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JOHNPIZER
WashingtonState University
68
PIZER: Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 69
the Fall- that is, there is no split between signifier and signified, between
subject and object. For Benjamin:
Der Siindenfallist die Geburtsstundedes menschlichen
Wortes,in dem der Name nicht mehr unverletztlebte,
das aus der Namenssprache, der erkennenden,mandarf
sagen: der immanenteneigenen Magie heraustrat,um
ausdrficklich,von aufen gleichsam,magischzu werden
(II/1,153).
The immanentbondbetween manandnatureforgedby primordiallanguage
is thus broken. Recovery of this originalimmanence, of the "purelanguage
of names,"4 is the task not only of the theologian,but also the literarycritic.
A connection between a concept of immanent criticism pointing to the
recovery of the "Ursprache"and Benjamin'sgenre theory is first evident
in his 1919dissertation, Der Begriff derKunstkritikin der deutschenRoman-
tik. In the first part of this work, Benjaminestablishes Fichte'sepistemolog-
ical principle of reflection as the basis of the form-oriented aesthetics of
Novalis and Schlegel. Fichte's use of the dialecticalcategories of the "Ich"
and the "Nicht Ich" to overcome the Kantiandualismof subject and object
is of obvious interest for Benjamin.However, Benjaminnotes that the early
Romanticthinkersinevitablyreject Fichte'sdescriptionof reflectionas "think-
ing of thinking of thinking"as an endless and empty sequence.
Rather,NovalisandSchlegel preferto thinkof the endlessness of reflection
as a fulfilledendlessness of coherence ("erffillteUnendlichkeitdes Zusam-
menhanges") (I/1, 26). The notion of the fulfilledbeing of reflection as the
basis of the formalRomanticaesthetics of Schlegel and Novalis (as opposed
to the content-oriented aesthetics of Goethe discussed at the conclusion of
the book) has a clear appeal for a youthfulBenjaminstruggling to establish
a redemptive criticismwhich would fulfilllanguagein its originalimmediacy.
Whether or not, as Marcus Bullock asserts, Benjamin misrepresents the
theories of Schlegel and Novalis in attempting to provide a foundationfor
his own messianic aesthetics5 cannot concern us here; what is significant
is "the way Benjaminanchors the concept of criticism of the Romantics in
the concept of reflection to define his own position."'6
Benjamin sees an immanent genre theory as a corollary to a Romantic
aesthetics based on form and self-referential reflexivity. Throughout his
dissertation, he emphasizes the medial nature of the Romanticconcept of
reflection. The view of art as a medium motivates the struggle by Schlegel
and Novalis for "purityand universalityin the use of forms."("Reinheitund
Universalittitim Gebrauchder Formen")(I/1, 76-77). To say that purityand
universalityare the goal is tantamountto saying that the recovery of prelap-
sarian logos is the goal, for purity and universality are the attributes of
human language prior to the Fall.-Benjamincredits the Romantictheorists
with establishing the formalismwhich seeks such purity and universalityin
the genres:
70 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987
Aristotle, such systems have generallybeen based on the trinity of the lyric,
the epic and the drama.Though Benjamininvokes this trinity in the Wahlver-
wandtschaftenessay, the three fundamentalgenres are adjectivized-as
epic foundation,lyricbreadthand dramaticclimax(I/1, 201). As Peter Szondi
has indicated, the adjectivizingof the genres leads to the "Aufhebungoder
doch die Aufhebbarkeitder Einteilung der Dichtung in Gattungen."20 But
the word Trauerspielis nominal. As such, "Trauerspielals Begriff wiirde
der Reihe isthetischer Klassifikationsbegriffesich problemlos einordnen"
(I/1, 218). However, the Trauerspielcan only be included in a taxonomic
scheme when it is treated as a concept. As concept, it is implicated in a
relationship to the history of literature. This is the consequence of post-
Adamite nominalism. But "das adamitischeNamengeben" (I/1, 217) is free
of the historicalstruggle for the (schematic)representationof ideas. In their
true, originary mode, and renewed through philosophicalreflection, "Jede
Idee ist eine Sonne und verhalt sich zu ihresgleichen wie eben Sonnen
zueinandersich verhalten"(I/1, 218). As idea, the Trauerspielis characterized
by this monadologicalunity and independence from historicaldeterminism.
The idea "ist das Extrem einer Form oder Gattung."The idea "bestimmt
keine Klasse und enthilt jene Allgemeinheit, auf welcher im System der
Klassifikationendie jeweilige Begriffsstufe ruht, die des Durchschnittsnim-
lich, nicht in sich" (I/1, 218). In the preface to the Grundbegriffeder Poetik,
Staiger finds it necessary to adjectivize the genres in order to establish
them as ideas. The genre as idea is essence ("Wesen").It is not subject to
a literary-historicalanalysis concerned, as Benjaminstates, with demonstrat-
ing variety rather than unity (I/1, 218)."'But by claimingideas are invested
with a primordiallack of intentionalitythrough philosophicalcontemplation,
Benjamin does not need to fall back on his own earlier adjectivizationin
deflecting from the Trauerspielas idea the historicistimprisonmentto which
it is subject as concept.
Before attemptingto link his idealistview of formto the problemof origin,
Benjamin demonstrates the fallacy of both the inductive and deductive ap-
proaches to genre. Inductive method leads to the use of '"Artbegriffen" in
order to maintain control over words, a procedure Benjaminregards with
considerable skepticism (I/1, 219). Inductivereasoning assembles a wealth
of particulardetails gleaned fromindividualworks of art in order to establish
universal categories. These categories are based on typical characteristics
culled from the mass of accumulatedmaterial. This particularsort of cate-
gorization- Benjamin cites Johannes Volkelt'sAsthetik des Tragischenas
an example-strives for continuity, as only general traits are applied in
defining the genres. Originaland discontinuousmoments foundin individual
"tragedies"are submerged. This does not mean Benjaminrejects classifica-
tion and categorizationper se; his desire to reconcile genetic classification
with his theory of ideas proves this is not the case. But it is "als Denkmale
einer diskontinuierlichenStrukturder Ideenwelt"that the majorcategorical
78 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987
systems gain significance (I/1, 213). Truthas the death of intention emerges
in the clustering of the discontinuous extremes of phenomena, not in as-
sembling, like Volkelt, their median qualities. An inductive genre poetics,
striving for the mastery of forms in establishing highly generalized "Artbe-
griffe,"betrays an intentionalitynot conducive to Benjamin'sidealist theory
of "Kunstarten."For similarreasons- as an attempt, "Epochen-und Gat-
tungsbezeichnungenals auf induktivemWege gewonnene Allgemeinbegriffe
aufzufassen"22- the methodology of Konrad Burdach is also condemned.
Benjaminpraises Burdach'srejection of "die Hypostasierungvon Allgemein-
begriffen,"but finds in his approacha failure to adequately confront the
question of the Platonicrepresentation of essences (I/1, 221). In privileging
abstract heuristic concept(s), "um unendliche Reihen mannigfaltigergeisti-
ger Erscheinungenund recht verschiedener Pers6nlichkeitenuns fibersicht-
lich und faBbarzu machen,"23 Burdachseeks the same inductivemastery of
forms and epochs as Volkelt.
Benjamin uses RichardM. Meyer's theory of the drama as a starting
point for a critique of the deductive approachto genre. Meyer accepts the
dramaticgenres as already established. By comparingexemplars from the
various genres, he would discover valid artistic rules by which to measure
individualworks. The comparisonof the genres themselves will yield general
aesthetic principlesbindingfor every work of art. Benjamincondemns this
procedure- elaborated in Meyer's "Uber das Verstlindnisvon Kunstwer-
ken"- as nothing but the applicationof abstract principlesto an essentially
inductiveprocedure. It yields only a specious arrangement("Schema").This
leads Benjaminto make the followingdistinctionbetween induction, deduc-
tion and a philosophyof ideas:
Whereas Der Begriff der Kunstkritikequates the idea of form with a con-
tinuum of forms, Benjaminrepresents the idea in the Trauerspielbook as
a unique originary essence.24 This shift is necessary in order to establish
an important thesis: the German Trauerspielis not part of a continuumof
the symbolic Greek tragedies. Rather, its "Ursprung"is grounded in a
unique historical-philosophicalmoment, producing ideas embedded in the
individualworks. The task of the critic is to evoke these ideas through
philosophicalcontemplation.
PIZER: Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 79
dasEntstehungsmaterial hinein.Imnacktenoffenkundigen
Bestanddes Faktischengibt das Urspriingliche sich nie-
mals zu erkennen,und einzigeiner Doppeleinsicht steht
seine Rhythmikoffen. Sie will als Restauration, als Wie-
derherstellungeinerseits, als eben darinUnvollendetes,
Unabgeschlossenesandererseitserkanntsein. In jedem
Ursprungsphinomen bestimmtsichdieGestalt,unterwel-
cherimmerwiedereine Idee mitder geschichtlichen Welt
sich auseinandersetzt,bis sie in der Totalittitihrer Ge-
schichtevollendetdaliegt.AlsohebtsichderUrsprungaus
dem tatsfichlichenBefundenichtheraus,sonderner be-
trifftdessen Vor-undNachgeschichte (I/1, 226).
Notes
strives for the "identificationof a Messianic center as the determinationof the heterogeneous
structure,"a task "he could not pursue directly" (p. 6). Bullock'ssuggestion that an aporia
results from Benjamin'sattempt to link his Messianism to the criticalidealism of Novalisand
Schlegel would explain Benjamin'sreluctance to more clearly define his terms.
4 Sandor
Radnoti,"The EarlyAesthetics of WalterBenjamin,"InternationalJournalofSociology,
7 (1977), 94.
'"Bullock, p. 14.
" FriedrichSchlegel, KritischeAusgabe, ed. Ernst Behler (Munich, Paderborn, Vienna: Fer-
dinandSch6ning, 1967), II, 252.
'"Eugene Lunn, Marxism and Modernism:An Historical Study of Lukacs, Brecht, Benjamin,
andAdorno(Berkeley, Los Angeles, London:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1982), p. 184.
: Bernd Witte, WalterBenjamin: Der Intellektuelle als Kritiker Untersuchungenzu seinem
Friihwerk(Stuttgart: J. B. Metzlerische Verlagsbuchhandlung,1976), p. 77.
4"Wolin, p. 56.
15 Michel Beaujour,"Genus Universum,"Glyph, 7 (1980), 16-17. (Beaujour'semphasis).
1' See, for example, Schelling'sPhilosophieder Kunst (1802/1803, first published 1859), A. W.
Schlegel's VorlesungeniiberdramatischeKunst und Literatur(1808, first published1809/1811),
and Hegel's Aesthetik (first published 1835). MichaelJennings--"Benjamin as a Reader of
Hd1derlin:The Origins of Benjamin'sTheory of Literary Criticism,"German Quarterly,56
(1983)--remarks that "of H61derlin'sthree tones, the lyric, epic and tragic, the tragic
emerges as that mode of poetry most closely associated with the ideal" (p. 551). Jennings
has convincingly demonstrated H6lderlin'simpact on the development of Benjamin'searly
aesthetics. In the Wahlverwandtschaften essay, Benjamin cites H61derlin'sconcept of the
caesura, developed in his theory of tragedy but of seminal significance for all of art. The
caesura interrupts the diachronicflow of images, "'daBalsdann nicht mehr der Wechsel der
Vorstellung, sondern die Vorstellung selber erscheint"' (I/1, 181-82). Benjamin finds the
H1lderliniancaesura of the Wahlverwandtschaften in the sentence: "'Die Hoffnungfuhr wie
ein Stern, der vom Himmel fillt, uiberihre Haupter weg"' (I/1, 199-200. Though he would
deny the H6lderliniancaesura is a purely tragic device, his description of the star as the
"dramatischeKr6nung im Mysterium der Hoffnung"of Goethe's novel most likely reflects
H1lderlin'sprivileging of the dramaticmode.
17 G.
W. E Hegel, Aesthetik, ed. Friedrich Bassenge, 2nd ed. (Frankfurt:Europiische Ver-
lagsanstalt, 1965), II, 512.
1' On the centrality of the Hdlderlinianconcept of "das Heilignfichterne"for Benjamin'searly
aesthetics, and his erroneous conflation of soberness with the Romanticidea of prose, see
Bullock, p. 13. Irving Wohlfarth- "The Politics of Prose and the Art of Awakening:Walter
Benjamin'sVersionof a German RomanticMotif,"Glyph, 7 (1980)- also comments on this
productivefallacy:"Itis with the same apparentlyparadoxicalconjunctionof seeming opposites
that Benjaminwill identify the idea of Messianic prose as a feast cleansed of festive songs.
Far from being dissolved by 'sober' rationality,the 'holy' coincides with it; far from ruining
the feast, the criticalactivityof strippingit of ceremony exposes its prosaickernel by liberating
it from the particular metrical constraints of festive song" (p. 139). Wohlfarthsees the
effacement of genre as written into Benjamin'stelos of the messianic conditionof prose (p.
133). But in the Wahlverwandtschaften essay, the use of generic categories is a precondition
for strippingawaythe materialcontent of Goethe's work to expose its "prosaickernel"- its
messianic truth content.
1"Jennings, p. 551: "Truth,which attains its full meaning only in the 'finalcondition'described
in detail in the preface to the Trauerspielbuch,is present in the world, albeit hidden in
fragmentaryform."
2" Peter Szondi, "Vonder normativenzur spekulativenGattungspoetik,"Poetik und Geschichts-
philosophie(Frankfurt:SuhrkampVerlag, 1974), II, 149. Szondi's assertion that this actually
occurs in the writings of FriedrichSchlegel is somewhatunfounded.Szondifocuses exclusively
on Schlegel's fragments and ignores his later writings. For a more balancedbut concise view
of Schlegel's genre poetics, see Karl Konrad Polheim, Die Arabeske:Ansichten und Ideen
aus FriedrichSchlegelsPoetik (Munich, Paderborn,Vienna: FerdinandSch6ningh, 1966), pp.
306-11.
2' Emil Staiger, Grundbegriffeder Poetik, 6th ed. (Zurich:Atlantis, 1963), pp. 7-9.
22
Witte, p. 108.
86 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987
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