Early conceptions of experience in the aesthetics of Walter Benjamin
https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2016-1-2-140-145
Abstract
The article describes the early conceptions of experience in the aesthetics of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin.These conceptions are found in such texts as “Experience”,“Rainbow: the Dialogue about Imagination”, “Child’sView of Color”, “Doctrine of the Similar”, and “Task of theTranslator”. The concept of experience plays a central rolein the late Benjamin’s philosophy. His theory of reductionof the Erfahrung to the Erlebnis is widely known. However,the origins of the philosopher’s experience theory remainlargely unknown. There are three concepts of experiencein the early Benjamin: 1) the theory of spiritual experience(1910s); 2) the color-oriented experience theory (1910s);3) the language-oriented experience theory (1920s). Theearly researches of Benjamin not only shaped his theoryof reduction of experience, but also determined a numberof theses in his late aesthetics. Later, in the 20s-30s, in the“Arcades”, the essay about Baudelaire and the essay aboutreproduction, Benjamin worked out the theory of perception,which integrated his both early theories of experience:the language-oriented theory and the color-oriented theory.
References
1. Buck-Morss S. The Origin of Negative Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin and the Frankfurt Institute. New York, 1977, 355 p.
2. Caygill H. Walter Benjamin: The Color of Experience. New-York, 1998, 167 p.
3. Habermas J., Brewster P., Buchner C.H. Consciousness-Rising or Redemptive Criticism: The Contemporaneity of Walter Benjamin, New German Critique, 1979, no. 17, pp. 30—59.
4. Markus G. Walter Benjamin or the Commodity as Phantasmagoria, New German Critique, 2001, no. 83, pp. 3—42.
5. Benjamin W. Rainbow: the Conversation about Imagination, Early Writings. 1910—1917. Cambridge, London, 2011, pp. 214—227.
6. Benjamin W. Child’s View of Color, Early Writings. 1910—1917. Cambridge, London, 2011, pp. 211—213.
7. Benjamin W. Uchenie o podobii, Uchenie o podobii. Mediaesteticheskie proizvedenija [Medienästhetische Schriften]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2012, pp. 164—170 (in Russ.).
8. Zenkin S. Benjamin, Bodler i mimesis, Walter Benjamin & Sharl Bodler. Politika & Poetica. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015, pp. 9—20.
9. Vatolina Y.V. Strategii vosprijatija opyta “chujogo”: Benjamin I Derrida, Walter Benjamin & Sharl Bodler. Politika & Poetica. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2015, pp. 174—188.
10. Benjamin W. Experience, Early Writings. 1910—1917. Cambridge, London, 2011, pp. 116—119.
11. Kant I. Kritika chistogo razuma [Critique of Pure Reason]. Moscow, Eksmo Publ., 2004, 736 p. (in Russ.).
12. Benjamin W. Proizvedenie iskusstva v epohu ego tehnicheskoi vosproizvodimosti [Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit]. Moscow, Medium Publ., 1996, pp. 15—65.
13. Benjamin W. Sharl’ Bodler. Poet v epochu zrelogo kapitalizma [Charles Baudelaire. Ein Lyriker im Zeitalter des Hochkapitalismus], Maski vremeni. Esse o kulture i literature. Moscow, Simposium Publ., 2004, pp. 47—235.
14. Benjamin W. Das Passagen-Werk, Gesammelte Schriften in 7 Bände. Frankurt am Main, 1991, vol. 5, p. 1024.
15. Benjamin W. O programme grjadushei filosofii [Ober das Programm der kommenden Philosophie], Uchenie o podobii. Mediaesteticheskie proizvedenija [Medienästhetische Schriften]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2012, pp. 31—51.
16. Benjamin W. Zadacha perevodchika [Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers], Uchenie o podobii. Mediaesteticheskie proizvedenija [Medienästhetische Schriften]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2012, pp. 254—270.
17. Benjamin W. The Correspondence. 1910—1940. Chicago, 1994, 674 p.
18. Benjamin W. K mimeticheskoi sposobnosti [Zweite Fassung: Ober das mimetische Vermogen], Uchenie o podobii. Mediaesteticheskie proizvedenija [Medienästhetische Schriften]. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2012, pp. 171—187.
19. Benjamin W. Protokolle zu Drogenversuchen, Gesammelte Schriften in 7 Bände. Frankurt am Main, 1991, vol. 6, p. 561.
Review
For citations:
Travnikov S.K. Early conceptions of experience in the aesthetics of Walter Benjamin. Observatory of Culture. 2016;1(2):140-145. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2016-1-2-140-145
Views:
1154
Email this article 