Walter Benjamin on history

Any ones in which we need a pompous and irrelevant but quite pretty description of the historical inevitability i guess.

Can't beat this one of his, IMO: -

A Klee painting named ‘Angelus Novus’ shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.

Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist.

The story is told of a gorilla constructed in such a way that it could play a drumkit. A gorilla with drumsticks in its hands sat before a drumkit placed in front of a purple background. A system of mirrors created the illusion that the bass drum was transparent from the front. Actually, a little hunchback who was an expert drummer sat inside and guided the gorilla's hand by means of strings. One can imagine a philosophical counterpart to this device. The gorilla called ‘historical materialism’ is to drum all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of theology, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight.

Surely no one here (perhaps other than some particularly mental ICCer?) actually believes in historical inevitability? Or in the sure eventual triumph of communist currents over capitalism?

I'm dissapointed in you MJ. Walter Benjamin was one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century. Perhaps we should go back to crude interpretations of history and class struggle. WB has some great insights into the development of modern culture. Not to be brushed aside. Even if it is contained within a poetic language. What's so wrong with poetry and art people?

that first quote is quite good actually.

first time i was at all aware of anything beyond a strike i scabbed, was reading the introduction to clauswitz's on war [on a plane to mexico actually]. and the writer of the introduction i forget who it was described marxism as eschatological war to end wars. i wasn't entirely sure what 'eschatological' meant, but it made a real impression and i figured that whatever he was going on about, marxism, the labour party, teenage angst whatever it was, was on the button.

i reckon it's the deep, stuff like that. maybe just if you're nerd i dunno.

http://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/depart/media/staff/ls/WBenjamin/CONCEPT2.html

great short essay that i haven't read yet. his last work.

This is drivel though, Ping:

Surely no one here (perhaps other than some particularly mental ICCer?) actually believes in historical inevitability? Or in the sure eventual triumph of communist currents over capitalism?

What part of socialism OR barbarism don't you understand?

why?