Chapter 5. Walter Benjamin’s idea of language
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Frank J.M. Vonk
Abstract
The German literary critic, art critic and philosopher of language Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) has in many ways struggled with the question how language manifests itself in art, epistemology or literature. In posthumously published fragments, Benjamin shows how his restless mind has produced texts in which he has tried to connect the religious (Judaic) tradition with the ruinous appearance of an ideal language in names, trying to understand and explain the imperfection of language, also in translations between languages. Benjamin has covered this ruinous world in an allegoric view of language as it was done in Baroque allegories (the vanitas) showing itself in mourning plays,, hoping for a new, better world. In a way Benjamin’s concern with language shows how language is fragmentized in daily speech in which only the communicative function has survived. The ‘divine’ dimension or word can only allegorically be considered to be relevant to this communicative function.
Abstract
The German literary critic, art critic and philosopher of language Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) has in many ways struggled with the question how language manifests itself in art, epistemology or literature. In posthumously published fragments, Benjamin shows how his restless mind has produced texts in which he has tried to connect the religious (Judaic) tradition with the ruinous appearance of an ideal language in names, trying to understand and explain the imperfection of language, also in translations between languages. Benjamin has covered this ruinous world in an allegoric view of language as it was done in Baroque allegories (the vanitas) showing itself in mourning plays,, hoping for a new, better world. In a way Benjamin’s concern with language shows how language is fragmentized in daily speech in which only the communicative function has survived. The ‘divine’ dimension or word can only allegorically be considered to be relevant to this communicative function.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments 1
- Editors’ introduction 3
-
Part 1. General and particular issues in the history of linguistics
- Chapter 1. Can linguistics and historiography of linguistics profit from each other? 14
- Chapter 2. Type or descent? 31
- Chapter 3. Le futur antérieur des linguistes (fin 19 e – début 20 e siècle) 47
- Chapter 4. Ethics and language in (and around) Philipp Wegener 60
- Chapter 5. Walter Benjamin’s idea of language 77
- Chapter 6. Eléments pour une histoire de l’interprétation 88
- Chapter 7. “Computational linguistics” as the horizon of projection of early machine translation 102
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Part 2. Antiquity
- Chapter 8. Declension and description 116
- Chapter 9. Constituent-order in Sanskrit Bahuvrīhi compounds 129
- Chapter 10. The internal order of Sanskrit compounds 145
-
Part 3. Sixteenth to twentieth century works
- Chapter 11. How far are the horizons of descriptive linguistics? 160
- Chapter 12. The relevance of B. Delbrück’s work on Indo-European syntax (a century after his death) 179
- Chapter 13. Three documents bearing on the foundation of the Linguistic Society of America in the age of scientific racism 198
- Chapter 14. Archival resources for the study of the historiography of American linguistics 211
- Chapter 15. Courses in general linguistics by Roman Jakobson at the École Libre des Hautes Études 220
- Chapter 16. Contribution de Agostino Gemelli (1878–1959) à l’analyse des variations phoniques du langage 238
- Chapter 17. The structuralist quest for general meanings 248
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 279
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 283
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgments 1
- Editors’ introduction 3
-
Part 1. General and particular issues in the history of linguistics
- Chapter 1. Can linguistics and historiography of linguistics profit from each other? 14
- Chapter 2. Type or descent? 31
- Chapter 3. Le futur antérieur des linguistes (fin 19 e – début 20 e siècle) 47
- Chapter 4. Ethics and language in (and around) Philipp Wegener 60
- Chapter 5. Walter Benjamin’s idea of language 77
- Chapter 6. Eléments pour une histoire de l’interprétation 88
- Chapter 7. “Computational linguistics” as the horizon of projection of early machine translation 102
-
Part 2. Antiquity
- Chapter 8. Declension and description 116
- Chapter 9. Constituent-order in Sanskrit Bahuvrīhi compounds 129
- Chapter 10. The internal order of Sanskrit compounds 145
-
Part 3. Sixteenth to twentieth century works
- Chapter 11. How far are the horizons of descriptive linguistics? 160
- Chapter 12. The relevance of B. Delbrück’s work on Indo-European syntax (a century after his death) 179
- Chapter 13. Three documents bearing on the foundation of the Linguistic Society of America in the age of scientific racism 198
- Chapter 14. Archival resources for the study of the historiography of American linguistics 211
- Chapter 15. Courses in general linguistics by Roman Jakobson at the École Libre des Hautes Études 220
- Chapter 16. Contribution de Agostino Gemelli (1878–1959) à l’analyse des variations phoniques du langage 238
- Chapter 17. The structuralist quest for general meanings 248
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 279
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 283
