(Benjamin, 1969) p.261.” He calls in to mind the French Revolution and the rebels using the image of ancient Rome as an inspiration. Benjamin is suggesting that as history is forever progressing, moving it is problematic to pin down concrete suppositions from it.īenjamin talks of history and it’s connection to the present, describing it as being, “filled by the presence of the now (Benjamin, 1969) p.261.” He asserts that contemporary figures use history as a way to comment and rationalise the present, and that it can be a powerful tool for change, “a tiger’s leap into the past. But a storm is blowing (Benjamin, 1969) p.257.” In this powerful the angel of history is unable to make order of the great mess he sees as he is carried onward by time’s progress. As opposed to our view of history’s progress as a long line of events Benjamin describes a more chaotic image as a, ”single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage.The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. The angel moves facing backwards, Benjamin sees this image as an expression of history and it’s progression. (Benjamin, 1969) p.256.”īenjamin later uses an image from artist Paul Klee in his exploration of the nature of history. ![]() (Benjamin, 1969) p.256.” To Benjamin this “triumphal procession” negates much of the validity of historical sources and it’s progress is inherently distasteful, saying these texts are, “not free of barbarism. ![]() He suggests that we do not hear from those at society’s lower classes, that the historical narrative has become in unreliable march of powerful, “Whoever has emerged victorious participates to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate. Identifying that what survives from the past is carried forward by the victors, those at the top of society. In my research on theory of historical study and understanding I had read a chapter of Walter Benjamin’s book Illuminations called “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” In this chapter Benjamin reflects on the position of the historical materialist and history, how it should be approached and the problems that are thrown up by it.īenjamin calls for a detachment in approaching historical information.
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