Profane Illumination and Anthropological Materialism in Walter Benjamin

IBARLUCÍA, RICARDO (AUTOR)

Simposio; International Symposium Walter Benjamin: Enlightement and Secularization; 2015

UNSAM, Escuela de Humanidades/Doctorado en Filosofía, Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschun/Berlin/Centro de Investigaciones Filosóficas (UA CONICET/Programa de Estudios en Filosofía del Arte, Proyecto PIP-CONICET-Instituto Gino Germani (UBA-Facultad

This paper explores Walter Benjamin?s relationship with French Surrealism from sources rarely studied or practically unknown until now. First, I will set out the direct link between the theses on ?profane illumination? and the ?organization of pessimism?, and various texts by Pierre Naville, one of the most active figures in the Surrealist movement between 1925 and 1929. Second, I will consider Benjamin?s observations on the German philosophical-political context and the confrontation he hints at ? at the start of the essay ?Surrealism: The Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia? (1929) and in other contemporary texts ? between Surrealist writings and the work of Martin Heidegger, flagging up the implications of this confrontation for Benjamin?s ideas of secularization of mysticism and redemption. Lastly, I will seek to refine the meaning of Benjamin?s ?anthropological materialism? and its relevance to those sections of Passagenarbeit that are dedicated to the evolution of social movements since the French Revolution.