Copyright © Graeme Gilloch 2002 The right of Graeme Gilloch to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2002 by Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd Editorial office: Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1 UR, UK Marketing and production: Blackwell Publishers Ltd 108 Cowley Road Oxford OX4 1JF, UK Published in the USA by Blackwell Publishers Inc. 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gilloch, Graeme. Walter Benjamin-critical constellations I Graeme Gilloch. p. em. - (Key contemporary thinkers) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7456-1007-2 (HB)---ISBN 0-7456-1008-0 1. Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940-Philosophy. I. Title. II. Key contemporary thinkers (Cambridge, England) PT2603.E455 Z6743 2001 838'.91209-dc21 2001002110 Typeset in 10t on 12 pt Palatino by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall This book is printed on acid-free paper. Key Contemporary Thinkers Published Jeremy Ahearne, Michel de Certeau: Interpretation and its Other Peter Burke, The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School 1929-1989 M. J. Cain, Fodor: Language, Mind and Philosophy Michael Caesar, Umberto Eco: Philosophy, Semiotics and the Wo rk of Fiction Colin Davis, Levinas: An Introduction Simon Evnine, Donald Davidson Edward Fullbrook and Kate Fullbrook, Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Introduction Andrew Gamble, Hayek: The Iron Cage of Liberty Graeme Gilloch, Wa lter Benjamin: Critical Constellations Karen Green, Dummett: Philosophy of Language Espen Hammer, Stanley Cavell: Skepticism, Subjectivity, and the Ordinary Phillip Hansen, Hannah Arendt: Politics, History and Citizenship Sean Homer, Fredric Jameson: Marxism, Hermeneutics, Postmodernism Christopher Hookway, Quine: Language, Experience and Reality Christina Howells, Derrida: Deconstruction from Phenomenology to Ethics Fred Inglis, Clifford Geertz: Culture, Custom and Ethics Simon Jarvis, Adorno: A Critical Introduction Douglas Kellner, Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Post-Modernism and Beyond Valerie Kennedy, Edward Said: A Critical Introduction Chandran Kukathas and Philip Pettit, Rawls: A Theory of Justice and its Critics James McGilvray, Chomsky: Language, Mind, and Politics Lois McNay, Foucault: A Critical Introduction Philip Manning, Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology Michael Moriarty, Roland Barthes Harold W. Noonan, Frege: A Critical Introduction William Outhwaite, Habermas: A Critical Introduction� John Preston, Feyerabend: Philosophy, Science and Society Susan Sellers, Helene Cixous: Authorship, Autobiogrqphy and Love David Silverman, Harvey Sacks: Social Science anrf�conversation Analysis Dennis Smith, Zygmunt Bauman: Prophet of Postmodernity Nicholas H. Smith, Charles Ta ylor: Meaning, Morals and Modernity Geoffrey Stokes, Popper: Philosophy, Politics and Scientific Method Georgia Warnke, Gadamer: Hermeneutics, Tradition and Reason James Williams, Lyotard: To wards a Postmodern Philosophy Jonathan Wolff, Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State Forthcoming Maria Baghramian, Hilary Putnam Sara Beardsworth, Kristeva James Carey, Innis and McLuhan Rosemary Cowan, Cornell West: The Politics of Redemption George Crowder, Isaiah Berlin: Liberty, Pluralism and Liberalism Thomas D'Andrea, Alasdair Macintyre Eric Dunning, Norbert Elias Jocelyn Dunphy, Paul Ricoeur Matthew Elton, Daniel Dennett Nigel Gibson, Frantz Fanon Keith Hart, C.L.R. James Sarah Kay, Ziiek: A Critical Introduction Paul Kelly, Ronald Dworkin Carl Levy, Antonio Gramsci Moya Lloyd, Judith Butler Derrnot Moran, Edmund Husserl Kari Palonen, Quentin Skinner Steve Redhead, Paul Virilio: Theorist fo r an Accelerated Culture Chris Rojek, Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies Wes Sharrock and Rupert Read, Kuhn Nicholas Walker, Heidegger Contents Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations x Introduction: Benjamin as a Key Contemporary Thinker 1 1 Immanent Criticism and Exemplary Critique 27 2 Allegory and Melancholy 57 3 From Cityscape to Dreamworld 88 4 Paris and the Arcades 113 5 Culture and Critique in Crisis 140 6 Benjamin On-Air, Benjamin on Aura 163 7 Love at Last Sight 198 Conclusion: Towards a Contemporary Constellation 234 Notes 249 Bibliography 289 Index 298 Acknowledgements I am grateful to many people for their help, guidance and support during the writing of this book. I would especially like to thank John Thompson, who suggested the project initially, and Tim Dant, David Frisby and Neil Leach for their support throughout. My work has benefited greatly from conversations with many people, to whom I would like to extend my thanks: Paul Aylward, Jon Fletcher, Hans-Joachim Hahn, Jaeho Kang, Esther Leslie, Brian Longhurst, Scott McCracken, Tim May, Ulrich Oevermann, Deborah Parsons, Thomas Reghely, Barry Sandiwell, Greg Smith, Gordon Tait, Paul Taylor, Charles Turner, and Cas Wouters. I would also like to thank Troels Degn Johanssen, Claus Krogholm Kris­ tiansen, Erik Steinsk0g and the Aesthetic Theory seminar of the Nordic Summer University for their ideas and encouragement. The section on photography in chapter 6 draws upon a paper jointly written with Tim Dant and presented at the International Walter Benjamin Association conference in Amsterdam in July 1997. I am grateful to Tim for permission to develop these ideas here. Parts of the present Introduction and Conclusion appear in an earlier version in Profiles in Contemporary Social Theory, edited by Bryan Turner and Anthony Elliott (Sage Publications, London, 2001). I am very grateful to the Leverhulme Trust, whose generous funding supported the initial work on this book. I would also like to thank the sociology secretarial staff at the University of Salford (Linda Jones and Beryl Pluples) and the staff at Polity for their practical help and support. Special thanks are due Acknowledgements ix to Jean van Altena for her superb editorial work and to Gill Motley for her patience and help throughout. Most of all, I wish to thank Bernadette Boyle for all her patience, understanding and encouragement, and Thomas and Roisin, who provided the most delightful distractions possible and to whom this book is dedicated. The author and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to use copyrighted material: Harvard University Press and Suhrkamp Verlag for permission to quote from Wa lter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume I 1913-1 926, edited by Marcus Bullock and Michael W. Jennings, copyright 1996 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College; and Volume II 1927-1934, translated by Rodney Livingstone, edited by Michael W. Jennings, Howard Eiland and Gary Smith, copyright 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College; and The Arcades Project translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin, copyright 1999 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Harvard University Press and Suhrkamp Verlag for permission to quote from Gesammelte Schriften, edited by Rolf Tiedemann and Hermann Schweppenhauser, Frankfurt am Main, 1974/1991. HarperCollins Publishers for permission to quote from Illumina­ tions by Walter Benjamin. The University of Chicago Press for permission to quote from The Correspondence of Wa lter Benjamin, edited Gershom Scholem and Theodor W. Adorno, translated by Manfred Jacobson and Evelyn Jacobson, Chicago and London, 1994. Verso for permission to quote from One Way Streets and Other Wr itings translated by Edmund Jephcott and Kingsley Shorter, London 1985; The Origin of German Drama translated by John Osbourne, London 1985; Understanding Brecht translated by Anna Bostock, London 1983; and Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poel in the Era of High Capitalism, translated by Harry Zohn, London 1983. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Abbreviations Where possible, existing English translations have been used. Otherwise, translations are my own. References to the I Arcades Project' are given by Convolute number and page. GS Gesammelte Schriften, vols I-VII, eds. Rolf Tiedemann and Hermann Schweppenhauser, with the collabora­ tion of Theodor Adorno and Gershom Scholem. Frank­ furt am Main: Suhrkamp Ve rlag, 197 4. Taschenbuch Ausgabe, 1991. SW1 I SW2 Selected Writings, vols 1 and 2, ed. Marcus Bullock, Michael Jennings et al. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, 1999. ABC Theodor W. Adorno - Wa lter Benjamin: The Complete Correspondence 1928-1940. Cambridge: Polity, 1999. AP Aesthetics and Politics: Debates between Bloch, Lukacs, Brecht,