryof the image. For example, Freud ofhorror, function theMedusa image whereby speaksoftheapotropaic is notjust a representation of horror but also a deviceforwarding off evil.In a secondsetofobservations, Freudnotesthat theMedusa's hair is frequently Freudexplains the represented bysnakes(penissymbols). contradiction with castration that thevery multiapparent bysuggesting ofpenissymbols itself castration. he observes plication signifies Similarly, thatthe stiffening one feelsat the sight of the Medusa could be interas terror of no penis)and consolation both fear (the (the preted having of a stiff here thatit is penis).Interesting is the suggestion possession notat thelevelofappearancethat we can understand theMedusa im"that age. "Observe,"saysFreudabout the snakesand the stiffening, from we have hereonce againthesame origin thecastration complex ofaffect."'6 and thesame transformation itis notat thelevel Similarly, ofappearance readshistory. Theretoo something analothat Benjamin of to a affect" be considered. "transformation must gous Medusa as the image of history in Benjaminrelatesdirectly to the of Like be cannot viewed Medusa, problematic disappearance. history we recall,speaksof modem experience as one of directly. Benjamin, shock.And likeMedusa,history in thesenseof "things as they are" remainsinvisible and can onlybe represented other thanitbysomething In Freud,sucha ratio ofthesexualfetish, a self. givesriseto thetheory or substitute forthat forever female the surrogate missing object, phallus. In Benjamin, thisis themoment whenimages- monadic,apotro- come intotheir of appearances own. paic, destructive Even whenspeaking of history,, sees Baudelaire as exemBenjamin In a world that wanted to speakofprogress, Baudelaire plary. speaksof a world"sinking intotherigidity ofdeath.Baudelaire foundthis experimortis ence ofa worldentering setdownwith rigor incomparable power in Poe ... Comparethehead ofMedusa in Nietzsche" (CP 50). BaudeforBenjamin lairewas contestatory in other as well.Whilewith respects new processesof production, the century's are "appearances(Schein) in commodities," is theimageofBaudeunrest" "petrified crystallized "a lifethatknowsno development" laireanlife, un(CP 40). "Petrified rest"no longer remains it is not a of or contemplative; way avoiding esfrom but rather an of of history, caping interruption it,a punctuation
16. See SigmundFreud,"Medusa's Head," in Sexuality andthe ed. Psychology ofLove, (New York,1963) 212-3. PhilipRieff
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Ackbar Abbas
Itis as ifonly continuities. whentheMedusanglancehad mythic organic transfixed that could be seen in itsvarious momentarily history history of and contradictory Similar of to his description layers appearances. most he had ever with a Medu"the seen,a signet fascinating ring" ring in garnet, sa's Head carved tells us that theunevenly transluBenjamin centlayers ofthestone, whenheldup against thelight, maketheMedusa's head itself (R 33). appearin all itsfascination We can relateBenjamin's Medusanviewof history to his interest in in the and of The fascination that poetics quotation. photography phocan be profoundly itwas so forBauimagesexert tographic unnerving: Thisis largely becausephotographic delaire. theassoimages"paralyze in thebeholder"(OWS256). Even themostartfully mechanism ciative retouched cannotentirely eliminate "thetiny ofconphotograph spark the of Here and with which so to Now, has, tingency, reality speak, searedthesubject"(OWS243). The sparkof contingency the provides oftheimage:itprevents itfrom pointoffissure closing up, from hiding behindtheappearanceof historical or organic interrelatedcontinuity ness. The fissure of the image ruptures it myth: providesevidence it. When the against Atgetphotographed scenes of Paris,he photographedthem,Benjaminpointsout,like"scenesof crime"(I 228). has implications too,as used by someonelikeKarlKraus, Quotation similar to whatwe findin thephotograph. Kraus'use of quotation has little to do with thecitationist some voguepopularized by practitioners ofpost-modernist and apologists art.In one version ofa post-modernist becomesagaina self-conscious, intertextual mode. aesthetic, quotation it Krausian a form of mimetic criticism: comprises Bycontrast, quotation mimicswhat it criticizes. is performed and exposed Inauthenticity Like kind ofambigthe has a "behavioristically." quotation photograph, unuous modesty: itkeepsquietand letstheother but on the tacit speak, that is in evidence that said can be used derstanding everything against It is "a silence thespeaker. turned insideout" (R 243). Hence Benjamin can saythat"to write therefore meansto quote butadds history history" "theconcept theimportant caveat that ofquotation that implies anygivmust be out of its en historical context" 24). (KN object ripped theMedusa figure: all three thephotographic conQuotation, image, firm whatBenjamin was to arguein the "Theseson the Philosophy of flow of involves "not the historical that only thinking History," namely on theother buttheir arrest as well"(I 264).Whatiscatastrophic thoughts,
an ideology as progress, on seeing history hand is an ideologythatinsists
Images Benjamin's
59
thatconfront us witha kindof immovable imThe dialectical finality. marks T. a of cross-over. It to do S. Eliot's has little with age point search for "the still point of the turning world." Similarly, when that the is a dialectical "dream says image"(R 157),he image Benjamin in thatform,in its to contemporaries means thatit manifests itself formas it were.The historian mustnow takeon "the phantasmagoric taskof dreaminterpretation" (KN 10). nature of theimagerequires a kindof reading Seeingthedialectical a kind ofthe calls Medusan of that allegory, reading. Benjamin "Majesty of the destruction the and extinintention: living allegorical organic ofappearance" has implied, (CP 41). As ourdiscussion allegory guishing it involves the as also more radicalbut historical, involves, seeing image as to in its itself that is be is, ly,seeinghistory imagistic: history grasped "For index of the historic the that doesn't images. they images simply say And indeed,this'coming time. to legibility' marks a belongto a specific within is decritical them.Every specific pointofthemovement present termined it: now is the those which with are images every by synchronic moment ofa specific find a double Here we point: (KN 8). recognition" in terms an historical can be understood oftheimages that bemoment at become come legibleat that the same moment; time, images legible and "crisis"have the same root: moment."Criticism" onlyat a critical
the critical moment is a moment of danger,when historical meaning itselfis at risk,a moment when dream images are recognized behind their incognitos. Benjamin situates allegorywithinthis moment of danger.
ment or fissureeven in - especially in - the objects and monuments
thatautomatically celebrates thestatus quo.As Benjaminputsit:"That on' is the Hell is ... Strindberg's 'things just go thought: catastrophe not something thatlies ahead of us - but this here." Redemption, life in theongoingcatastrophe" adds, "looksto thesmallfissure Benjamin the transfixing fis(CP 50). Paradoxically, image makesthe historical sures appear, and it is at thismomentof fissure thatthe image becomes dialectical. The dialectical index" image is thatimage markedby an "historic in and standstill a constellareachesa (KN 8) appears"when thinking ... This imageis thecaesurain themovewithtensions tionsaturated mentof thought" (KN 24). It marksthepointwhen"the past and the moment into a constellation" flash present (KN, 8). Thus Benjamin can say,in a crucial that is at a standstill" formulation, "image dialectic This formulation the of a move(KN 8). emphasizes necessity tracing
60
Ackbar Abbas
is read,"he says,"I mean theimageatthemoment of "The imagethat bearsto thehighest dandegreethestampofthecritical, recognition, gerousimpulsethatlies at the sourceof all reading"(KN 8). For the same reason,Benjaminsaysthat"every imageofthepastwhichis not as of its to disthe one own concerns threatens recognized by present not need be an (I 257). Catastrophe appear irretrievably" explosive moment;it could be theimplosivesilenceof non-recognition. Melancholy When MauriceBlanchotsaysthat"to write is to arrange language worldyet,""he is alluding, a reflection on writing, to an affinthrough In thislight, between fascination and crisis. thefascination forfasciity of contemporary nationin some forms discoursesurfaces as a sympcrisislookingforwaysto come to terms tom of cultural withitself. discourse on Baudrillard's withsuch postmodernism struggles Jean Baudrillard has written on the self-reflexivity. challengingly implicaand the image. He argues thatin the tion fortoday of fascination of consumption," one consumesno longerob"society postmodern codes. In but this situation the distinction between "thereal" and jects is finally the"illusory" and is the collapsed replacedby "hyperreality In hyperreality, ofsimulation." theabolition ofdistance that Benjamin spokeof as thedecayof aura usheredin by mechanical reproduction reachesthe point of no return withthe adventof electronic media. Thereis now no distance would permit that a sceneto unfold.Instead of scene, spectacle, we findthe obscene, where prospect, perspective, is to us in in as a movie. everything brought close-up, pornographic Baudrillard's radical argument is thatin hyperreality the "critical that and producesdifference loses its thought" judges, discriminates it on is no because relies what available, cutting edge precisely longer thescenicdistance thathas been abolished.Insteadofcritical thought, turns Baudrillard tofascination, whichhe callsa challenge to reference, code. "For fascination itis rathdoes notstemfrom message, meaning, to thealienation er exactly ofmeaning ... None ofthe proportionate of meaningcan understand that.Meaningis morally outwatch-dogs 8 The symmetry ofthisargument with Adorno's ragedbyfascination."
17. Maurice Blanchot, The Gaze of Orpheus,trans. Lydia Davis (Barrytown,New York: Station Hill, 1981) 76-7. 18. Jean Baudrillard, "The Implosion of Meaning in the Media and the Implosion
under fascination.
when there is no more world, when there is no
Benjamin's Images
61
is uncanny.WhereasAdorno's critiquerejectsfascination, Baudrilsnubs critical lard's advocacyof fascination thought.It also snubs form ofecstasy ForBaudrillard, thecontemporary is notthe affectivity. offormer ofcommunitimesbut thecool ecstasy hot,sensualecstasy whichknowsneither alienationnor melancholy, whose emcation,19 blem mightbe the Cyberpunk hero's mirrorshades, a prosthetic devicethat turns thesystem's it,reflectlogicbackon itself byduplicating both and affect without them.20 meaning absorbing ing ofthedangers was prescient ofthemassmedia producing Benjamin in which"things a situation too He press closelyon human society." knewhowin advertisements restored to is and health" "sentimentality how in films movesor touchesanylongerare "people whomnothing to cryagain" (OWS 89). It led him to write: "Fools lamentthe taught of its is criticism. For decay day long past" (OWS 89). Nevertheless, unlikeBaudrillard, hisown criticism did notabandon thecritical projin new and non-contemplative to it but reconceive ect, attempted is an ways.Moreover,forall its intellectuality, Benjamin'scriticism ofaffectivity ofsentia criticism bothin itsrejection affective criticism, in of And if we remember and its use fascination. and mentality stupor of thefivesensesis remark that"the cultivation Marx's stillpertinent it becomes clear thata genuine the workof all previoushistory," likeBenjamin'scan onlybe historically affective criticism grounded. In reflecting on fascination and theimagein Benjamin, one is struck In Benjamin, and thenbyhismelancholy. first tact, byhisextraordinary ofmoralalertness. It has nothing is - as he saidofKraus- a form tact how to avoid to do withtactin theweakbourgeoissense of knowing kindofcourit itself as a the committing socialfaux pas,though expresses the "Chinese pitch,"whichallowsone "not the subject, tesytowards on his thecrown onlyto approachthekingas ifhe had been bornwith likean Adamin livery" Tact touch, head,butthelackey suggests (R 244). in Benjamin's ownimages which thetactile: we see this givethemostabtactsuggests an urgent, visceral struse tactics, Finally, quality. thought of it is for is as Kraus,the crowbar strategy: Benjamin'sweapon not,
ed. Kathleen Woodward(MadioftheSocial in theMasses",in The Myths ofInformation, son: Coda Press,Inc., 1980) 146. in TheAnti-Aesthetic, "The Ecstasy of Communication," 19. See Jean Baudrillard, ed. Hal Foster(PortTownsend,1983) 126-134. ed. Bruce Sterling TheCyberpunk 20. See Mirrorshades: Anthology, (London: Paladin,
1988).
62
Ackbar Abbas
of interpretation, whichis whatallowshim to hate,but the shimmer his careful of the of theworld. construct things reading In speaking ofBenjamin's one shouldnevertheless notforget a tact, more somberside,themelancholy thataccompaniedhisthought like a shadow.Astrology tellsus that thosewho likeBenjamin are bornunder thesignof Saturnsuffer frommelancholy. But melancholy is not an or affliction even a as well one, just astrological biological Benjamin knows.He himself out if that the of melanpointed allegorical image was thecorpse,in the 19thcentury itwas the cholyin the 17thcentury the of an souvenir, corpse (CP 54-5). experience What then is the melancholic?In Benjamin,the melancholicis someonedividedin loyalty between theorderliness ofknowledge and of a worldin disarray. the fascination Hence thereare two typesof Whilesome melancholics would betray theworldforthe melancholy. sakeofknowledge is ofa differ(OGTD 157),21 Benjamin's melancholy entorder:it stemsfrom to betray a refusal theworld.Here his closest is withKafka rather thanBaudelaireor Proust. His secondesaffinity on Kafka includes what to amounts a succinct of melansay typology There he shows that there are two different to choly. responses thepresentsituation wherethe "consistency of truth" has been lost: themselves to it,clinging to truth or Manyhad accommodated whatever to truth as with or a more less and, they happen regard
itstransmissibility. Kafka'sreal geniuswas heavyheart, forgoing thathe triedsomething new: he truth sacrificed forthe entirely sake of clinging to itstransmissibility, itshaggadicelement.Kafka'swritings are bytheir nature and parables.Butitis their misery theirbeautythattheyhad to become more thanparables(I 147).
likeKafka's, was his personalform ofheroism. It alBenjamin'smelancholy, It alerted himto thefascination lowedhimtowrite. oftheimage, wherehistact in themostproductive and his melancholy came together ultimately way.
21. One may cite two examples.One is the nlclacholyv of Flaubert wlenlconlfronted remark: "Few willbe able to guesshow byhistory. BenjaminquotesFlaubert's sad one had to be in orderto resuscitate Carthage"(I 258). The otheris themelanchoas thedeepestlinguistic reasonforall ly of linguistic "overprecision": "over-naming ... and of all deliberate muteness"(R 330). melancholy

On Fascination - Walter Benjamin's Images

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On Fascination - Walter Benjamin's Images

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On Fascination: Walter Benjamin's Images Author(s): Ackbar Abbas Source: New German Critique, No. 48 (Autumn, 1989), pp.

On Fascination: Walter Images Benjamin's

view of the world. Fascination of the opposing point of view: refus-

of the enigmatic. al to be deprivedof the stimulus

NewGerman 24 (Winter trans. CP "Central Park", 1985):32-58. LloydSpencer, Critique,

The image sphere - inflated, commodified,betrayed- is neverthe-

concerned literallywith experience, not with

throughdeep water ...

Places thatwere incomprehensibleyesterday,

Fascism was the absolute sensation ...

forobjects as a compensation for temptto preservea factitious identity

in Benjamin. and history nicelythe relationbetween fascination

the male spectatorwithhorror.In fact,some of Freud's remarkshave a

ment or fissureeven in - especially in - the objects and monuments

when there is no more world, when there is no

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