Walter Benjamin As A Marxist Literary Critic:

Eman Abd El-samei Goda Kash-kosh

The thesis focuses on one of the most influential thinkers of the periodbetween the First and the Second World Wars, Walter Benjamin (1892-1940).He is well-known as a German philosopher, critic, essayist, and cultural theorist.His work is marked by a multiplicity and plurality of interests that made hisideas difficult to be included in complete, full-length books. He is one of themost important Marxist critics whose work touches upon issues that are popularand suitable to the modern age. He is the first Marxist critic who could benefitfrom modernism in a way that is fit for the production of a revolutionarypolitical awareness of the working class. This is through his theory of themechanical reproduction of the work of art.Benjamin’s career as a critic can be divided into two major periods: 1916 -1925 and 1925 - 1940.The first period (1916 - 1925) is called the period of ” ’early’ ” Benjamin(the period before Benjamin’s turning to Marxism). In this period, his literarycriticism was consistent but esoteric, interested in philosophical, religious, andmetaphysical interests and concentrated on the cult value or the aura of the workof art and that the receiver of a work of art is not public but God. The output ofthis period is a group of great works such as ”On the Language as Such and onthe Language of Man” (1916), ”On the Programme of the Coming Philosophy”(1918), ”The Concept of Art Criticism in German Romanticism” (1919), ”TheTask of the Translator” (1921), and ”The Origin of German Tragic Drama”(1925).The second period (1925 - 1940) is called the period of ”’mature’ ”Benjamin (the period of Benjamin’s Marxism). It witnessed the emergence ofnew ideological horizons of Benjamin’s thinking that were ”neither consistentnor univocal”. It is divided into three main phases of Benjamin’s development asa Marxist critic.The first phase is what Benjamin called ”Dialectical Images”. As aMarxist beginner, Benjamin began to pay his attention to criticize the bourgeoissociety and to bring together a certain number of rules and advice for writers andcritics through separated and unconnected images. The output of this stage is hisfirst Marxist work ”One-Way street” (1928).The second phase is Benjamin’s theory of ”mass culture.” It ischaracterized by an ideological connection between Benjamin and the Germanplaywright, Brecht. In this stage, Benjamin paid his attention to the questions ofaesthetic reception and the necessity for the refunctioning of the bourgeoisapparatus for the production of revolutionary mass culture. In spite of theimportance of this stage, it is confronted by a fierce critique especially fromAdorno and Horkheimer who regarded Benjamin’s theory of mass culture asproducing a cheap and commercial art. The output of this stage is four of themost important essays by Benjamin: ”What Is Epic Theatre?”, ”A Little Historyof Photography” (1931), ”The Author as Producer” (1934), and ”The Work ofArt in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936).The third phase is how Benjamin intermingled his Marxist and earliertheological ideas. In this stage, Benjamin returns to his emphasis on traditionalart against the modern technological developments deploring the destruction ofaura and experience showing that this destruction is the destruction of history asa whole. The fruits of this stage are three of influential essays: ”The Storyteller:Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov” (1936), ”On Some Motifs inBaudelaire” (1939), and ”Theses on the Philosophy of History” (1940).Benjamin is considered as one of the most argumentative Marxist criticswhere some critics considered his Marxism as a mere experiment or a passinginterest in his life while others considered him as a Marxist. This argumentationis due to three main reasons: first, the fusion of Benjamin’s theological,philosophical, literary, and Marxist ideas; second, his abstention from cleardeclaration of his commitment to Marxism; third, the ambivalence of his criticalideas sometimes as a supporter and sometimes as an objector to the same ideas.That is why the main objective of this thesis is to argue that Benjamin is aMarxist critic and that his Marxism was not just a passing interest in his life butrather a deep belief in Marxist principles. To accomplish this objective, thethesis has adopted an analytical/ theoretical method through concentrating on thethree main phases of Benjamin’s development as a Marxist critic.The thesis is divided into an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion.The introduction paves the way for the thesis as a whole by showing theimportance of the topic, the reasons behind its choice, its method, the problemand aim of the thesis, and some difficulties that encountered the researcher.Chapter One, ”The Marxist Critical Theory” provides a rather extensive studyof Marxism, its history since Marx, its important principles, and the mostfamous and important Marxist critics and tides with their important ideas fromLukacs to the recent developments of Marxism of Eagleton and Jameson.Chapter Two, ”Benjamin: The Marxist Critic” examines two main points: 1)Benjamin’s first phase as a Marxist critic through his theory of ”DialecticalImages” and 2) Benjamin’s second phase as a Marxist critic through his theoryof mass art and his creative relationship with Brecht. Chapter Three, ”Artand Technology” proceeds to examine the concept of aura and the idea of themechanical reproduction of works of art through film and photography to have amass art with a political revolutionary awareness. Chapter Four, ”Benjamin: TheLiterary Critic” discusses Benjamin’s third phase as a Marxist critic and how heintermingled his Marxist and earlier theological ideas of art. The conclusionsums up the main arguments propounded in the thesis, the main findings arrivedat, and the main reasons that justify them.