History, Genre and "Ursprung" in Benjamin's Early Aesthetics

Author(s): John Pizer

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The German Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Winter, 1987), pp. 68-87
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of German
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/407159 .
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JOHNPIZER
WashingtonState University

History, Genre and "Ursprung" in

Benjamin's Early Aesthetics

All serious explorations of the early aesthetics of WalterBenjaminhave

attempted to come to grips with his complex criticaltelos of redeeming the
origin ("Ursprung")of the creative word of God by liberatinglanguagefrom
its post-Adamiterole of defining objects. Onlyby treating literary texts with
a view to recovering language in its divine primordialcondition,prior to the
Falland the divisionof subject and object, can such a redemptionbe approxi-
mated. As RichardWolin constantly emphasizes in his book on Benjamin,
"Originis the goal,"' and Benjaminfeels this goal can only be approached
by abandoningthe treatment of literary texts as external constructs to be
analyzed and demystified. Only an immanent approachcan transcend the
work'shistoricalimprisonmentand glean its truth content. This truthcontent
always points towards an understandinganchoredin the divine origin of the
logos.
What prior criticism has treated only peripherally,and what this paper
will address, is the centralrelationshipbetween Benjamin'spositionon genre
theory and his "Ursprung"concept."This lacunais surprisingin light of the
fact that his well-known explicationof the term arises in the context of his
efforts to arrive at a means by which "die von (Benedetto Croce) als 'gene-
tische Klassifikation'bezeichnete Betrachtungmit einer Ideenlehre von den
Kunstarten im Problem des Ursprungs tibereinkommt.":1 This paper will
explore Benjamin'sattempt to resolve this dichotomywhile remainingfaithful
to the principleof literary immanence.
The theological underpinningsof Benjamin'searly aesthetics are evident
in the 1916essay "Uber Sprache tiberhauptund fiber die Sprache des Men-
schen." Benjamin distinguishes between the limited, analytical nature of
humanlanguage and the infinite, creative nature of the divine word. Human
language is the language of knowledge, but knowledge is perfect prior to

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

Die Idee der Kunstals eines Mediumsschafftalso zum

ersten Male die M6glichkeiteines undogmatischen oder
freienFormalismus, wie die
eines liberalenFormalismus,
Romantiker sagen wurden.Die friihromantische Theorie
begriindetdie Geltungder FormenunabhingigvomIdeal
der Gebilde(I/1, 77).

Benjamin'sattempt to arrive at a position on genre theory consistent with

the praxis of literary immanence in the Trauerspielbook is, then, clearly
anticipatedby his early discussion of the aesthetics of Novalis and Schlegel.
We have also noted the desire expressed in Benjamin's"Habilitationsschrift"
to reconcile genetic classification"withan idealisttheory of art forms in the
question of origin."Benjamin'sproblematicproposal of an idealist theory of
art forms is also anticipatedin the dissertation, where he notes the ironic
destruction of the empiricalform by the Romantictheorists in favor of the
idea of forms. Benjamindescribes the procedure of the Romanticsas based
on a doubled concept of form. The representationalform of the individual
work ("Darstellungsform")undergoes ironic decomposition:
Uberihraberreif3tdie IronieeinenHimmelewigerForm,
die Idee der Formen,auf,die mandie absoluteFormnen-
nen mag, undsie erweistdas Uberlebendes Werkes,das
aus dieserSphire sein unzerstdrbares Bestehenschipft,
nachdemdieempirischeForm,derAusdruck seinerisolier-
ten Reflexion,von ihrverzehrtwurde(I/1, 86).

Thus, Benjamindoes not pose an idealist theory of forms in a simple relation-

ship of oppositionto a genre aesthetics based on external (representational)
characteristics. Rather, the latter are fulfilledthrough an ironic dissolution
leading to the illuminationof the former. As he emphasizes a bit later,
aesthetic progredibilityis not what is understood in modern terms as prog-
ress ("Fortschritt");it is "einunendlicherErftillungs-,kein blo8erWerdepro-
ze8" (I/1, 92). Only by situating an idealist theory of literary genres in
(pristine and universal) fulfilled time rather than in a progressive, linear
temporal mode can the problem of origin be addressed.
Benjamin'suse of the qualifier"bloW" is significanthere. He cannot simply
discount the fact that arrivingat the point of origin in illuminatingan idealist
theory of forms predicates a progressive development as well as a process
of fulfillment.But since, as Wolinindicates, the "lightof redemption"appears
to be found "only in the oppositedirection from the course of historical
progress,"' the teleological component of Benjamin'saesthetics appears to
be mired in a temporal vacuum. In the "Habilitationsschrift," Benjaminwill
address this dilemmaby postulatinga technique of allegory in the Trauerspiel
which treats history as an "erstarrte Urlandschaft"(I/1, 343) while pointing
to a transcendent paradise where being is fulfilledthrough salvation. In the
dissertation, Benjamin salvages Romantic criticism for his own aesthetic
immanence by making the Romantic doctrines of "progressive universal
 PIZER:Benjamin'sEarly Aesthetics 71

poetry" and "transcendentalpoetry" the foundationsof a timeless principle

of form. Benjaminsees the principleof the continuumof forms as the basis
of the Romantic idea of the unity of art: "Beispielsweise wiirde also die
Trag6die ffir den Schauendenkontinuierlichmit dem Sonett zusammenhtin-
gen" (I/1, 87-88). Such a continuumof forms is the climax of the process
of reflection, anchored in the representationalform of the work and devel-
oped by a criticismdescribed earlier as the completionand systematization
of the work (I/1, 78). Thus, critical activity allows the transition from rep-
resentational form to the absolute form immanent in all art. This absolute
form is the continuumof all forms. Benjaminsays of Schlegel's 116thAthe-
ndum fragment: "Klarer konnte das Kontinuumder Kunstformen kaum
bezeichnet werden" (I/1, 88). The medial, qualitativecharacterof Romantic
critical theory overcomes the empty linear progress implicit in a genre
poetics bent on improvingthe character of the external (representational)
form. The concept of a continuum of forms is grounded in a temporal
timelessness:
Also nichtum ein Fortschreiten ins Leere, um ein vages
Immer-besser-dichten, sondernum stetig umfassendere
EntfaltungundSteigerungderpoetischenFormenhandelt
es sich. Die zeitlicheUnendlichkeit, in der dieser Pro-
ze3 stattfindet,ist ebenfallseine medialeund qualitative
(I/1, 92).8
Benjamin uses Schlegel's admonition(in Lucinde) against unconditional
striving and progress "ohne Stillstandund Mittelpunkt"as the starting point
for an analysis of the term "Transzendentalpoesie."Both the concept of
transcendentalpoetry and that of progressive universal poetry are a deter-
minationof the idea of art: "Stelltdieser in begrifflicherKonzentrationderen
Beziehung zur Zeit dar, so verweist der Begriff der Transzendentalpoesie
zurfickauf das systematische Zentrum, aus dem die romantischeKunstphi-
losophie hervorgegangen ist" (I/1, 93). He finds an exact correspondence
between the concept of transcendentalpoetry and the concept of an "Ur-Ich"
developed by Schlegel in the Windischmannlectures; both are anchoredin
the principle of absolute reflexivity. The configurationof the concepts of
the "Ur-Ich"and the systematic center of transcendental poetry leads to
an emphasis on the primordialcharacterof Schlegel's symbolic form and its
stability,anchoredin the absolute againstthe decline of profane, time-bound
forms. Benjamin describes the symbolic form ("das Organ der Transzen-
dentalpoesie") as follows:
Die Grundeigenschaften der symbolischen Formbestehen
einerseitsin solcherReinheitder Darstellungsform, dab
diese zumbloBenAusdruckder Selbstbegrenzung der Re-
flexiongelautertundvondenprofanenDarstellungsformen
unterschieden wird,andererseitsin der (formalen)
Ironie,
in dersichdieReflexioninsAbsoluteerhebt.Die Kunstkri-
tik stelltdiese symbolischeFormin ihrerReinheitdar;sie
72 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987

16stsie von allenwesensfremdenMomenten,an die sie

im Werkgebundensein mag,ab undendigtmitderAuflo-
sung des Werkes(I/1, 97-98).
For Benjamin,then, "progressiveuniversalpoetry" engenders a romantic
view of form as extensive, subsuming the individual(representational)liter-
ary genres in the embrace of a continuumof forms. The Romanticcritics
view the novel as the concrete manifestationof this continuum (I/1, 100).
"Transcendentalpoetry" as interpreted by Benjaminis an intensive vision
of form. Symbolic form, the organ of transcendentalpoetry, is primordial,
surviving the demise of the profane genres through its purity and through
ironic reflexion. In both cases, the accidental character of historically-con-
ditioned literary structures is overcome in a genre poetics emphasizingthe
redemption of form rather than its purposeless linear development. The
task of criticismis to illuminatethis symbolic form so that its pure, originary
essence shines through the inessential, contingent moments with which it
is encumbered. These inessential moments are inevitably bound up with
the content of a work of art: Benjaminexplicitly rejects a content-oriented
theory of criticism,an orientationhe sees informingthe aesthetics of Goethe,
in the last section of the dissertation.
Benjaminuses Romanticcriticism as a springboardfor developing a sup-
rahistoricalprinciple of form. Immanent form is absolute and pristine, and
is mediated by reflexion into a continuumserving as the basis of the idea
of the unity of art. In discussing Benjamin'sidea monadologyas a reaction
to historical dissolution, Sandor Radnoti asserts that "Benjaminwants to
set relatively stable formations against this process of decline, formations
which are stable in their forms."'In his dissertation, Benjaminalso seems
to be seeking such stability in the Romantic principle of immanent form.
Empiricalgenres are historicaland transitory, while the immanent form is
primordialand stable. The latter transcends the formerthroughthe reflective
mediation of the critic. As Bullock asserts: 'All the false forms which hide
the true essence, which hold it in chains and corrupt its workings, must be
burned in the holy fire of criticism."'The preconditionfor such activity is
the ironic dissolution of the individualwork of art by the critic (I/1, 86).
Towardsthe conclusionof his dissertation, Benjamindiscusses the concept
of prose as fundamentalin Romanticism'sidealist theory of art forms. The
medium of reflection of the poetic forms is manifested in prose, and prose
is "der schipferische Boden der dichterischen Formen, diese alle sind in
ihr vermittelt und aufgel6st als in ihren kanonischenSchipfungsgrund"(I/1,
102). As the genre serving to unite and dialecticallymediate between all
forms, the novel embodies the ideal of prose as the creative synthesis of
all poetic categories. But he contrasts the tendency towards bringing to-
gether the diversity of forms ("Mannigfaltigkeitder Formen"), the telos of
Schlegel's Lucinde, with the concept of "das rein Prosaische," most ade-
quately expressed by Novalis. The latter tendency represents the fulfillment
 PIZER: Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 73

of the former. Of course, Schlegel's priority is somewhat misstated here.

The union or division of the genres is secondary for Schlegel. "Waseben
gilt, ist die ruhende Erde im Mittelpunkt,"as he states in the 434thAthendum
fragment." But Benjamin implicitly recognizes this priority in describing
the central tenet of Romantic aesthetics as "die Lehre nach welcher die
Kunst und ihre Werke ... ein in sich ruhendes Medium der Formen sind"
(I/1, 107). A medium of forms resting in itself cannot be touched by the
historicaldissolutionthat afflicts external, representationalstructures. This
foregroundingof the immanent, primordialcharacter of a Romanticgenre
poetics anchoredin the absolute throughreflexive ironymirrors Benjamin's
own early search for origin.
At this stage, the aspect of Benjamin'sconcept of "Ursprung"implying
the redemptionof a monadologicalconcatenationof discrete culturalobjects
fragmented by history is far from developed. Nevertheless, his emphasis
on those elements in the thought of Schlegel and Novalis representing "the
departure from discursive style and logic in favor of illuminatingdetails as
monads whichcontainedthe whole"'"points in this direction.The 1923essay
on Goethe's Wahlverwandtschaften marks a further stage in the evolutionof
a genre theory grounded in the redemptive principleof origin. Benjamin's
reading of Goethe's novel attempts to put the concepts nested in Romantic
aesthetic theory as examined in Der Begriff der Kunstkritikinto critical
praxis. Thus, ignoring the principlefound in traditionalgenre poetics that
an analysis of a literary text is based on its adherence to or deviationfrom
established external categories, Benjamin seeks to illuminate the Wahl-
verwandtschaftenby mirroringits internal polarities. What holds the work
together in a "tremblingharmony"is the expressionless ("das Ausdrucks-
lose"), defined as "eine Kategorie der Spracheund Kunst, nicht des Werkes
oder der Gattungen" (I/1, 181). But though the expressionless is not a
category of the genres, its force is derivedfrom a generic tension embedded
in the work. As Bernd Witte has suggested, the polaritybetween appearance
and the expressionless in Die Wahlverwandtschaften corresponds, in Benja-
min's critique, to the opposition between the novel and the novella."' If, as
Wolinindicates, the materialcontent of Goethe's workemerges in Benjamin's
essay as the mythicalfate to which the characters are subjected, while the
truth content is revealedas "thehope we holdout for the ultimateredemption
of the lovers in the sphere of immortallife,"' then it is clear the antithetical
relationshipbetween these two spheres is also a function of the dialectical
oppositionbetween the two genres: "den mythischenMotiven des Romans
entsprechenjene der Novelle als Motive der Erl6sung"(I/1, 171).As mythical
destiny is only a historicallyengendered false appearance, Benjaminhimself
describes the materialcontent of the novel as "ein mythisches Schattenspiel
in Kosttimen des Goetheschen Zeitalters" (I/1, 140-41). Redemption is di-
vine, and thus expressionless. It can only be evoked throughantithesis; the
lovers of the novellaovercome the illusoryfate conjuredupin the novel.
74 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987

Michel Beaujour has noted conflicting tendencies in Romantic theory;

while anticipatingCroce in asserting each poem constitutes its own genre,
Schlegel also finds "poetry exists only in and as a result of the mutual
oppositionof various genres."'' Benjaminis also caught up in this dichotomy.
He interprets Romantic form as "der gegenstlindliche Ausdruck der dem
Werke eigenen Reflexion, welche sein Wesen bildet" (I/1, 73). This estab-
lishes a principleof formalimmanence allowingeach work to be seen as an
individualgenre. In an autobiographicalsketch, Benjamindescribedhis essay
as an attempt, "ein Werk durchausaus sich selbst zu erleuchten."In prac-
tically the same breath, he expresses admirationfor Croce's annihilationof
the doctrine of artistic forms, an act opening up the path to the concrete,
individualwork of art (VI, 218). Nevertheless, in the Wahlverwandtschaften
essay he clearly indicates that the poetry of Goethe's work is illuminated
throughthe antitheticalrelationshipbetween two genres, the novel and the
novella. The novella is like a picture of a cathedral in the darkness, "das
dies selber darstellt und so mitten im Innern eine Anschauungvom Orte
mitteilt, die sich sonst versagt." The cathedral (novel) thus receives "den
Abglanzdes hellen, ja des ntichternenTages" (I/1, 196).
Benjamin'sinternal reading cannot abandonthe language of generic tax-
onomy. Though a category of language and art, the expressionless can only
be given expression througha foregroundingof the mutualoppositionof the
novel and novella. The expressionless completes the work by destroying
the illusionary totality with which it is suffused. It is the expressionless
"welches es zum Stickwerk zerschligt, zum Fragmente der wahren Welt,
zum Torso eines Symbols" (I/1, 181). The expressionless both redeems the
truth characterof the work of art and reveals its open fragmentarycharacter.
This twofoldactivity precisely mirrorsthe rhythmof "Ursprung"as defined
in the Trauerspielbook: "Sie will als Restauration, als Wiederherstellung
einerseits, als eben darin Unvollendetes, Unabgeschlossenes andererseits
erkannt sein" (I/1, 226). By criticallyreflecting on the internal relationship
between novel and novella in Goethe's work rather than emphasizing the
representationalcharacterof these two forms, Benjaminremains faithfulto
the principleof Romanticformalimmanence as exemplified in his disserta-
tion. His unique manipulationof the two genres leads to the heuristic fore-
groundingof the expressionless. The expressionless in turn points towards
Benjamin'slater vision of "Ursprung."Seen in this light, the Wahlverwandt-
schaften essay foreshadows Benjamin'sattempt to link his concept of form
to the problem of origin.
Traditionaltaxonomic schemes have treated the trinity of lyric, epic and
drama as the fundamentalelements of genre poetics. Benjamin, despite
rejecting such external hierarchies, employs these categories in attempting
to illuminatethe truth content of Goethe's work. Goethe's use of a falling
star as a metaphor of hope marks the emergence of this truth content in
the Wahlverwandtschaften: "Zu ihrer epischen Grundlage im Mythischen,
 PIZER:Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 75

ihrer lyrischen Breite in Leidenschaft und Neigung, tritt ihre dramatische

Kr6nung im Mysterium der Hoffnung" (I/1, 201). The privileging of the
dramaticmoment over the lyric and epic is consistent with a trend evident
in muchof GermanRomanticaesthetics."16Thoughanythoughtof establishing
a hierarchyof the genres wouldhave been foreignto Benjamin,the inference
that the moment of the emergence of the truth content of Goethe's novel
has a fundamentallydramaticambience is not without significance. While
the mythicalcharacter of the novel-its material content-is anchored in
an illusory epic totality groundedin the present, and the disastrous ephem-
eral passion of the lovers Eduard and Ottilie has a lyric scope, the hope
held out by the Wahlverwandtschaften for future redemption is informed by
the pathos of drama.There can be little wonder, then, if Benjaminproceeds
to focus on the dramaitself in developing his aesthetic of redemption.
Benjamin'sattractionto the teleological character of the dramaticis cer-
tainly not unique. Hegel, for example, praises the drama as "die h6chste
Stufe der Poesie und der Kunst tiberhaupt"17 because it projects the develop-
ment of the world spirit through dialecticalreconciliation. In more recent
times, Emil Staiger attempted in his Grundbegriffeder Poetik (1946) to link
temporal modes with literary modes. He finds that dramaticbeing projects
("entwirft"),and is governed by future time. But as the title of Benjamin's
"Habilitationsschrift"suggests, he is interested in the origin of German
tragic drama, and "Urprung"pertains both to the pre- and post-history of
the Trauerspiel.In order to make this clear, we will have to examine the
way in which Benjamindevelops his concept of origin and uses it to ground
his position on genre theory in the "ErkenntniskritischeVorrede" to his
book.
Benjamin opens the prologue with a discussion of the problems of rep-
resentation. Knowledge is implicatedby its desire for possession. The in-
tentionality of the subject who would cognitively possess an object makes
representation of this object peripheral:"Es existiert nicht bereits als ein
Sich-Darstellendes" (I/1, 209). Truth, however, is self-representing, and
blocks all attempts at closure. Fragmentaryforms resist closure, as they mo-
tivate a contemplationcharacterizedby a ceaseless breath-catching,an irreg-
ularrhythm,a continuouspausingforreflection. Onlysuch forms- Benjamin
cites the mosaic and the treatise as examples- subvert the intentionality
of knowledge and allownoumenaltruth to emerge. Contemplativerepresen-
tation is coterminous with a "prosaischeNiichternheit,"18 the only manner
of writing proper to the representation of ideas. From the dance of these
represented ideas, truth is recollected ("vergegenw~irtigt")(I/1, 209). Ben-
jamin enunciates his "Ideenlehre"in the Trauerspielbook with greater co-
gency than previously; in the dissertation, for example, the idea of form is
primarilydefined throughits relationshipto external (profane)form. Benja-
min brings his vision of the idea in the Trauerspielbook into close conjunction
with his vision of truth:
76 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987

Die Ideensindein Vorgegebenes.So definiertdie Sonde-

rung der Wahrheitvon dem Zusammenhange des Erken-
nensdieIdeealsSein.Dasist dieTragweitederIdeenlehre
Als Sein gewinnenWahrheit
fiirdenWahrheitsbegriff. und
Ideejeneh6chstemetaphysische Bedeutung,diedasPlato-
nischeSystemihnennachdrficklich (I/1,210).
zuspricht"

Though ideas are essential and pre-existent rather than phenomenal, an

idea is only evoked in the clustering of the extremes of phenomenaaround
it. In bodying forth the idea, the phenomena are redeemed. There is a
circularityinherent in the relationshipof phenomenon, truth and idea. Only
in fragmentaryform, as a configurationof extremes organizedby concepts
("Begriffe"),do phenomenabring an idea to life. Onlythe dance ("Reigen")
of these represented ideas brings forth the truth. But as the death of an
intentionality nested in a false scientific coherence, truth, to paraphrase
MichaelJennings, as "present in the world,"must be "hiddenin fragmentary
form.""Thus, as "present in the world,"hidden truth necessarily takes on
the character of redeemed phenomena.
The circle, however, is hermeneutic. If the whole (truth) takes on the
character of the parts (clustered extremes of phenomena bodying forth
ideas), the redeemed parts are invested with the character of the whole.
Benjamin says of the phenomena as they come into the realm of ideas:
"Ihrerfalschen Einheit entliu8ern sie sich, um aufgeteilt an der echten der
Wahrheitteilzuhaben"(I/1, 213). Like the twofoldactivity of the expression-
less in the Wahlverwandtschaften essay, the relationshipbetween phenome-
non and truth puts us in mind of the rhythm of "Ursprung."Phenomenon
is redeemed in its participationin the genuine unity of truth. But truth,
as "present in the world,"as "Gehalt,"capable of apprehension "nur bei
genauester Versenkungin die Einzelheiten eines Sachgehalts,"(I/1, 208) is
revealed to be necessarily open and incomplete. If truth in its representa-
tional characterwas other than incomplete and resistant to closure, it could
never serve as the refuge and guarantorof beauty. As the self-representing
realm of ideas, truth stands in this relationshipto beauty: "In der Wahrheit
ist jenes darstellendeMoment das Refugiumder Sch6nheit tiberhaupt"(I/1,
211). Truth as the Platonic "Gehalt"of beauty is not manifested through
exposure, but through the destructive immolationof the work's husk. The
form of the work comes "zum H6hepunkt ihrer Leuchtkraft"as the husk
enters into the circle of ideas (I/1, 211). As we saw in the Wahlverwandtschaf-
ten essay, the illuminationemanating from the work's form, an illumination
which cannot do without the language of the taxonomy of genre poetics, is
indispensable in evoking the work's truth content. Benjamin thus makes
explicit in the Trauerspielbook a "sine qua non" of his redemptive criticism
for which the earlier essay serves as an implicitparadigm.
Of course, Benjamindoes not share the underlyinginterest of traditional
genre poetics, the establishmentof a system of literaryclassifications.Since
 PIZER: Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 77

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:

Widhrend die Induktiondie Ideen zu Begriffendurchden

VerzichtaufihreGliederungundAnordnung herabwiirdigt,
vollziehtdie Deduktiondas gleichedurchderenProjizie-
rung in ein pseudo-logisches Kontinuum.Das philosophi-
sche Gedankenreich entspinntsichnichtinderununterbro-
chenenLinienffihrung begrifflicherDeduktionen,sondern
in einer Beschreibungder Ideenwelt.IhreDurchfiihrung
setzt mitjeder Idee von neuemals einer urspriinglichen
an. Denn die Ideen bildeneine unreduzierbare Vielheit
(I/1, 223).

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

The rejection of the establishment of a normative system of literary

genres from both an inductive and a deductive position leaves Benjaminin
the apparent position of endorsing a critical relativism which treats each
particularwork as an originalcategory in toto. As such a view is foreign to
Benjamin'saesthetics, it is naturalthat he distanced himself from it through
a critiqueof the foremost modern proponentof the complete formalintegrity
of the individualwork of art, Benedetto Croce. On the foundations of his
refutationof Croce'snominalism,Benjaminformulateshis concept of origin.25
He expresses support for Croce's rejection of the grouping of individual
works of art into aesthetic categories, and the attempt to use genres to
mediate between the universal and the particular.Benjamindeviates from
Croce's rejection of the literary genres in endorsingthe tragicand the comic
as useful ideas. Unlike the concepts of "pure tragedy" and "pure comic
drama,"informedby the artificialinclusiveness of rule-based genre theories,
the genre as idea is an internal structure. As such, it is neither prescriptive
nor empiricallycomprehensive. Rather,as a monad, its totalityis established
by its incorporationof both the pre- andpost-historyof phenomena,including
works of art. This indicates the fundamentallink between originand monad.
A criticism based on the immanent totality of the idea rather than the
extensive categories created by traditionalgenre poetics seeks what is
generically exemplary in the individualwork. Benjamincalls this search an
investigation("Untersuchung").This term couldimplythe discursiveattempt
to arrive at a knowledge of normativeprinciples. But Benjamindeflects any
such suspicion by asserting a significant work will either establish a new
genre or violate its limits:
Dazukommt,daBgeradedie bedeutendenWerke,sofern
in ihnennichterstmaligundgleichsamalsIdealdieGattung
vonGrenzenderGattungstehen.Ein
erscheint,aul3erhalb
bedeutendesWerk-entweder griindetes die Gattung
oder hebt sie aufundin den vollkommenen vereinigtsich
beides (I/1, 225).
A significant work is a transgressive work. The paradoxthat the "trans-
gressive work will become a norm or a generic paradigm"precisely as it
does awaywith norms"6is rooted in the principleof "Ursprung."The complex-
ity of this term in Benjamin'svocabularycan be adducedby the wide variety
of interpretations it has evoked. The critical passage defining "Ursprung"
in the "ErkenntniskritischeVorrede"follows Benjamin'scritique of Croce's
inability to reconcile genetic classificationwith an idea-based theory of art
forms in the problem of origin:
Ursprung,wiewohldurchaushistorischeKategorie,hatmit
Entstehungdennochnichtsgemein.ImUrsprungwirdkein
Werdendes Entsprungenen,vielmehrdem Werdenund
VergehenEntspringendesgemeint.DerUrsprungstehtim
FluBdes Werdensals Strudelundreift in seine Rhythmik
80 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987

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).

Before examining the reaction of Benjamin'sinterpreters to this seminal

passage, we should cite Benjamin'sown commentary. He was inspired by
his reading of Georg Simmel's Goethe(1913) to note that he took Goethe's
concept of the "Urphtinomen"from the realm of nature and transposed it
to the realmof history, adding:"Ursprung- das ist der aus dem heidnischen
Naturzusammenhangein die jiidischenZusammenhangeder Geschichte ein-
gebrachte Begriff des Urphtinomens"(V/i, 577). Simmel infers that Goethe
used the term "Urphtinomen"to describe the confluence of the idea ("Idee")
and the sensual object ("Gestalt").27 Rolf Tiedemann suggests the notion of
"Ursprung"adds history to the genre's ontologicalmakeup:"ZurIdee wird
eine Kunstartallererst als 'Ursprungsphtinomen,' Ursprungaber ist notwen-
dig einer aus Geschichte."28 Influenced by Tiedemann'sviews, Rene Wellek
comments that "'Ursprung'does not mean origin at all, but something like
the idea of a genre. It is rather Goethe's Urphdnomentransferred to his-
tory.""2In his essay on Benjamin'sconception of hope, Szondi is equally
laconic in addressing "Ursprung,"content to note Benjamin'sconcern with
"the problematicnature of the ahistoricalconceptions of the literary genres
usually found in discussions of poetics."30In a more thorough treatment of
the term, Radnoti deemphasizes the connection between "Ursprung"and
genre, andconcentrates on establishingthe synchronicityof origin'shistorical
character.Valuablein Radnoti'scommentaryis his elucidationof the method-
ological principles nested in Benjamin'stheory.31Witte's exegis diverges
from that of Tiedemannand Radnotiin characterizingTrauerspielunder the
sign of "Ursprung"as beyond history ("fibergeschichtlich").According to
Witte, Benjamin determines genres to be "Ideen, die aus den extremen
Ausprigungen der Phlinomene zu versammeln und in die Ordnungeneines
'intentionslosen Seins' der Wahrheiteinzustellen seien."32Thus, Benjamin's
representation of the "Trauerspiel"has as its aim not mere historicalaccu-
racy, but objective, metaphysical truth.33Michael Rumpf sees the use of
"Ursprung"as an attempt to establish the substantialityof the unitaryimage
of the tragic drama, "das aus der ZuftilligkeitgeschichtlichenWerdensin die
NotwendigkeitideenhaftenSeins fiberffihrtwird."" This is the transitionfrom
"Trauerspiel"as concept to "Trauerspiel"as idea.
 PIZER:Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 81

This brief overview of some of the past criticalstruggles with "Ursprung"

shows a remarkablerange of opinions concerning the interrelationshippos-
tulated in Benjamin'stheory between history and genre. To sum up: "Ur-
sprung" establishes the historical character of the genre, transcends the
historicalcharacterof the genre, overcomes the ahistoricalcharacterof the
usual view of genre, establishes the pre- and post-historicalcharacterof the
genre, and transcends the accidentalcharacter of the history of the genre.
Other treatments of "Ursprung"have emphasized the telos motivatingthe
relationshipof history and structure within the genre/work.31
Most interpreters of "Ursprung"have ignored its Leibnizianderivation.
An important exception is Wolin, who indicates "the category of 'monad'
serves as an additionalillustrationof the being and specificity of the idea.
Like origin, the monadknows history not in terms of its extensive empirical
being, but as something integraland essential."36 This is also true in relation
to the literary genre. The Leibnizianmonad is characterizedby "plenitude,
continuity and harmony.""37 The plenitude- Benjaminuses the term "Tota-
liti5t"- of form grounded in the "Wissenschaftvom Ursprung"is based on
its ideationalcharacter.The idea is the configurationof the apparentlycon-
tradictoryextremes of phenomena.This gives the idea a plenituderedeeming
it from the linear character of history. The idea is made essential as its
"nattirliche(pre- and post-historical)Geschichte" is established (I/1, 227).
Of course, the plenitude of the monad/ideaalso lies in the circumstancethat
each one "enthilt das Bild der Welt"(I/1, 228). Nevertheless, the totality/
plenitudeof the idea/monaddoes not subtractfromits particularindividuality.
In The Monadology(1715), Leibniz comments that "althougheach created
monad represents the whole universe, it represents more distinctly the
body which is particularlyaffected by it and of which it is the entelechy.""38
The internal, perfected nature and form-engenderingenergy of Aristotle's
entelechy imparts to the Leibnizianmonad its self-sufficient integrity. The
fact that the monads find their final cause and sufficient reason in God
establishes harmonyand continuityamong them. But the Discourseon Meta-
physics (1686), which prefigures The Monadologyepistemologically,estab-
lishes the fundamentalimmanenceof allideas. They are only linkedexternally
by God.
BenjaminadaptsLeibniz'smonadologicalprinciplesto overcome the histor-
icalproblemof formandmeet the challengehe saw posed by Croce'srejection
of genetic classification.We recall that in Der Begriff derKunstkritik,Benja-
min defined "progressive universal poetry" as extensive; the individual
genres are disintegrated into an endless, universal continuum of forms.
Romantic"transcendentalpoetry,"on the other hand, establishes the inten-
sive unity of form. The conflicting economies of the two concepts reflect
the tension in German Romantic poetics between the postulation of an
infinite multiplictyof genres and the idea of one all-encompassinggenre.39
But there is a clear fusion of the two economies in Benjamin'sletter of 1923
82 THE GERMANQUARTERLY Winter
1987

to Florens ChristianRang: "Ihre intensive Unendlichkeitkennzeichnet die

Ideen als Monaden."40 In this letter, Benjaminpostulates an intensive connec-
tion between works of art; the external unity of the "Kunstwerke"estab-
lished by an extensive history of form is of no significance. The intensive
cohesion of art- timeless and yet of historicalsignificance- is established
throughinterpretation.41 Benjamin'scare in distinguishingan essential "Ver-
bindung"between works of art from any~system of forms contaminatedby
the exteriority of traditional"Kunstgeschihten" reflects his already estab-
lished praxis of critical immanence. In this case, the dual nature of the
Leibnizianmonads- governed by both a self-sufficient interiorityand time-
less interconnectedness- also exercises an obvious influence on Benjamin's
discourse. In the Trauerspielbook, the concept of "Ursprung"makes possible
the intensive, timeless continuity of works of art-precisely in evoking the
historical totality of original phenomena. An immanent interpretation of
exemplary works, grounded in "Ursprung,"brings about the contiguity of
the extremes of a given genre (such as the Trauerspiel),and thus allows it
to emerge as an idea. The clustering of marginal traits culled from the
individualworks foregroundstheir intensive, timeless interconnection.The
linear historical continuity of traditionalart histories is thereby overcome.
These "Kunstgeschichten"seek what is average in works of art in order to
establish genres characterizedby historicalunity. An idealist theory of art
forms can only be reconciled to the principle of genetic classification by
striving for a historicaltotality:
Nichtum Einheitaus ihnenzu konstruieren,geschweige
ein Gemeinsamesaus ihnenabzuziehen,nimmtdie Idee
die ReihehistorischerAusprigungenauf. Zwischendem
Verhiltnisdes Einzelnenzur Idee undzumBegrifffindet
keine Analogiestatt: hier fillt es unter den Begriffund
bleibtwas es war- Einzelheit;dort steht es in der Idee
undwirdwas es nichtwar-Totalitit (I/1, 227).
Such totality subsumes both irreducibleunity and endless multiplicity.Such
totality presupposes all of the relationships between genre and history
outlined above. And such totality is manifested only in "Ursprung."
The monadologicalcharacterof "Ursprung"also preserves the historically
unique character of the Trauerspiel.Benjamin devotes much of the first
chapter of his treatise to distinguishingthe Trauerspielfrom Greek tragedy.
He concludes the "ErkenntniskritischeVorrede"by establishing parallels
between Baroque dramaand Expressionist dramastemming from the deca-
dence of both historical-philosophicalepochs. But he finds that even these
parallelsare limited (I/1, 236). Only by treating the Trauerspielwith respect
for its integrity as a discrete historical form can Benjaminilluminate "Ur-
sprung" in the dramas themselves. The connection between "Ursprung"
and the form of the individualhistorical object is most clearly established
later, in a fragment of the Passagen-Werk.The term itself is not employed
 PIZER:Benjamin's Early Aesthetics 83

in this fragment. But as Benjamin'scommentary in the same work defines

"Ursprung"in the Trauerspielbook as a concatenation of history and the
Goethian"Urphinomen"(V/1, 577), one can sense its underlyingpresence:
Das dialektischeBildist diejenigeFormdes historischen
Gegenstand(s),dieGoethesAnforderungen andenGegen-
standeinerAnalysegentigt:eineechteSynthesisaufzuwei-
sen. Es ist das Urphtinomen der Geschichte(V/1,592).

Benjamin'sendorsement of Goethe's dialecticsis offset by an earlier rejec-

tion of his genre theory. In Der Begriff derKunstkritik,Benjamindiscusses
the Romanticattempt to overcome the coincidentaland fragmentary("Tor-
sohafte") character of individualworks of art in order to criticallyresolve
them in the absolute. The dynamic fluidity of the work is foregroundedin
Romantic aesthetics. Goethe, on the other hand, studies these works in
order to establish fixed principles. These antipathetic positions are also
resonant in the respective genre theories of Goethe and the Romantics.
Benjamindiscerns a search for normative, pedagogictendencies in Goethe's
investigations of the literary genres, while the Romantics "stellten diese
Untersuchungenanalog morphologischenStudien an, welche geeignet sind,
die Beziehungender Wesenaufdas Leben zu erforschen"(I/1, 115,n. 307).
Both the Goethian search for synthesis and the attempt to relate form
to creaturely life inform Benjamin'sexamination of the German Baroque
dramas. But Benjaminrejects the Romanticprivilegingof the symbol in the
search for a "glinzende und letztlich unverbindlicheErkenntniseines Abso-
luten" (I/1, 336). Only the melancholy gaze of allegory shows the true
conditionof the creaturelylife of man, subjectto naturethroughhis mortality.
The insight into the "transcienceof things, and the concern to redeem them
for eternity is one of the strongest impulses in allegory."42
Creaturelylife is
inscribed by history. Allegory subverts the illusion of harmony between
object and image, the temporal and the eternal, and the universal and
particularfostered by the Romantic symbol. Part I of the Trauerspielbook
describes "the most salient extravagancies and affectations of the dramas
themselves."43The absolute tyranny of the oriental despot and the silent
sufferingof the martyr,the splendorof the court and the annihilated,corpse-
littered landscape:such phenomenalextremeties are antitheticalto the total-
izing conjunctionsof the symbolic tragedy. They invest the Baroquedramas
with a unique historical content. The restoration and restitution of this
historical content makes of it a philosophicaltruth. This critical activity
reveals the allegoric Trauerspielas a ruin- i.e., it establishes the Trauer-
spiel's open, incomplete, fragmentary character. The mortificationof the
Trauerspielis governed by the rhythm of "Ursprung."It is described by
Benjaminin the second part of the book:
Es ist der Gegenstandder philosophischen
Kritikzu er-
weisen, daBdie Funktionder Kunstformeben dies ist:
84 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY Winter1987

historischeSachgehalte,wie sie jedembedeutendenWerk

zugrundeliegen,zu philosophischen zu
Wahrheitsgehalten
machen.DieseUmbildung derSachgehalte zumWahrheits-
gehaltmachtdenVerfallderWirkung in demvonJahrzehnt
zu Jahrzehntdas Ansprechendeder frtiherenReize sich
mindert,zumGrundeinerNeugeburt,inwelcheralleephe-
mere SchdnheitvollendsdahinfiilltunddasWerkals Ruine
sichbehauptet.Imallegorischen Aufbaudes barockenTrau-
erspielszeichnensolchtriimmerhafte Formendes gerette-
ten Kunstwerksvonjeherdeutlichsichab (I/1, 358).
The concatenationof phenomenalextremities allows the immanentideas of
the Trauerspielto emerge. Their synthesis illuminates the genre in its
essential history. And the fragmentaryform of the Trauerspielis intimately
relatedto this redemptiverecovery of "Ursprung"in the individualworks.
After the Trauerspielbook, the concept of "Ursprung"does not remain
a central feature in Benjamin'sdiscussions on artistic form. His position on
the relationship between genre and history becomes more problematic.
Critics such as Andrew Arato and Heinz Paetzoldt find Benjamin'slater
aesthetics show genres (both present and past) in the age of mass experi-
ence and modern reproductiontechniques as ephemeral categories, lacking
historically-groundedauthenticity,uniqueness and stability."44 Wohlfarth,on
the other hand, indicates the genre poetics of Benjamin's"materialist"phase
may very well be prefiguredin the writings of his "idealist"phase.45 This
issue cannot concern us here. But it is clear that in Benjamin'searly aesthet-
ics, the concept of "Ursprung"providesa foundationfor establishingliterary
genres as immanent forms illuminatedin their redeemed history.

Notes

RichardWolin, WalterBenjamin: An Aestheticof Redemption(New York:ColumbiaUniversity

Press, 1982). As Wolinindicates (p. 281, n. 24), Benjaminhimselfcites this expression of Karl
Krausin the fourteenth of the "GeschichtsphilosophischeThesen," and the use of the concept
of "origin"there "represents a secularizationof its original employment in Origin of the
German TragicDrama, in keeping with Benjamin'slater interest in historicalmaterialism."
An importantexception to this tendency is providedby Heinz Schlaffer,"WalterBENJAMINS
Idee der Gattung,"in: Textsortenund literarischeGattungen:Dokumentationdes Germanisten-
tages im Hamburg vom 1. bis 4. April 1979, ed. by the "Vorstandder Vereinigung der
deutschen Hochschulgermanisten"(Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1983), pp. 281-90. Schlaffer's
essay focuses almost exclusively on the Trauerspielbook.
WalterBenjamin,GesammelteSchriften,ed. RolfTiedemannandHermannSchweppenhiuser
(Frankfurt:SuhrkampVerlag, 1974), I/1, 226. Hereafter cited in the text.
4
Wolin, p. 43.
Marcus Bullock, "The Comingof the Messiah or the Stoic Burning- Aspects of the Negated
Text in WalterBenjaminand FriedrichSchlegel," GermanicReview, 60 (1985), 2-15.
Ren6 Wellek, "The Early Literary Criticismof WalterBenjamin,"Rice UniversityStudies, 57
(1971), 126.
Wolin, p. 61. (Wolin'semphasis).
In a footnote to this passage, Benjaminstates: "Dies folgt aus dem romantischenMessianis-
mus und kann hier nicht begrtindet werden"(I/1, 92, n. 238). Bullockremarksthat Benjamin
 PIZER:Benjamin'sEarly Aesthetics 85

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

z Konrad Burdach, Reformation, Renaissance, Humanismus: Zwei Abhandlungen iiber die

GrundlagemodernerBildung und Sprachkunst,2nd ed. (1926; rpt. Darmstadt:Wissenschaft-
liche Buchgesellschaft, 1970), p. 89.
24 Cf. Wohlfarth,p. 137: "For the later Benjamin, 'continuum'becomes a primarilynegative
category- alreadyThe Origin of GermanBaroqueDrama replaces the unitaryReflexionsme-
dium with a discontinuous pluralityof ideas--and the romantic faith in a sustaining center
persists only in muted forms."It could be argued that the Trauerspielitself as a fundamental
("urspriingliche")form provides a 'sustainingcenter' for the 'discontinuouspluralityof ideas'
the individualworks subsumed under this category evoke.
25
Cf. Michael Rumpf,SpekulativeLiteraturtheorie:Zu WalterBenjamins Trauerspielbuch(K6-
nigstein/Ts: ForumAcademicum,1980), p. 44: "Die Lektire von Croces Asthetik fiihrtkeine
Argumenteheran, mit denen die disparatenTheorien der Vorredean Schltissigkeitgewinnen
wiirden. Offensichtlichdient die Bezugnahmeauf ihn hauptsdichlich dazu, einem von Benjamin
geschtitzten Autor Reverenz zu erweisen." Consideringthe distance Benjaminputs between
himself and Croce on the question of form, and his use of Croce's ideas on genre as the
primaryspringboardfor expressing his own seminal principleof "Ursprung,"Rumpf'sasser-
tion seems unfounded.
21 My formulationof
Benjamin'sparadox is based on Beaujour's discussion (p. 16) of the
contradictionsin Maurice Blanchot'sviews on literary taxonomies. Beaujourcites Blanchot's
definitionof Mallarme's'Book'as transgressing the classificatorypower of the genre. Accord-
ing to Beaujour,"the transgression of genre demanded by the BlanchotianBook does not
do away with norms. On the contrary, the transgressive work will become a norm or a
generic paradigmin its turn, thus establishing a new taxonomy of kinds" (Beaujour'sem-
phasis).
27
Georg Simmel, Goethe, 4th ed. (Leipzig: Klinkhardt& Biermann, 1921), p. 56.
2" Rolf Tiedemann, Studien zur Philosophie WalterBenjamins (Frankfurta.M.:
Europiische
Verlagsanstalt,1965), p. 58.
29
Wellek, p. 132.
Szondi, "Hope in the Past: On WalterBenjamin,"trans. Harvey Mendelson, CriticalInquiry,
.4
(1978), 504.
Radnoti, p. 93: "Benjamin'stheory of origin (Ursprung)contains the essence of the historical
method.Originis not identicalwith factualemergence; sometimes originis not even expressed
by the world of facts. The scholar has to select the facts, the inner structure of which is
essential. Because his task is to recognize individualityas totality in the idea, in contrast to
the individualityof the concept, he does not seek the averageof facts, or conceptualgenerality,
but he has to draft the circle of extremes of the facts that belong to the idea. Study of origin
is the restoration of these facts, but it is by definition incomplete, unfinished" (Radnoti's
emphasis).
:1 Witte, p. 108.
Witte, p. 109.
Rumpf, p. 29 (Rumpf'semphasis).
See Terry Eagleton, WalterBenjamin, or Towardsa RevolutionaryCriticism (London:NLB,
1981), p. 121: "The historicist imprisoningof an artefact within its moment of genesis is
to be rejected: the Benjaminof the Trauerspielbook instead grasps origin teleologically,as
an unfolding dynamic structure with the work that is thoroughly caught up in the work's
history, and of which that complete history is the only full account."Also Schlaffer(p. 288):
"'Ursprung'bezeichnet die historische Ideenstrukturjener 5isthetischenInnovationen,denen
ein nachhaltiges Gestaltschema gelungen ist. Gestalt ist das Telos, zu dem die werdende
Gattung die verschiedenen politisch-sozialen und literaturgeschichtlichenGegebenheiten
niitzt."
Wolin, p. 98 (Wolin'semphasis).
1' Nicholas Rescher, Leilmiz:An Introductionto his Philosophy(Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman
and Littlefield, 1979), p. 68.
G. W. Leibniz, PhilosophicalPapersand Letters, ed. and trans. Leroy E. Loemker (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1956), II, 1055.
" This tension is explicated in a work which has received widespread attention among both
Germanists and those with a general interest in genre theory. See PhillippeLacoue-Labarthe
and Jean-Luc Nancy, L'absolu littgraire, Thdoriede la littgraturedu romantismeallemand
 PIZER:Benjamin'sEarly Aesthetics 87

(Paris:Seuil, 1978).Bullock(p. 2) cites Benjamin'sdissertationas a majorinfluenceon this

study,andfeels it reflectsBenjamin's own criticalaporias.
4"Benjamin,Briefe,ed. GershomScholemand TheodorW. Adorno(1966;rpt. Frankfurt:
Suhrkamp Verlag,1978),I, 323.
41
Benjamin,Briefe, I, 322.
42
Benjamin, cited in Wolin, p. 71.
4:1Wolin,p.64.
44
"Modernreproduction techniquesproducegenrewithoutunique,authenticworksandtear
even the genres of the past fromtheirtraditional fabric,whichwas the implicitfoundation
of theirmystery,theiruniqueness." AndrewArato,"TheAntinomiesof the Neo-Marxian
Theoryof Culture," International Journalof Sociology,7 (1977),8. In an articleappearing
in the same issue of this journal,entitled"WalterBenjamin's Theoryof the Endof Art,"
HeinzPaetzoldtwrites:"Benjamin wantsto show,on theonehand,thehistorically transitory
natureof specifictypes of art (lyric,drama,epic, novel,illustration,
etc). and,on the other
hand,the weakeningof art by the technicalprocessesof materialproduction (photography,
film,radio,athletics),whichencroachuponart as an autonomous realmwithits ownformal
languageandproblems,if they do not makeart altogetherimpossible" (p. 31).
41
Wohlfarth,pp. 142-43.

***

The Chicago Folklore Prize

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No restriction is placed on the contestant's choice of material and folklore is
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A modest cash awardis always made to the winner of the First Prize. If entries
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Please submitentries to: Chairman,Dept. of GermanicLanguagesandLiteratures,
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**Entries must be received by April 1, 1987.