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A very different air [than that of optimism] is breathed in the Naville essay that makes the “organization of pessimism” the call of the hour. In the name of his literary friends he delivers an ultimatum in the face of which this unprincipled, dilettantish optimism must unfailingly show its true colors: where are the conditions for revolution? In the changing of attitudes or of external circumstances? That is the cardinal question that determines the relation of politics to morality and cannot be glossed over. Surrealism has come ever closer to the Communist answer. And that means pessimism all along the line. Absolutely. Mistrust in the fate of literature, mistrust in the face of freedom, mistrust in the face of European humanity, but three times mistrust in all reconciliation: between classes, between nations, between individuals. And unlimited trust only in I. G. Farben and the peaceful perfection of the air of force. But what now, what next? […]…to organize pessimism means nothing other than to expel moral metaphor from politics and to discover in political action a sphere reserved one hundred percent for images. This image sphere, however, can no longer be measured out by contemplation. If it is the double task of the revolutionary intelligentsia to overthrow the intellectual predominance of the bourgeoisie and to make contact with the proletarian masses, the intelligentsia has failed almost entirely in the second part of this task because it can no longer be performed contemplatively.
Walter Benjamin, ‘Surrealism: The Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia’ (via aidsnegligee)
Thanks for the Recommendations André!
I love getting emails from readers, so thank you to everyone who sends in photos and book recommendations to fill my reading lists. I recently got an email with some fantastic recommendations from André Coelho, a professor of the History of Photography in São Paulo, Brazil:
“First of all there is Benjamin’s PhD thesis called “The Concept of Art Criticism in German Romanticism”. This book is interesting because one can notice how the work of philosophers and authors such as Fichte, Schlegel and Novalis have influenced Benjamin in what comes to his project regarding modernity.
The second book I suggest is in my opinion Benjamin’s best work: “The Origin of German Tragic Drama”. In this book’s introduction there is a very original way of understanding epistemology and aesthetics. The book deals with themes that later on will turn into central subjects to W.B. such as the concept of trace and its relationship to history.
The third and last book I’d like to recommend is “Reflexions on children, toys and education”, which gathers essays written by Benjamin between 1913 and 1932. As its title suggests, the book deals with subjects such as the teaching of moral, ethos, communist pedagogy and so on.”
Thanks! I will definitely be picking these up.
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A person who observes good manners but condemns lies is like someone who, while dressing stylishly, wears no shirt.
Walter Benjamin, ‘One-Way Street’ (via aidsnegligee)
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Criticism is a sociable art. A healthy reader mocks the reviewer’s judgement. But what pleases that reader most deeply is the delicious bad taste of taking part uninvited when someone else reads.
Walter Benjamin, News About Flowers
(Source: scribd.com)
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Theory of distraction.
Attempt to determine the effect of the work of art once its power of consecration has been eliminated.
Walter Benjamin, Theory of Distraction, inThe Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and other Writings on Media
(Source: amazon.com)
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Begging has lost its strongest foundation, the bad social conscience, which opens purses so much wider than does pity.
Walter Benjamin, “Moscow”, Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings 1927-1930 (Harvard University Press, 2005) 28. (via chipclayton)
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Novels are there to be devoured. To read them is a pleasure of consumption.
Walter Benjamin on genre fiction. In case you didn’t love the dude enough. (via melvillehouse)
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