Walter Benjamin’s Concept of the Image “ Ross’s argument is original and refreshing. It is masterful in its c onceptual program, exegetical details, and argumentative force, and its polemical verve is gripping. By introducing the image (dialectical or otherwise) as the pivot of her investigation, she demonstrates a greater thematic continuity to Benjamin’s thought than is usually imagined—a continuity that force- fully underscores the dramatic fault-lines fi ssuring the entire corpus. Par- ticularly notable is Ross’s reading of Benjamin’s early essay on Goethe’s Elective Affi nities—a generally admired but oddly under-commented work. She brings out the fundamental importance of this essay to Benjamin’s entire project, and offers the most sustained reading in English that I’m aware of.” —Rebecca Comay, University of Toronto, Canada In this book, Alison Ross engages in a detailed study of Walter Benjamin’s concept of the image, exploring the signifi cant shifts in Benjamin’s approach to the topic over the course of his career. Using Kant’s treatment of the topic of sensuous form in his aesthetics as a comparative reference, Ross argues that Benjamin’s thinking on the image undergoes a major shift between his 1924 essay on ‘Goethe’s Elective Affi nities,’ and his work on T he Arcades Project from 1927 up until his death in 1940. The two periods of Benjamin’s writing share a conception of the image as a potent sensuous force able to provide a frame of existential meaning. In the earlier period this function attracts Benjamin’s critical attention, whereas in the later he mobilises it for revolutionary outcomes. The book gives a critical treatment of the shifting assumptions in Benjamin’s writing about the image that warrant this altered view. It draws on hermeneutic studies of meaning, scholarship in the history of religions, and key texts from the modern history of aesthetics to track the reversals and contradictions in the meaning functions that Benjamin attaches to the image in the different periods of his thinking. Above all, it shows the relevance of a critical consideration of Benjamin’s writing on the image for scholarship in visual culture, critical theory, aesthetics, and philosophy more broadly. Alison Ross is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in Philoso- phy, Monash University, Australia. She has research interests in aesthet- ics, the history of modern philosophy, and critical theory. She is the author of T he Aesthetic Paths of Philosophy: Presentation in Kant, Heidegger, Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy. Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Philosophy For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com 6 Naturalism 13 Collingwood and the A Critical Analysis Metaphysics of Experience Edited by William Lane Craig A Reinterpretation and J.P. 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Jonathan Lowe Investigations Edited by Nuno Venturinha 28 Modernism and the Language of Philosophy 37 The Early Wittgenstein Anat Matar on Metaphysics, Natural Science, 29 Wittgenstein and Other Minds Language and Value Rethinking Subjectivity Chon Tejedor and Intersubjectivity with Wittgenstein, 38 Walter Benjamin’s Concept Levinas, and Husserl of the Image Soren Overgaard Alison Ross This page intentionally left blank Walter Benjamin’s Concept of the Image Alison Ross First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Alison Ross to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ross, Alison, 1968– Walter Benjamin’s concept of the image / by Alison Ross. pages cm. — (Routledge studies in twentieth-century philosophy ; 38) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Benjamin, Walter, 1892–1940. 2. Image (Philosophy) I. Title. B3209.B584R67 2014 193—dc23 2014022056 ISBN: 978-1-138-81148-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-74925-9 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Feeling 20 2 Form 47 3 Similitude 73 4 History 102 5 Image 135 Conclusion 149 Index 161 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to record my sincere thanks to the two anony- mous reviewers from Routledge. Their insightful suggestions and criticisms came at just the right time and helped me in arriving at the fi nal version of the manuscript. Amir Ahmadi also read the manuscript in its entirety and offered a number of valuable suggestions for improvement. At Routledge, Margo Irvin, Katie Laurentiev and Lynne Askin-Roush were a pleasure to work with. An earlier version of chapter 2 was published as ‘The Problem of the Image: Sacred and Profane Spaces in Walter Benjamin’s Early Writing,’ Critical Horizons 1 4.3 (2013) (www.maneyonline.com/cri). The version published here substantially amends and supersedes that version. No other material in this book has been previously published. The research undertaken for this book had the support of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project: ‘Persuasive Force: the role of aesthetic experience in moral persuasion.’ I would like to thank the ARC for the opportunity to conduct this study. I have also been fortunate to have a period of study leave from Monash University to complete the project. I would like to thank the Faculty of Art’s Outside Study Program and suc- cessive supportive faculty, school, and departmental heads and colleagues: Pauline Nestor, Sue Kossew, Brett Hutchins, and Toby Handfi eld. Particular acknowledgement is due to the people who read and offered their advice on the ARC application: Andrew Benjamin, Graham Oppy, Chris Worth, Bernadette McSherry, Lisa Trahair, and Joanne Witheridge. Jeff Malpas deserves special thanks for talking me through the technicalities of good grant writing. The project grant was held with Krzysztof Ziarek and Andrew Benjamin. This book has benefi ted from the many workshops and informal conversations held with these two colleagues. Andrew Benjamin’s initiative in establishing the Research Unit in European Philosophy provided a congenial home at Monash for research into aesthetics. A number of people who have participated in workshops on topics in contemporary aesthetics over the past few years in New York, Paris, Mel- bourne, and Prato gave very helpful critical evaluations of early versions of some of this material and generously shared their own research. I am