Melancholy Dialectics
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"Pensky's study provides a compelling argument for locating melancholia at the center of Benjamin's thought. Because of its provocative nature, it promises to spark the interest of Benjamin critics, scholars, and students in this otherwise neglected aspect of his work."-German Quarterly "Pensky shows Benjamin's ideas of a new criticism of nature and culture to be based on his schema of mourning and melancholy; as well Pensky explains the concepts of subjectivity, allegory, and the dialectical image in Benjamin's work. . . . A difficult subject, well handled."-Library Journal "A comprehensive view of Benjamin's achievement, focusing on the central ideas of mourning and melancholia, developed in Benjamin's early work, Origin of German Tragic Drama (1928). Pensky sees the contradictions in Benjamin's thought as part of the 'melancholy way of seeing. Between melancholy subject and melancholy objects, this way of seeing subsists in the dialectical interval between these two constituted moments.' All of Benjamin's modes, especially allegory, and all of his literary/philosophical works are here viewed as part of the melancholic dialectic. Pensky has clearly mastered all the available material on Benjamin, as well as the relevant cultural criticism."-Choice "A work of original insight, conceptual subtlety, and intellectual excitement. This will become an important work within the burgeoning field of Benjamin studies."-David Bathrick, Cornell UniversityLibrary JournalBenjamin was one of the major critical thinkers of this century. Pensky (philosophy, Binghamton Univ.) uses the concepts developed in Benjamin's early work on the German Play of Mourning ( Deutschen Trauerspiel ) to illuminate all of his oeuvre. Pensky shows that Benjamin's ideas of a new criticism of nature and culture is based on his schema of mourning and melancholy; he also explains the concepts of subjectivity, allegory, and the dialectical image in Benjamin's work. Benjamin attempted to reconcile the ego and action in a critical stance based on a reading of history and literature as fragments of the past and of understanding. Pensky touches on his mystical view of language, redemption, and history. A difficult subject, well handled. Recommended for large philosophy collections.-- Gene Shaw, NYPL
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction11Trauer and Criticism362Trauerspiel and Melancholy Subjectivity603Melancholia and Allegory1084Melancholia and Modernity1515On the Road to the Object: Surrealism as Postmelancholy Criticism1846The Trash of History211Afterword240Notes249Index279
