Illuminations of the Everyday:

Philosophical and Cultural Expressions of Redemption in Weimar Germany

Madeleine Claire Hall

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Illuminations of the Everyday:

Philosophical and Cultural Expressions of Redemption in Weimar Germany

Copyright © 2010 Madeleine Claire Hall All rights reserved.

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ISBN-10: 1-59942-391-X ISBN-13: 978-1-59942-391-3

Contents

TheIlluminationoftheEveryday:PhilosophicalandCulturalExpressionsofRedemptioninWeimarGermany.

MadeleineClaireHall

ABSTRACT

Benjamin’sworkhasbeenclassifiedeitheraccordingtotheprinciplesofhistoricalmaterialism,or

accordingtotheprinciplesofmetaphysics.Thisfragmentationofhisideas,however,obscurestherealimpetus

ofhisoeuvre,particularlyintheinterpretationofhiscentralnotionofredemption.Ifinsteadoneconsiders

Benjaminasacriticoftheeverydayinsearchofamechanismforchange,influencedbythehistoricalcondition

andhisintellectualcontemporaries,thenweareablebettertounderstandhisnarrative.TheWeimarRepublic

wasaperioddominatedbythedialecticbetweenhopeanddespair.TheintellectualsphereofCriticalTheory

attemptedtounderstandtheirconditionofalienationandestablishasolution.Redemptioniskeyto

Benjamin’sapproach.Redemptioncarriesthestigmaoftheologyandhasthereforebeendismissedbecause,

unlikerevolution,ithasnohistoricalprecedentandappearstohavelimitedvalue.Incommonwiththeother

CriticalTheorists,forBenjamintheconditionsofalienationaswellasthestructureofitssolutionwereinthe

everyday.Throughtheconceptsofthedialecticalimageandnow‐time,Benjaminreaddressesthequestionof

revolution,whichhefindstobelimitedbyitsmaintenanceoflinearhistorictime.Benjamin’sredemptionisan

amalgamofthehistoricandthemetaphysicalandrepresentsapowerfulsocialcritique,propelledby

revolutionaryrhetoric.

KEYWORDSREDEMPTION,REVOLUTION,ALIENATION,MEMORY,MYTH,METAPHYSICS,HISTORICALMATERIALSM,HOPE,DESPAIR,EXPERIENCE,KNOWLEDGE

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Contents

1. TheIlluminationofMemory 3

2. FromProgresstoReification 18

3. MimesisandMelancholy 24

4. TheSwingBetweenHopeandDespair 41

5. PetiteMadeleine 67

6. Redemption,theLastHope? 73

Bibliography 77

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TheIlluminationofMemory

In this paper I present the importance of the concept of redemption, as opposed to the

notion of revolution, as it is observable in the philosophy of the Critical Theorist Walter

Benjamin.Benjamin’sconceptionofredemptionwasauniqueperspectiveonthenecessityfor

‘change’ in the conditions of modernity. His concept of redemption developed from his

metaphysical, although troubled, relationship with Judaism alongside the more materialist

structureofhissocialandpoliticalconvictions,basedonbothMarxistcritiqueandananalysisof

the intellectual field of his predecessors.1 According to Benjamin the redemptive moment

representsthepromiseofhumanity’sescapefromcatastrophe,bothcomingandpast.Similar

to the moment of revolution, redemption is characterised by the comprehension of the

necessityoftransformation.

Redemption and revolution are both ideas defined by human potential and individual

freedom,bothinthesocio‐politicalsense,aswellasthefundamentalsenseoffreedomfroman

alienatedmind.Thesecharacteristicfulfilmentscanbesimplifiedastheconceptofknowledge,

in that the ambition of change is always underpinned by the philosophical question of

knowledge, or in the case of Critical Theory, the sense of a void of knowledge. As such,

Benjamin’s redemption is a philosophical classification of the process of change, with the

ambitionofrestoringhumanity’scapacitytoarticulaterealexperienceasknowledgeandthus

communicate truth, overcoming themelancholia of themodern.More specifically, Benjamin

observed redemption as the only possibility for rescuing the individual from his present

1ThereisagreatdealofacademicworkcentredonthequestionofBenjamin’sphilosophicalalignment;whetherheismoreametaphysicianormaterialist.Thisparticularessaydoesnothavetheambitionofinformingonthisquestion,howeveritmustbenotedthatBenjamin’sworkdoesappeartoswaybetweenamaterialistandametaphysicalemphasis.AsopposedtoLukács,forexample,whoseworkbeginswithamoretheological/metaphysicalgradientandendsunmistakablyalignedtoaHegelian‐Marxistmaterialism.

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alienated,indifferent,apatheticspiritinducedbythetragedyofTotalWarandthepressuresof

themodernmetropolis.2

Reflecting on Benjamin’s critique on society and the individual concurrently, it becomes

clearthattheconstructionoftheconceptofredemptiondevelopsduringGermany’stransitory

Weimar Republic (1919‐1933).3 The importance ofWeimarGermany in the understanding of

Benjamin’sredemptionistwofold.Firstly,thepossibilityforchangeappearsheightenedatthis

momentinhistorybecauseofthereleaseoftraditionalboundariesandtheemergenceofthe

dialecticbetweendestructionandhope,whichemergedfollowingthedevastationofTotalWar.

Secondly, Weimar Germany was bursting with cultural expression, a quality to which the

associativemodernistsensibilitycanbeextractedandreflectedupon.Thus,thisessaywilltake

Benjamin’s category of redemption and illuminate its critical importance in the possibility of

change, throughwhich Iwill reflect on the concept of redemption itself, and the underlying

importanceofcultureintheevolvingdisciplineofphilosophy.

BecauseBenjamin’sphilosophyisvalidatedandsustainedbytheculturalmanifestationsof

redemptive potential in Weimar Germany, I will also reflect upon examples of latent

redemptive instants, particularly in the works of Franz Kafka and in Surrealist art generally.

Kafka and the Surrealist groupwere two cultural expressions Benjamin explored in order to

informhis radicalsocialcritiqueand itscontradictory impulsesofhope.Asaresult,Benjamin

projectshisredemptivemomentontoculturebecausehebelievedpreviousmanifestationsof

knowledgeweredevaluedbytheiralienation;humanity’sexperienceprovedtransformedinthe

wakeofcapitalistmodernity.

2Toclarifytheuseof‘his’isnotanintentiontorelateaspecificgendertothisessay,itissimplyforfluidityofprose.3Although,itmustbeaddedherethatthephenomenondiscussedextendsbeyondthislimitedperiod,theframeworkoftheWeimarRepublichasbeenaddedforclaritysake.

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CriticalTheoristsdefinedandscrutinizedknowledge, thequestionofhowhumansdiscern

truth, as the essential deviation from the classical philosophy of the Enlightenment. In

Benjamin’s view, experience is the dialectic of knowledge; in other words through our

interactionswithhistoryweareabletodiscerntruth.However,history,forBenjamin,nolonger

heldapromiseofchangebecausetruthwasdecimatedbytheviolenceofprogress.Inadhering

to the idea of eternal progress humanity bypassed vital experiences, discarding them as

obsolete, thereby structuring knowledge around the necessity of development over genuine

experience. As a result of the violence of progress, Benjamin believed in a poverty of

experience, defined by the terms Erlebnis and Erfahrung.4 Erlebnis is immediate, shock

experience;thefracturedexperiencepossibleinthemoderncondition.5Erfahrungontheother

hand,isareflexivestateofconsciousness.InorderforErfahrungtobegrasped,itisimperative

thatthecollapseofhistoryberedressedandgenuineknowledgeberecognised.Thealienated

individual was to be ‘released’ from his estranged state by the constellation6 of forgotten

moments, of fragments of truth that lay buried in the discarded objects of the everyday.

Erfahrung is the state of consciousness Benjamin believed to be the source of redemption;

buriedintheobjectsoftheeverydaydisguisedbyroutineandtheacceptanceofErlebnis.

WithafocusupontheobjectsoftheeverydayBenjamin’sphilosophyfollowedapaththat

hadnoprecedent.Ratherthanconcentratinguponautopiaestimatedfromthepastexperience

historicismadheredtoo,Benjaminconsideredthemomentofchange,of redemption, tobea

productofthediscardedandforgottenmoments,therebypushingawayfromprogress‘against

4ScottMcCracken,TheCompletionofOldWork,WalterBenjaminandtheEveryday,CulturalCritique52(2002)5ShockandfracturehererefertoalienatedbeingratherthantoBenjamin’sassociationofthesetechniqueswithredemption.6ConstellationisthetermBenjaminadopted,coinedinhisessayontheGermanTragicDrama,todefinetruthasa‘collection’ofideas‐analogoustoRosenzweig’sgreatfigureinTheStarofRedemption.

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the grain of history’7. In otherwords, redemption is the result of a fresh interpretation and

reorderingofhistoricalmomentsintoaconstellationofnewinsight.Buildingupontheframeof

the disillusionment of history and the devaluation of experience, Benjamin’s fundamental

ambitionwastoorchestratethepresentinordertoilluminatemomentsofforgottenhopeand

redeemhistoryfromitscollapse.

Benjamin’s concept of redemption was contrary to his contemporaries, even among his

Jewish brothers. For example, Lukács’ later works can be considered Benjamin’s antithesis,

takingthepathofaHegelian‐MarxistcritiqueofGermany’ssocialreality8.BetweenBenjamin’s

redemptionandLukács’ revolution,amultitudeofsocialcritiquesarediscernable,all focused

upononthenecessityforchange.However,itremainsevidentthattheBenjaminianconceptof

redemptionisapivotalphilosophicalexpressionofchangedevelopedbytheseemergingJewish

philosophersintheWeimarRepublic.EssentialtoBenjamin’sredemptionisitsassociationwith

memory;memory is the quintessence of the redemptivemoment because of its association

withthehumanpotential,whichlaydormantinthealienatedindividual.Thustheimportance

of redemption,as theprimarypath tochange,and itspositionwithinmemoryand therefore

theindividual,isthusmyfocalargumentindiscerningthepotentialofredemption.

***********

The unparalleled destruction and slaughter of WWI revealed, unequivocally, the gulf

between the technical achievements of capitalism and its manifest failure to end human

suffering and exploitation. Therefore rather than locating utopia from a past ‘golden age,’

Benjaminsoughtredemptioninthehereandnowthroughthetransfigurationofeverydaylife.

Inordertounderstandthenotionofredemptiononemustconsider itsthreeparts;theinitial

7WalterBenjamin,ThesesonthePhilosophyofHistory,inIlliminations,Ed.AndwithanIntroductionbyHannahArendt,Trans.HarryZorn,Pimlico,(1999)8Afterthefailureof1918‐19revolutioninHungaryandGermanyLukácsessayarenolongerpermeatedbythemetaphysical,althoughheremainsutopianhisfixationturnstotheroleoftheproletariat.

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alienation,itsmetaphysicalversusmaterialiststatus,andfinallyitspresenceinthephilosophy

oftheeveryday,mostsignificantlyinthesenseofawakening.Redemptionreflectsbothaquasi‐

metaphysicalandatangiblesocialandpoliticalmoment,aboveandbeyondthe limitationsof

revolution.

Twoprimarynotions,althoughtoucheduponabove,needtobeclarified;why is therean

emphasisonculture?Andwhy is thetheoryof redemptionmore fitting thanrevolution? It is

also important to note the hope that remained in the Enlightenment concept of progress,

particularlyintheearlyboomyearsoftheRepublic.Therewasaninherentcontradictioninthe

conditions of themodern; this divisionwas essentially drawn between a sense of hope and

despair, two ideas theRepublicexemplified.CriticalTheoristsengagedwith theseconditions,

both relating their philosophy to the underlying hope; the inherent belief in humanity and

attemptingtoaddressthealienationtheyobservedinthepresent.Themeasureofalienationin

the modern age was a point of consistency among Critical Theorists, the divergence in

intellectualthoughtfollowedintheformof,whatcouldbedonetosalvagehumanity.

Theculturalrealmepitomisedtheinherentsocialconditionsofalienationinthecity,but

also,thearenaofpossibility.CulturebecomesthefocalpointinCriticalTheorists’evaluationof

themodernconditionandtheprocessofitsliberationforthefundamentalreasonthatculture

appearsas,particularlyforBenjamin,thearenainwhichmomentsoftherealareembedded.

“Thepositionthatanepochoccupiesinthehistoricalprocesscanbedeterminedmorestrikingly

fromananalysisofitsinconspicuoussurface‐levelexpressionsthanfromthatepoch’s

judgementaboutitself”9,thearticulationofexistenceforCriticalTheorywas,thus,within

modesofbeing.Theconcentrationofthesearchforessenceinculturerelatedfundamentallyto

theconsidereddevaluationofexperience:knowledgeandwisdom,andexpression:thecapacity9SiegfriedKracauer,TheMassOrnament,WeimarEssays,Trans.Ed.AndwithanintrobyThomasY.Levin,HarvardUniversityPress(1995)pp75

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topassonexperience.Inthecollapseofexperienceandthedevaluationofhistory,expression

hadinturnbeenfundamentallyaltered.Thus,humanitywasconsideredunabletoexpressits

beingbecauseithadbeenforcedintoambivalenceandthecapacityforknowledgeimplodedby

theadherencetoprogress.Expression,inturn,hadbecomeintonedinhabitandtheonlyrealm

inwhichtracesofgenuineexperienceexistedwasculture.Thematerialcultureofthecity

providedthesharedcollectivespaceswheretheconscious,theunconscious,pastandpresent

met;hereglimmersoftheuniqueexist,amongsttheeternalself‐sameofcapitalism.Critical

Theoryobservedboththepatternsofculturalexistenceinthefetishisedandfamiliarized

commodityandintheartisticsphereofrebellion,theavant‐garde.ForBenjamin,aswellashis

contemporariesErnstBlochandSiegfriedKracauer,flashesoftherealwerehiddeninthe

recessesofmassculture.

Culture,asarealmofcriticalinterest,istypicallybothcomplicatedandcontradictory;butit

is only within these contradictions that Benjamin’s Theory of redemption is possible. For

Benjamin, his relationship with culture is wrapped up in an analysis of its conditions; the

functioningofmass‐societyandthecommodityalongsideformsofrebellionandcontentionin

theculturalsphere,specificallytheSurrealistsandmontage.InSurrealismtheartistictechnique

ofmontagewasusedtorevealgenuineknowledge,discoverableintheobjectsoftheeveryday;

hiddenamidstthecurvesofthefamiliarandthediscarded,tobereleasedbyitsabstraction,in

amomentofshock.Benjaminusesthesameprocess,revealingthehiddeneternalmeaningof

theeveryday.Hepresentsthecityasa livingbeing,swaying in itsalienatedstatebetweenits

habit and itspossibility. The cultural realmshows this characteristicmodern individual in the

conditionofreification.Inthecommodity,articlesdressedinthefamiliarandthediscarded,sit

theisolationofthemodern.ForBenjamin,however,thesediscardedandforgottenitemshold

theunfulfilled‘wish‐images’ofpastgenerationsandbyabstractingthesefragmentsfromtheir

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stateofhabittheeverydaycanreleaseitshiddenpotential.Theculturalsphereismirroredin

thehistorical,becausethesewish‐imagesare inessencemomentsofthepastthathavebeen

disregarded and ignored, but whose potential to adjust the linear temporality of history

remains, regardless of its embedding in custom and the insignificant. Benjamin’smessianism

andmaterialismarejoinedundertheconditionofculture;thereifiedcommodityrepresentshis

historical materialism, but the hidden potential of memory is in his more ambiguous

metaphysics.

Themetaphysical arenaof culture is alsoaddressedby its significant associationwith the

sociology of knowledge, particularly in the growing philosophical reference to the individual.

The crisis of knowledge, wrapped up in the crisis of ideology became dependent upon the

individualbecausethenotionofprogresshadbecomealienatedbytheunfoldingdevastationof

WWI; the scaffolding of continuous advance had collapsed as tradition decayed under the

weightofbarbarism.Littlewasfelttobeoflegitimatevalueinaworldwheremechaniseddeath

andmassdestructionwerejustifiedbytheemptiestofabstractions.Benjaminspeculatedthat

thesenseofexperienceaswisdomhad“fallen invalue,amidagenerationwhich from1914‐

1918 had to experience some of the most monstrous events in the history of the world.”10

Experiencehadseeminglybeenreducedtoaseriesofatomisedunarticulatedmomentsmerely

lived through, therefore, knowledge became understood as the self‐reflection of humanity,

rather than the transfer of wisdom.With the destruction of previously axiomatic notions of

knowledge, truth and experience left a philosophical void to be filled by the ever‐expanding

considerations of the importance of the individual. This changing perspective is a founding

moveinphilosophy,emblematicof1920sGermany.

10WalterBenjamin,ExperienceandPoverty,inWalterBenjamin,SelectedWritings,VolumeII1927‐1934,(Ed)MichaelW.Jennings;volumeEdsMichaelW.Jennings,HowardEilandandGarySmith,TheBelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPressCambridge(1999)pp731

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Theindividual,theeverydayandculturewerepartoftheCriticalTheoristsrejectionof

the abstract, metaphysical emphasis of Enlightenment philosophers, against the totalizing

rationalism of Hegel’s grand historical dialectic and the narrow conception of reason, which

explicitly excluded intuition or imagination. The positive realism of Hegelian orMarxist logic

confinedtheboundariesofhumanexperienceandknowledge,soCriticalTheoristsattempted

toexpand,orinthenihilisticsensedestroythesebarriers.Againstaslavishadherencetologic

andscientificmethodologyCriticalTheoristsdevotedtheirenergiestoaprojectofderealisation

of the habitual, by means of shock, artistic montage and de‐familiarisation, or caesura,

fragmentation and awakening. Their aim was to liberate the stagnated present and, in

Benjamin’s case evoke the path of redemption. Thesemodes of emancipationwere familiar

within the artistic sphere andwere orchestrated by philosophy as the fundamental tools for

combatingalienation.

Theindividualwasalienatedinmodernitybecausehisexperiencewasnolongeratangible

expressible truth. Experience had become reified and therefore, for knowledge to become

expressibleonceagain,ameasureofshockhadtobeintroducedsoastodenaturethehabitual.

To put this definitively, the reality faced in the metropolis was one of alienation and the

individual had become apathetic because of the suppressive reality of the city. Benjamin

attributesthisstatetophantasmagoria,11theoverstimulationofconsciousnessbytheobjects

ofcommoditycultureandtherepressivenatureofthemechanisedstreamoflife.Thiscondition

ofalienationwasexacerbatedandperpetuatedbytheinabilityofexperiencetobetranslated

intoknowledge.Thus,CriticalTheorists facedthetaskofshakingthe individualandhumanity

awake,sothathumanitycouldonceagainfunctionwithsomesubstanceandreality.

11PhantasmagoriaisatermBenjaminusedintheArcadesProjecttodescribetheaffectofthecommodityandthevaleofthecity,echoingandexpandingMarx’sstatementonthephantasmagoricalpowersofthecommodityinCapital.BenjamincitesMarxinConvoluteGoftheArcadesProject.Thephantasmagoriaepitomisesthesubjugationoftheindividualbytheillusionsandmystiqueofthemetropolis.

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Theexternal pressuresof themodernworld, particularly themetropolis,weighedheavily

upon the individual, heightening a sense of alienation. Because the city was a complex of

destabilised and rapidly evolving identities it produced a growing sense of anxiety combined

with fracturing social, political and cultural boundaries.However, aswith the cultural sphere

itself,thecitywasabalancebetweenitsalienatingpresenceanditsliberation;thecitywasalso

arealmdefinedbyasenseofthemalleablenatureofself‐understanding.Inthefracturedand

malleableself‐consciousnesscamea levelof freedomthat the individualhadpreviouslybeen

unaware of. Within this freedom, definitively represented in the avant‐garde movements,

Benjamin found hope. For despite the collapse of tradition and the loss of meaning in

experiencethereremainedthepossibilityforfreedom.Benjamin’sobservationoftheliberating

tendencyofthemodernconditioncanbeattributedtohisreadingofsocialphilosopherGeorg

Simmel. In Simmel’s view, the objectification of social relations was precisely the condition

needed for individual freedom. The modern individual was free because although he was

dependent upon the facelessmass, hewas not dependent on his relationshipswith specific

people. In other words, the individual was free to experience and was thus released from

traditional ties. The sole purpose of his existence became self‐knowledge. Nevertheless, this

essence of freedomwas fundamentally suppressed by the over‐stimulating condition of the

modern.Forthisreason,theconditionsofalienationneededtobeaddressed.

The individual’salienationwasaddressedbyCriticalTheorist’s fromthesphereofculture,

becauseinthelandscapeofthecity,culturalartefactsheldthekeytotheDialecticalimage;“an

image that emerges suddenly in a flash…in the now of its recognisability.”12 Benjamin is

referring here to the underlying potential of objects of everyday insignificance, which

encapsulatelongforgottenwisdom.Inessence,cultureofferedthesourceof livedexperience12WalterBenjamin,TheArcadesProject,Trans.ByHowardEilandandKevinMclaughin,PreparedonthebasisoftheGermanVolumeEd.ByRolfTidemann,BelknapPress(2002)[N9,7]pp473

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intheconstellationof fragmentedmomentsofthepresentrecallinggenuineknowledgefrom

the depth of myth. For Benjamin, the attention was upon discarded objects because the

diminutionofthepresentwassogreatitcouldnotberecovered;theredemptivemoment,its

potential,flashedup13unexpectedlyinthefragmentsofculture,lyingbetweenthecollapseof

aura and freedom of expression14. Culture enveloped the resounding potential of change

amidstthealienatedspaceofmodernity.

Benjamin considered humanity’s salvation from its conditions of despondence to be

possible through the expression of knowledge from culture. He observed redemption in the

fragments of illumination, in the unexpected flashes of truth from the depths of forgotten

momentshiddeninthehabitual.Inotherwords,byremovinganobjectoftheeverydayfromits

habitual position, the individual is infused with a moment of illumination and the objects,

previously dismissed, are re‐lived in the extraction of indifference. Similarly, the Surrealists

identifiedeveryday lifeundermodernityas thecentral locusofsocio‐cultural inquiry, fighting

againstthereductionofindividualexpression.Humanity’smomentofredemptionwasheld,in

Benjamin’sopinion,inthesefragmentsofhopesewnintotheeveryday.Benjamin’sredemption

results fromtheextractionofsuchmomentsformedintoaconstellation,therebyconfronting

theindividualwithanexperience,withknowledge,previouslydismissed.Therefore,manifesting

genuineexperiencethroughthesphereoftheeveryday,throughculture.

Benjamin’s notion of culture and history is bound to his speculation on history by

remembrance. In remembrance the past finds its primary actualisation in a renewed form.

Hopeinthepast,thehighlyredemptive,messianicimpulsethatisexpressedin‘Thesesonthe

13“Thetruepictureofthepastflitsby.Thepastcanbeseizedonlyasanimagewhichflashesupattheinstantwhenitcanberecognized”WalterBenjamin,ThesesonthePhilosophyofHistory,inIlluminations,Ed.AndWithanIntroductionbyHannahArendt,Trans.ByHarryZorn,Pimlico(1999)pp24714WalterBenjamin,TheWorkOfArtintheAgeofTechnologicalReproduction,inWalterBenjamin,SelectedWritings,VolumeIII,1935‐1938(Ed)MichaelW.Jennings;volumeEdsMichaelW.Jennings,MarcusBullockHowardEilandandGarySmith,TheBelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPressCambridge(1999)

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PhilosophyofHistory’:“likeeverygenerationthatprecededus,wehavebeenendowedwitha

weakMessianicpower,apowertowhichthepasthasaclaim,”15formalisesBenjamin’sseeking

to transcend the destroyed past by actualising its potential in the present. Put precisely,

memoryandremembranceheldthesourceofredemption,inBenjamin’sconsiderationbecause

the abstract moments of memory, particularly involuntary memory, a token Benjamin

discoveredinProust’sfragmentontheMadeleinecookie,areflashesoftruth. Inmemorythe

multi‐facetedconditionsof redemptioncanbeconnected, framingBenjamin’s criticalpath to

changeinthetangibleimageofremembrance.

It hasbeenobserved that the spherewithinwhichBenjamin considered thepotential for

redemptionwas cultural. It has also beenhighlighted that thehistorical spheremirrored the

process in the cultural realm, thereby connecting Benjamin’s two fundamental arenas of

redemption. The concept of redemption, however, is in need of further clarification. The

considerationofredemptionasaviablesourceofchangewaspredominatelytheresultofthe

growing presence of a new generation of Jewish thinkers in theGerman intellectual sphere,

whathistorianPeterGaydenotesasoutsideras insider.16TherewasanewlyemergingJewish

identity,withanethosof rebellion, rejectingtheoptimismof thegenerationofGerman‐Jews

nurturedontheconceptofBildung.17Thisgenerationof1914thatJewishhistorianRobertWohl

among others have written about included a self‐consciously Jewish and radical Messianic

thread in their political and intellectual concerns. The radical messianism this generation

observeddemandedacompleterepudiationoftheworldasitwas,placingitshopeinafuture

whoserealizationcouldonlybebroughtaboutbythedestructionoftheoldorder.Thisradical

15WalterBenjamin,ThesesonthePhilosophyofHistory,inIlluminationspp24616PeterGay,WeimarCulture,Theoutsiderasinsider,HarperTorchbooks(1970)WhatGayisreferringtohereisthegrowingpresenceof‘new’thoughtinagenerationrebellingagainsttheirfathersdesperationforintergration.17Bildung,istheconceptof‘education’wherebytheGerman‐JewishpopulationwasdeemednecessaryofeducationinorderforthemtoassimilateintothemainflockoftheGermanVolk.

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messianismwasinherentlybothsecularandtheological,professingatheologicalrevolution,or

alternatively a secular redemption. Benjamin and Ernst Bloch were two particularly notable

figuresinthisgeneration,fortheirstarklysimilarinfusionofthemetaphysicalintothesecular.

Redemption is a term grounded in theology, and Benjamin’s connection to Judaic law

cannot be denied, and yet,must also not be over estimated. The image of remembrance in

BenjaminhasadistinctparalleltoJudaiclore,intheJewishcommandmenttorecallhistoryin

ordertoexperienceandthuspassonknowledge.Remembranceisalsothestructureoftheart

ofstorytelling.TheotheremphaticconnectiontoJudaismisBenjamin’sreflectionupontherole

oftheindividualinthepathofredemption.Theindividualisresponsibleaspartofthecollective

to bring about the redemptive moment, highlighted in the influence of culture and the

everyday.TheinfluenceofJudaiclaw,eveninitsconceivablylimitedsense,framedBenjamin’s

imageofchangearoundtheconceptofredemption.Redemptionreflectsboththenecessityfor

a totalbreak in theenduringprocessofhistoricism linierhistory, in thenihilistic, apocalyptic

senseandthehopeforrenewal.

ForBenjamin,redemption isassociatedwiththenotionofcaesura18,a radicalbreakwith

the present, which would bring about the apocalyptic end of history and the moment of

renewal. The caesura of historical time was founded in what he deemed the task of the

HistoricalMaterialist.Benjaminrejectedthehistoricistmodeofthoughtforitsadherencetothe

senseofperpetualprogress.Bythesametoken,Benjaminalso,intheprocessofanabstraction

from the political, questions the strength of revolution in a purely historical denomination.

Revolutiondenotesprogress,whereby change is a simpleevolutionof the conditionsalready

available.Althoughrevolutionreferstoadramaticshifttheresultingstateremainsattachedto

tradition.Inotherwords,theknowledgeasdefinedbyourhistory,asweunderstandit,restricts18Caesuraisatermthatliterallymeansan‘interruption’or‘break.’ThisconceptiffoundinanumberofguisesinBenjamin’swork.

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revolutiontoprogressoftheexistingconditions.ForBenjaminthehistoricalmaterialisthadthe

potentialtobreakthispatternofprogressbymeansofshock,bringingdialecticstoastandstill

andeffectivelycallinganendtohistory.RedemptionforBenjaminwas,thus,theamalgamation

ofhismetaphysicalandthematerialistthought.

Redemption is an abstract concept because there is no historical precedent for it;

consequentiallyitdenotesatheoreticalandmetaphysicalmoment,underpinnedbyitsrootsin

Judaism. Thus, when one is attempting to comprehend Critical Theorists’ relationship with

redemption,onemustalsobreakwiththeconformityofconsideredtangiblehistoricexamples

in order to open the realmof the seemingly impossible. This consideration of the unlikely is

inherenttoBenjamin’swork,asexpressedbyErnstBlochinhisessayrecollectingBenjamin.He

writes;“BenjaminhadwhatLukácssodrasticallylacked:auniquegazeforthesignificantdetail,

for what lies alongside, for those fresh elements which…intrude in an unaccustomed and

nonschematicway,thingswhichdonotfitinwiththeusuallot.”19Thissenseofperceivingwhat

couldbealongsidethealreadypresentfitsunquestionablyintothenotionofmemoryandthe

fragmentsoftheforgotten;inthemomentofrecollectionisthemomentofredemption.

The 1920s was a period of hope weighed down by devastation, within which Benjamin

demonstrated humanity’s salvation within the manifestation of forgotten moments and

memories. He deemed the devastation of the present to be beyond the limited scope of

revolution;theconditionsoftheblaséindividualhadexceededthepossibilityofrevolutionand

consequentlyhopewastiedtoaMessianic‐anarchism,toatotalfragmentationofthepresent,

theawakeningof society from itscollectivedream.Theeverydaywasasubjectdefined in its

contradictions;thisconsiderationiswhatBenjamin,grappledwithinordertodefinehisepoch.

Situated in a time of conflict mediated by a sense of hope Benjamin, through philosophy,19ErnstBloch,RecollectionsofWalterBenjamin,inOnWalterBenjamin,CriticalEssaysandRecollectionsEd.ByGarySmithpp341

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literature and artwork channelled the competing sides of the everyday in order to grasp an

understandingofthepresentandawakenhumanityfromitsalienation.

Benjamin came to consider the present essentially distorted, reflected in the social

relationsofindividual,politicsandculture.Manwasbankrupt,tornbetweenhisreasonandthe

unknown. Redemption embodies the dialectic between tradition and modernity, hope and

despair to which Benjamin’s writings respond. Similarly, Kafka positions himself on the

boundary of two realms, between tradition and thebig city. Accordingly, theWeimar period

epitomises the conflict modernity faced. Trapped somewhere between hope and despair

WeimarwaspervadedbyeternalmomentsofcontradictionwithinwhichBenjaminconceived

thetransformationofhumanity. InthedespairofWeimarGermanyBenjaminfoundtracesof

hope.Hence,redemptionalthoughoftendismissedasabstract,wasofconsequenceinrelation

to theWeimar era. 1920’s Germany was a pocket of possibility surrounded by political and

economic turmoil, itwas the thundercloudwithinwhich the electricity necessary for change

waslatent.

CriticalTheoristsclaimednotanabsoluteknowledge,norhumanity’sinevitableprogressto

suchanabsolute.Theirfocus,asaresultoftherejectionofsuchmetaphysicalnotions,wason

the individual and the everyday. Philosophical reflection, therefore, concentrated upon the

arenas in which the everyday and the individual could be redeemed from its tragedy: the

alienationofspirit.Intheirviewhumanityhadsunkintoalienationasaresultoftheperceived

infallibilityandimportanceof‘progress’andconsequently,theexistenceofthehumananimal

hadbecomedevoidofmeaningorknowledge.Inthisdevastatedrealityhumanity’sonlychoice

wasto,intheNietzschiennihilisticsense,destroythepresentinordertosalvagethemoments

untainted by the false history and false knowledge the human race had constructed. For

Benjamintruthandknowledgeweretobefoundinthemomentsdiscardedbyhumanityinits

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haste toward progress. Therefore, focusing on moments in the everyday where humanity

expressed boredom or the disruption of habitual order Benjamin attempted to display

humanity’spossibilityofsalvation.

***********

Benjamin’sworkfallsintomanydisparatecategories;consequentialthetaskofanalysing

hisimageofredemptionisamonumentaltask.Thescopeofthisessaywilllimititsscale,butI

willbeattemptingtoconstructaclearunderstandingofBenjamin’snotionofredemptionand

its significance as a pattern of thought for Critical Theory. It is possible to observe, as

philosophical‐historianDavidFerrisdoes,throughoutBenjamin’sworktherelationshipbetween

historyandcriticismasastrandofthoughtthroughout.Benjamindrawsfrombothcriticismand

historyinanattempttocraftasenseofpossibilityintheconditionsofisolationandmilieuhe

observedintheconditionsofmodernity.

ThisessaywillbereflectontheconditionsofalienationCriticalTheorist’sworkaimedto

dissectandreframe.Byunderstandingtheconditionsoftheintellectualsphere,wecanbetter

understand the importance of Benjamin’s concept of redemption, as apart of the Critical

Theorist’stheoriesforchange.Iwillbehighlightingthevitalityoftheconceptofredemptionin

relation toboth itsapocalypticand restorativeaspects; theapocalypticmask sittingnaturally

within Benjamin’s rewriting of historical narrative, and the restorative scaffolding around his

aestheticcritique.Theframeofredemption,initsentirety,Ibelieveismosttangiblyexpressed

intheconceptofawakening.Awakeningis inherentlyrelatedtomemory,whichIwillargueis

theconnectingtangentthroughBenjamin’sconceptofredemption.

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FromProgresstoReification

Whenobserving the importanceof Benjamin’s redemption, in particular contrast to his

Jewish contemporaries, anunderstandingof the intellectual field thesemenwere apart of is

vital. The process of contextualisation is important in thismoment because of the dramatic

change in impetus the philosophical realm took in its rejection of the ideals of the

Enlightenment. The rejectionof the Enlightenment,when considered in broad‐brush strokes,

was fundamentally a disputewith the essenceof progress. Intellectual figures such asGeorg

SimmelandMaxWebercontestedthesenseofacoherentgoalintheunfoldingofhistoryand

adheretoamoreindividualisticsocio‐politicalunderstandingofthemodernenvironment.Both

theseintellectualfiguresareassociatedwiththebirthofsociologyandinthissensewerekey

figuresinCriticalTheory.

Weber is the focal character inmany texts concerning theunfoldingof theworkof the

CriticalTheoristsinWeimarGermany,andinmanyrespectshis‘disenchantmentoftheworld’20,

ashighlightedbyhistoriansZygmuntBaumanandMichaelGardiner, andhis ‘iron cage’21 are

epistemological moments in understanding the collapsing social and economic structures.

However, for Benjamin, Simmel is the more influential figure, particularly concerning the

importanceofmemory. It ispossible to tracemanyofBenjamin’s fundamental ideasback to

Simmel’s works. Nevertheless, both Simmel and Weber were figureheads for the Critical

Theoristsof1920’sGermany.TheywerethementorsandtutorsforbothBenjaminandLukács

andmustberegardedasintegraltotheformingofthepathstochangewrittenbytheCritical

Theoristswhofollowedtheirguidance.

20Disenchantmentoftheworldisaconceptcoinedtodescribethemodernised,bureaucratic,rationalisedandsecularisedwesternsocietyinhis‘ProtestantEthicandtheSpiritofCapitalism’21IronCagereferstothewallsofmechanizationandbureaucracythatsuppressthemodernindividual,alsotobefoundin‘ProtestantEthicandtheSpiritofCapitalism’

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The other important intellectual character that must be mentioned, even briefly, is

Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche’s paradigm ofnihilism; the rejection of allmoral and religious

principlesinthebeliefthatlifeismeaningless,thatnothingintheworldhasrealexistence,as

thefirstmomentoftotalrejection,wasthefatherofCriticalTheorists’pessimism.Nietzsche’s

nihilismgoeshandinhandwithhisnotionofthe‘LastMan;’22afigureofapathyrepresentative

ofthemodernmanandformstheinitialframeofreferenceforthestudyofthesymptomsof

modernity. For Benjamin, both the apathetic last man and the moment of total rejection

convergeinhisredemptivemoment,justasinLukácstheseideascanbefoundinhisreification.

The contextualization of Benjamin’s redemption must also focus upon his historical

situation; Weimar Germany. The Weimar Republic, as mentioned above, embodied the

changing philosophical dynamic. It symbolised a hope for a new start, particularly for the

Germanyofhumanistphilosophyandpacificcosmopolitanism,againstthemilitaristicGermany

held by submission to authority and aggression. The Republic was an ideal, a striking mix

betweencynicismandconfidence.Thischaracteristicdivisionbetweentraditionandmodernity

wasalsopresentinthe‘Jewishquestion,’ intheintegrationoftheJewishcommunityintothe

German,whatGayreferstoastheoutsiderasinsider23.

The Jewish question in Weimar Germany was tied up in the framework of national

identityandGermanmodernismingeneral.TheJewishquestionthusbecamesymptomaticof

thewiderdiscourseofGermanmodernism.Weberforexample,inhiscontextofrationalization;

the disenchantment of the world, talks of a heightened sense of alienation in a fragmented

societywithinwhichtheJewwouldbecastasa‘pariah.’ThisJewishdilemmaofbelonging,of

contradictoryaffinitiesisevidentinGerman‐Jewishliterature,exemplifiedintheworkofKafka.

22FriedrichNietzsche,ThusSpokeZarathustra,ABookforEveryoneandNoOne,Trans.AndwithanIntrobyR.J.Hollingdale,Penguin(2003)23PeterGay,WeimarCulture,Theoutsiderasinsider(1970)

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‘The Castle’24 is the most poignant example of this dilemma, the Jewish tragedy of

estrangement,with itsvivid fictionalportraitsof failedassimilation.Kafka’s lifeand impulses,

likemanypost‐assimilatedJews,representtheconflicting impulsesoftheGermanJew.These

conflicts, at the heart ofmodern Jewish identity offer a framework for Benjamin’s notion of

redemption. As Peter Gay succinctly says; “for the outsiders of the Empire as later, for the

insiders of the Republic, the most insistent question revolved around the need for man’s

renewal,questionsmademosturgentandpracticallyinsolublebythedisappearanceofGod,the

threatof themachineand…thehelplessphilistinismof thebourgeoisie.” 25Theanswer to this

questionwassoughtamidstthewoundsofcivilizationcausedbyWWIintheculturalrealmof

WeimarGermany.

As well as embodying the question of identity and the fever of revolution, which was

perpetuated by the anxiety of disillusionment and the unknown, that plagued modernist

philosophy, Weimar Germany was a hotbed for artistic expression. The Republic was

characterisedbyopenexpression,inpoliticsandculture.Theprojectionofantagonismagainst

thepoliticalphilosophy,whichhadleadtowarandtotheslaughterofmillions,cameinradical

forms fromrevolution to theavant‐garde. Itmustbenotedhere that this spiritdoesnotdie

alongsidetheRepublic; itsexpression ismanifestedthroughouttheSecondWorldWarandin

thepost‐warperiod.Nevertheless, the foundingspiritofhope, liberationand integrationwas

beleaguered by a shadow of doubt and disappointment, primarily a product of the

revolutionary failure in the winter of 1918‐1919. This disappointment was perpetuated by

further crisis, from civilwar, the treaty of Versailles and the KappPutsch. An atmosphereof

despair became characteristic in the intellectual world; wounds of WWI heightened by the

short‐livedrevolutionsandgeneralstrikesinMunichandBerlin.24FranzKafka,TheCastle,Trans.J.A.Underwood,PenguinClassics(2000)25PeterGay,WeimarCulture,Theoutsiderasinsider(1970)pp7

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To put in simple terms, there are three periods that form the Weimar Republic. The

Republic’s birth between 1918 and 1923, a period defined by revolution and political and

economicupheaval, includingtheMarch1921uprising. It isthisperiodinwhichLukácswrote

HistoryandClass‐Consciousness.FollowedbyaperiodofrelativestabilityfromtheDawesPlan

1924tothefinancialcollapsein1929,confoundingboththehopeoftheRepublic’ssupporters

and the fierce opposition of its enemies. Finally the period between 1929 and 1933

characterisedbytheeconomiccollapseandincreasingdisintegrationofthepoliticalstructure,a

period of noted instability through disappointment and internal perpetuation of strife26.

Weimarwaswroughtwithdeepcrisis,exemplifiedinthetheoreticalcrisisfromtheMarxismof

the2ndinternationaltothephilosophyofthehumansciences,crossingbothSimmel’stheoryof

alienation andWeber’s theory of values as well as Nietzsche’s critique of ideology. In these

conditions thestruggle forasuccinctanddefinitiveconceptofchangewasconfrontedwitha

multitudeofobstacles.It isthereforeessentialtounderstandthisatmosphereofcrisisandits

intellectual substancesoas toconstructa totalpictureof thevalueofBenjamin’sconceptof

redemptionasopposedtorevolutionorreform.

AsaresultoftheachievementsandfailuresoftheRepublicthosewhohadsupportedit

felt feelingsof cynicismanddetachment and thosewhohadopposedmaintained a senseof

resilientopposition,fuelledbyboththeperpetualsenseofpossibilityinthemaintenanceofthe

oldorderand themomentsof genuine fearof it succeeding.Thepresenceof thesenegative

associationswereparticularlynotablefollowingthefalloutfromthewar.Warhadresultedin

devastation; however, it had initially offered a release from boredom and a salvation from

decadence,accordingtoGay,innowherewasthispsychosismoreobviousthaninGermany27.

However,Weimar’sgreatfailurewastheperpetuationoftraditionalstructures.Thistraditional26PeterGay,WeimarCulture,Theoutsiderasinsider(1970)pp23‐2427IBIDpp11

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Germanstructureremainedunshakenevenfollowingthe1918‐19revolution.Intheseunstable

conditions thephilosophical ideas forchangeweredraftedwith increasing theoreticaland, in

manyrespects,radicalimages;Benjamin’sconceptofredemptionfalls,notably,inthiscategory.

Byinfusingradicalrevolutionaryideaswiththeapocalypticandrestorativeredemptiveimages

Benjamindrewupontheatmospherehewaswritingin.ThehistoricmomentsoftheRepublic

translated into a philosophical and cultural critique, highlighting both the growing sense of

individual freedominconjuncturewiththemaintenanceoftraditionalrestrictions.Benjamin’s

workrodeandthrivedonthesewavesofcontradiction,settlingintheintellectualatmosphere

oftheGerman‐Jew.TheWeimarRepublicheraldedtheverysourceofhumanity’ssalvation in

thecontradictionbetweendespairandredemptionmediatedbythehopeofillumination.

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MimesisandMelancholy

Kafka’s imageof therottenepitomises theemptyshellof themoderncondition, from

thesphereofthemetropolistothestateofruininwhichexperiencelay.Themoderncondition,

founded on the impairment of knowledge, truth and the decay of tradition, can be framed

around thenotionsof reificationand false‐consciousness.Reification, theconsiderationofan

abstractasconcrete,hasdeep‐seatedrootsintheinteractionsinthecity.Falseconsciousness,

astheobediencetoabeliefconsideredtobefundamentallycorrect,relatesinthiscontextto

theadherencetotheprincipleofprogress.FromthisframeworkCriticalTheoristsanalysedthe

modernindividual:afigurativespectreofboredom,habitandde‐sensualisationresultingfrom

the over‐stimulating quality of the city landscape and prescribed an antidote to these

conditionsofdetriment.However,despitetheoverwhelmingandrepressivemimeticqualityof

themetropolis (commodity fetish, therepetitivemovementofamechanizedsociety,andthe

eternal self‐same of history), there was a balance in the qualities of freedom the individual

encountered in the city. Nevertheless, despite the opening of previously restricted arenas of

interaction,themodernconditionwasepitomisedbyasenseofmelancholy.Theindividualwas

subjugatedbyareturntomythintheformofthecommodityfetishandtheperpetuationofa

debasedtradition.

Man’s existence, devoid of meaning, quality and purpose is fundamentally uprooted,

lonely or integrated in superficial reality and a frantic search for meaning and authenticity.

Therefore, he eventually replaces Gods with idols and becomes attached to objects. The

individual isdrawn intoreificationandfalseconsciousnessbythe increasingrationalisationof

thesocialstructure.Progress,stillperpetuatedasthenaturaltrainofeventsintheunfoldingof

history, has lead to increasing rationalisation within which the individual has become