Walter Benjamin's Theory of Allegory

Author(s): Bainard Cowan

Source: New German Critique, No. 22, Special Issue on Modernism (Winter, 1981), pp. 109-122
Published by: New German Critique
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WalterBenjamin'sTheoryofAllegory

byBainardCowan

As earlyas 1923WalterBenjaminannounced hisintentionofworking

outa "theoryofallegory."'The first stageofthisintention wasrealizedas
his mostcompletesinglestudy,thebook on Baroque Trauerspiel (now
translated in Englishas The Originof GermanTragicDrama).Firstpub-
lished in 1927, the workthatironically closed all doors to academic
respectabilityforhimwascompleted beforethefirst ofhisrapprochements
withMarxismin the mid-1920s.Criticsand historians have justifiably
emphasized the different phases of Benjamin's life,butwhat
intellectual
impressesone abouthiswritings on allegory is theessentialconsistencyof
theirdirection throughout hiscareer.Baudelaire,theonewriter towhom
he devotedmostofhismaturestudy,is forBenjamintheinheritor ofthe
Trauerspiel; froman earlyindication that"Baudelaire'sgenius,whichis
fed on melancholy, is an allegoricalgenius,"Benjaminmaintained and
deepended hissenseof allegoryas he transferred itsfocusfrom the 17thto
the 19thcentury.2 Unableto completehisprojectedbookon Baudelaire,
one of whosethreesectionswas to be "Baudelaireas Allegorist," he left
onlythefragmentary collectionofnotes,itselfallegorically titled"Central
Park,"thatformhislastreflections on anyliterary subject.Morethanhalf
of its forty-five fragments are concernedwithallegory,ostensibly on
Baudelaire,butmanyof themexplicitly relating and contrastingBaude-
laireanallegorytoBaroqueallegory. In thesenotes,written duringthelast
yearof hislife,he refersmorethanonce to his "Baroque-book,"noting
downpointsofconsonanceorcontrast withthearguments developedthere
(GS, I, 2, pp. 659,690).
AlmosteverystudyofBenjamin'sthought mentions allegoryat some
point; surprisingly,however,the theoryin its entirety, as elusiveand
unconventional by scholarly standards as it is, has gonevirtuallywithout

1. WalterBenjamin,Briefe,I, ed. GershomScholemandTheodorW. Adorno(Frank-

furtam Main, 1966),p. 304. Cf. Benjamin'searliestextantplanfortheTrauerspiel book,
Gesammelte eds. RolfTiedemann
Schriften, andHermann Schweppenhiuser, I, 3 (Frankfurt
am Main, 1974),p. 915 (hereaftercitedas GS).
2. WalterBenjamin,"Paris,Capitalof theNineteenth Century," Reflections:Essays,
Aphorisms, AutobiographicalWritings, trans.EdmundJephcott, ed. PeterDemetz(New
York, 1978),p. 156.

109

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110 Cowan

thoroughexplication.3Perceptivetreatments have been giventhatrelateit

to sociologyand to Marxistpoliticsand aesthetics,butseeingitas precisely
a literarytheoryhas been more difficult.4 It is scarcelysurprising,though
disappointing, that studies
literary should be the last to discoverits signi-
ficance, for Benjamin achieves the firstreally significantdefinitionof
allegorysinceDante bycastingitin culturaland ontologicalterms.Indeed,
whoever followsthe path of Benjamin's examinationwillcome away not
only with a new understandingof allegorybut with a reassessmentof
cultureand ontologyas well.
In Benjamin's analysis,allegoryis pre-eminently a kindof experience.
A paraphrase of his expositionmightbegin by statingthatallegoryarises
froman apprehensionof the worldas no longerpermanent,as passingout
of being: a sense of its transitoriness,an intimationof mortality,or a
conviction,as in Dickinson, that"thisworldis not conclusion."Allegory
would thenbe the expressionof thissuddenintuition.But allegoryis more
than an outward formof expression; it is also the intuition,the inner
experience itself. The form such an experience of the world takes is
fragmentary inittheworldceasestobe purely
andenigmatic; and
physical
becomes an aggregationof signs. Such a momentoccurs, for instance,
when in "Le Cygne" Baudelaire's nostalgic persona, searchingfor a
vanishedParis as he looks aroundhim,exclaims,"Tout pourmoideviental-
1~gorie."5Transforming thingsinto signsis both whatallegorydoes - its
technique- andwhatitis about- itscontent. Noris thistransformation
exclusivelyan intellectualone: thesignsperceivedstrikenotesat thedepths
of one's being,regardlessof whethertheypointto heaven,to an irretriev-
able past, or to the grave.
The privationof the physicalworld impliedin thistransformation of
things into signs makes the term "experience" seem profoundlymis-
applied. The concept of experience,as Hans-GeorgGadamer has pointed
out, was glorifiedby the GermanRomanticsin thesame impulsethatgave
birthto the delusive notionof the symbol.6But the symbolwas an expres-
sion of experience perceived as self-sufficient, completelyadequate in

3. JirgenNaeher's WalterBenjaminsAllegorie-Begriff als Modell:Zur Konstitution

philosophischer Literaturwissenschaft 1977)is thefirstattempt
(Stuttgart, at an extensive
study,marredbya failure toappreciate theoppositions
inBenjamin's categoriesanda desire
to makethemdialectically identical.
4. SandorRadnoti,in"The EarlyAesthetics ofWalterBenjamin,"International Journal
of Sociology,7 (1977),77-123,perceptivelyrelatesBenjamin'sallegoryto thesociologyof
Paul de Man'sstudyofthe"rhetoricity"
literature. ofontological
textsin "The Rhetoricof
Temporality," Theoryand Practice,ed. CharlesS. Singleton(Baltimore,
Interpretation:
1969),pp. 173-191,and inAllegoriesof Reading(NewHaven,1979)has proceededinpart
fromBenjamin'sinsights.
5. Cit.Benjamin,"Paris,"p. 156.
6. Gadamer'sdiscussion of symboland allegoryis in Truthand Method,trans.Garrett
Bardenand JohnCumming (NewYork,1976),pp. 63-73.

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 Benjamin's Theoryof Allegory 111

itself.Benjamin writesthatthe Romanticsymbolsprangfromthe "idea of

the unlimitedimmanenceof the moralworldin the worldof beauty"; the
symbol "assumed the meaning into its hidden and, if one mightsay so,
wooded interior."'Experiencewould thenbecome something to appreciate
entirelyin itself.Time seems to stopforthisperfectmoment,and problems
of communicationare annulled;the radianceof the symboltransmits itself
spontaneously,withoutneed of poetic convention.Allegory,by contrast,
came to be seen as mere convention,inauthentic,not groundedin ex-
perience, cut off frombeing and concerned only with manipulatingits
repertoireof signs.
Benjamin does not respond to this charge symmetrically, makingal-
legorythe opposite of symbol;insteadhe insiststhattheconceptof symbol
as the Romanticsconceivedit is fundamentally misconstrued.Ratherthan
opposing the symbol,he deconstructsit, radicallychallengingits claim to
performthe unitaryact the Romanticcriticsheld it capable of.
The symbolicpresentationof a naturalor mythicalobject was supposed
to be a renderingpresentof theabsoluteformor Platonicidea in whichthe
individualobjectparticipated; morethana sign,it wouldbe part of the
transcendentabsolute and would offerto theperceiverparticipation in that
absolute and an intuitiveknowledgeof it. Benjamin argues,however,that
the knowledgesoughtin the symbolis "a resplendentbut ultimatelynon-
committalone," invalid because it presumesthat "the beautifulis sup-
posed to mergewiththe divinein an unbrokenwhole" (OGT, pp. 159f.).
This continuityis based on an analogyto "the unityof thematerialand the
transcendentalobject, which constitutesthe paradox of the theological
symbol" (OGT, p. 160). Benjamin does not question the validityof the
theological symbolbecause it is presentedas a mystery, available to the
soul but notto theintellect.In therealmoftheintellectthesymbolicunityof
immanence and transcendenceis an unfulfillable claim, by reason of an
unbridgeable gap that exists between the realm of the ideas (a term
Benjamin always uses in the Platonicsense) and the worldof phenomena
(this distinctionis the burdenof discussionin the prologueto the Trauer-
spiel book). Furthermore,the symbol'sclaimis made in bad faith,because
it is born out of the very consciousness that-for the firsttime as a
widespread culturalphenomenon-experienced the pervasivenessof that
gap." Benjamin's expositionimpliesthatthe Romanticsymbolis an arti-
ficial isolation of the nostalgicimpulsewithinallegory,a desire forbeing
thatgrew as the consciousnessof thisontologicalgap was awakened. The
symbol,withits hallmarkof unity,arose froma mentalitythatcould not

7. WalterBenjamin, The Originof GermanTragicDrama, trans.JohnOsborne (London,

1977), pp. 160, 165 (hereaftercited as OGT).
8. Thomas McFarland's term"meontic" coversthe entiretyof thisculturalrealizationof
negativity,thoughhe sees the symbolas the authenticresponseto thisperception.See "The
Place beyond the Heavens: True Being, Transcendence,and the SymbolicIndicationof
Wholeness," Boundary2, 7 (Winter,1979), 283-317.

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112 Cowan

tolerate the self-combating tension,the Zweideutigkeit withinallegory-a

tension, however,characterizing humanlife.
PervadingBenjamin's writingabout historyis an awarenessof the all-
too-humanpropensityto forgetthepast and in so doingto look away from
the truthof oneself;to be fascinatedby the imageof a symbolicotherthat
is freefromall real conflicts,to be fixatedbythe "beauty"of thisimage-
actuallya kind of Medusa-and failto recognizeone's own face,the face
of history,withall its marksof suffering and incompleteness.Under Ben-
jamin's analysisthe Romanticsymbolrelinquishesits oppositionalstance
to allegoryand becomes merelyits false mirror-image, an ignisfatuus.
For the same reasons that the symbol-allegory oppositionno longer
worksin Benjamin's analysis,thedualismof experienceand expressionno
longer makes sense. His critiqueof experiencecloselyresemblesin some
ways the perspectiveof grammatology.9 If experienceis always already
in
given signs, insofaras is
anyexperience significant, thentheveryconcept
of experience-designatingas itdoes "the relationshipwitha presence"-
becomes "unwieldy" and mustbe replaced by a termwhichgives notice
that the mind in encounteringrealityis alreadywriting,even at the zero-
point of thisencounter.Thus reasonsJacquesDerrida in coiningthe term
"archi-6criture."'oSuch a termwould seem to designatethe allegorical
view of the world as a kindof writing.Once experienceis deconstructed,
however, it is imperativethat it be broughtback into the definitionof
allegory,as it were, chastenedand shrivenof its hubristicdream of self-
sufficiency.For allegoryis experiencepar excellence:it disclosesthe truth
of the world farmore than the fleetingglimpsesof wholenessattainedin
the Romanticsymbol.Benjamin'sphrasingrepeatedlystressesthatallegory
is a focal point fromwhichto look on things:he refersto "the allegorical
way of seeing" (Betrachtung) or of "lookingat things"(Anschauungsweise):
"the allegoricalattitude"(Anschauung);"the allegoricalintention"as well
as "allegoricalintuition"(OGT, pp. 166, 181,162;214; 162;and elsewhere).
He vigorouslyassertsthatit is notmere"illustrative technique"but rather
"a formof expression" (OGT, p. 162). Of course the term"expression"
supposes somethinginternalto be pressedor broughtout,ausgedriickt. But
what is internalin thiscase is notan overflowing fullness,buta recognition
of the lack of thisfullnessin theworld-and hencein experience."Expres-
sion" and "experience," then,are termsthatmustbe used, but theyare
given a new negativecontentin thecontextof allegory.One could say that
the termsthemselveshave become allegorical,for theynow point else-
wherethanto theirsupposed"proper"meanings-specifically, to collective

9. I have in mindhere not Benjamin'sdistinction

betweenErfahrung and Erlebnisin "On
Some Motifs in Baudelaire" but ratherthe implied paradox of the termas it is used in
reference to allegory. Still, the beginningof the discussion of Erfahrungin that essay
(Illuminations,ed. Hannah Arendt,trans.HarryZohn, New York, 1969, pp. 156f.) bears
resemblanceto mydistinctionhere.
10. Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology,trans.GayatriSpivak (Baltimore, 1976),pp. 60f.

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 Benjamin'sTheory
ofAllegory 113

entitiessuch as rhetoricand traditionratherthanto the self"proper."

Benjamin's movementof clearingthe groundforallegoryby rejecting
the Romantic aestheticof the symbolis deconstructive. Anotherprimary
directionof his thought,however,is unapologeticallyontological,parting
companywithDerrida by seekingto rehabilitatesome of themostancient
terms of metaphysics.This directionemerges most clearlyin the com-
mentaryon the formof philosophicalwriting,in the "Epistemo-Critical
Prologue" to the Trauerspielbook. Thoughit is a topicostensibly unrelated
to allegory,hereBenjaminreliesextensively on thefirstallegorist,Plato, in
bringingnew life to the ancient theoriesof truthand ideas as theyare
enunciatedin theSymposium,Phaedrus,and Republic." Throughexamining
these theorieshe lays a careful,thoughonly implicit,foundationforthe
theoryof allegory.'
A substantivenotion of truthis the firstassumptionof any theoryor
practiceof allegorythatsees it as more thana usable technique,as rather
what Benjamin calls "a constantagainstthe historicalvariable" (OGT, p.
167). The notionof truthintendedbyBenjaminis nottheAristotelianone
of truthas an adequatio existingin the relationbetweensignand signified,
but rather the Platonic conceptionof truthas a transcendentrealityin
which objects may only partake-the "plain of Truth" spoken of in the
Phaedrus.'3 By resortingto a fictionalmode literallyof "other-discourse"
(allegoria), a mode that conceals its relationto its trueobjects, allegory
shows a convictionthatthetruthresideselsewhereand is notdetachablein
relationsbetweensignand signified.Furthermore, because allegoryalways
makes so bold as to claim it pointsat the truth,its authenticdefensemust
refute sophistic relativismas well as the now-fashionableassertionof
"semiosis" as pure play. Truthexistsas a goal, thoughnotbeyondsignifica-
tion,as will become clear presently.
To specifythe characterof truthmore closely,Benjamin correctsthe
familiarscholarlyviewpoint,the positivisticpositionthat no ideal forms
pre-existphenomenaand thatthe projectof inquiryis theaccumulationof
knowledgeabout phenomena. But thisprojectmissesthe notionof truth
entirely. The distinctionBenjamin makes between Erkenntnis,factual
knowledge,and Wahrheit,truth,hingeson the claim knowledgemakesof
being possessable and available forpresentation, wherebycontrasttruthis
unpossessable and impossibleto present.(To suppose thattruthpresents

11. Susan Buck-Morss in TheOriginof Negative Dialectics:TheodorW. Adorno,Walter

Benjamin,and theFrankfurt Institute(New York, 1977),pp. 91f.,has calledBenjamin's
theoryof ideas "a remarkable inversion ofPlatonism": "thephenomena appearas truthin
the ideas [ratherthantheideas in thephenomenal, so thatthe'dignity'of thetransitory
particularsis maintained."
12.ManfredDurzak,in "WalterBenjaminund die Literaturwissenschaft," Monatshefte
fiirdeutschenI 58 (Fall, 1966),217-32,attempts
Utrerriclht, toconnecttheconcepts developed
in thePrologueto Benjamin'sliterary butwithinsufficient
criticism, attentionto thecrucial
Ihee-Begriff distinction.
13. Plato,Phlaedrus,
trans.R. Hackforth (Cambridge, 1952),248b.

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114 Cowan

or manifestsitselfat certainmomentswould be the mistakenclaimthrown

against the positivistsby the symbolistaesthetic.) This impossibility of
presentationleads in Benjamin's thoughtto thedesignationof truth'spro-
per mode as representation (Darstellung).
The affirmation of the existenceof truth,then,is the firstprecondition
forallegory;thesecond is therecognitionofitsabsence.Allegorycould not
exist iftruthwere accessible: as a mode of expressionit arisesin perpetual
response to the human conditionof being exiled fromthe truththat it
would embrace. The existence-in-absence of truthis a conditionthathas
been explained in variousorigin-myths of fall,rupture,or exile; it can be
understood,however,onlybyexaminingthewayin whichitexistsin repre-
sentation.Truthdoes not consistof a contentto be possessed afterdiges-
tingaway the linguisticformof a philosophicalinquiry;rather,as Benjamin
insists,the truthis theform.Representationis thusnotto be viewedforits
end productbutforitsprocess.The activity ofrepresentation is thedwelling-
place of truth,the only "place" where truthis trulypresent.A striking
image forthisactivityis givenin Benjamin'scommentthattruthis "bodied
forth[vergegenwiirtigt] in the dance of representedideas" (OGT, p. 29).
This "representationalimpulse"(darstellendes Moment)in truth(OGT, p.
31) means thattruthis neverwhollypresent-even to itself-but, since it
consists in an activity,mustperpetuallyrepresentitself.Truthknowsno
pristinemomentpriorto representation:"Es existiert. . . bereitsals ein
sich-Darstellendes"(GS, I, 1, p. 209)-truth is (always) alreadyrepresen-
tingitself.
Definingself-representation as the essence of truthleads Benjamin to
assert that formis meaning.Philosophyparticipatesin truthinsofaras its
form,not its content,representsthe configuration whichconstitutesthe
realmof ideas. Benjamin effectively ceases to read philosophyaccordingto
itsmodernWesterndevelopmentas a trans-linguistic generation ofprinciples
and reads it instead as literature-in fact,as allegory.The conclusionof
Benjamin's prologue in briefis thatthe formof philosophicalwritingis an
allegoryof truth.His discoveryof formin philosophyseems to anticipate
the stressmodernhermeneutic philosophy placeson theformof thedialogue
in the developmentof truth.Benjamin's emphasisis characteristically dif-
ferent,however, for he is interestednot in the dynamismof the spoken
dialogue (which, throughgesture and intonation,achieves a deceptive
continuity)but in the visible(and discontinuous)signifying processof the
writtentreatise.Treatisesare especiallyadapted to representtruthbecause
they lack conclusiveness;they"treat of" a subject. Their methodis not
proofbut representation.Method itself,withinthe formof the treatise,is
not a privilegedpath to truthbutsomethingapproachinga ritualform:it is
"continuallymaking new beginnings"in contemplatingits object, thus
resemblingthe multi-leveledmethodof allegoricalinterpretation.
In Benjamin's surprising formulation, "Methode istUmweg": "Method
is a digression"(OGCT,p. 28). "Method" here is meantto have a religious
connotationand so is exemptfromthe criticismof the termby Gadamer,

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 ofAllegory I 15
Benjamin'sTheory

who argues in effectthattruthis preciselywhatalwaysescapes method.14

Gadamer's argument is directed against empiricist"method"; but an
exegetical method or a methodof meditationmakes no claim to end up
withanyobjectforErkenntnis;it insteadplacesall valuein theprocess
throughwhichthe method-istgoes. Benjamin clarifiesthispointby means
of his distinctionbetweenknowledgeand truth:"For knowledge,method
is a way of acquiringits object . . . for truth,[method]is self-represen-
tation, and is thereforeimmanentin it as form"(OGT, pp. 29f). All the
qualities of non-immediacy in philosophy-thatis, all the literaryqualities
of philosophy-come to interestBenjamin. Esoteric style,especially,is
essential to the treatise,not because of the difficulty of its subject-matter
but because of the need to representfaithfully the experienceof truth.
Difficultyas a stylistic
effecthas onlyrecentlycome underinvestigation by
critics." Benjamin's defenseof itherepreparesthewayforhisjustification
of the characterof allegory.Esoteric, strange,obscure,mechanical,and
too concentratedon outwardappearances-such is its formbecause, like
the philosophicaltreatise(also a formprevalentin the Medieval and the
Baroque ages), it is geared to expressunavailability, whetherof truthor of
being.
Difficulty,above all, witnessesto the factthatthereis no continuous
passage fromphenomena to the transcendentrealmof ideas, thatan un-
bridgeablegulfseparatesthem.Each individualthinghas a "falseunity"of
whichit mustbe "divested"ifit is to "partakeof thegenuineunityoftruth"
(OGT, p. 33). This divestment is also calleddivision,dispersal(Zerstreuung),
and subordination.The agent that accomplishesthis crucial task is the
concept (Begriff).In its mediatingrole it "saves the phenomena" from
utter isolation in their individuationand allows Ideas, those "Faustian
Mothers,"to be representedin humandiscourse(OGT, p. 35). Here Begriff
has by no means the same meaningithas in Hegel's Phenomenology.Only
way,in
ideas in a crude,rough-and-ready
if it is seen as representing
concrete language, and not as itselfcontainingknowlede,can it providea
link to truth.
The divestingactionof theconceptis crucialto an understanding ofthe
action of allegory.Benjamin notesthatSchopenhauer,voicingtheopinion
of Romantic aesthetics in general, denounces allegoryfor representing
mere concepts while the symbolmanifeststhe idea (OGT, p. 161). The
concept is indeed an impoverishing agent, but in Benjamin's revaluation
that impoverishmentis its great worth.In "divestingthe phenomenaof
theirfalse unity"the concept stripsthe object of the immediacyof lived
experience in order that it may elevate it to an object of especial signifi-
cance, one that"partakesof thegenuineunityof truth"(OGT, p. 33). This
paradoxical action, thissimultaneousloweringand raising,emergesin the

14. Gadamer,Truthand Method,pp. 417ff.etpanim.

15. See GeorgeSteiner,"On Difficulty," and Olther
On Difficulty Essays(Oxford,1978),
pp. 18-47.

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I 16 Cowan

last half of the Trauerspielbook as the centralaction of allegory.In be-

cominga worldof allegoricalemblems,the profaneworldis robbedof its
sensuous fullness,robbedofanyinherentmeaningitmightpossess,onlyto
be investedwitha privilegedmeaningwhose sourcetranscendsthisworld.
The philosophicalconceptthusfindsitsanalogue in theallegoricalem-
blem. In bothconceptand emblem,thearbitrariness and unreasonableness
of assigninga thingto a particularmeaningonly make the point more
stronglythattheindividualphenomenonnowtakeson a newlife,no longer
centered in itselfbut enlisted in the service of representing truth.This
paradox is the foundationof Benjamin's brilliantlistof what he calls the
"antinomiesofallegoresis"(OGT, pp. 174-77)-thesimultaneous devaluation
and sanctificationof the object; the coexistenceof conventionality and
expressiveness;the cold executionof techniqueand theeruptiveingenuity
of a Gryphius,a Hallmann, or, to name an Englishparallel,a Donne or
Crashaw.
George Steinerpointsout in his introduction to theEnglishtranslation
of the Trauerspielbook thatsuch a coexistenceofoppositeshas at itsroots
"the dual presence,thetwofoldorganizingpivotofChrist'snature"(OGT,
p. 17). This centralexample forMedieval cultureis thoughtthroughto its
extremein the Baroque. In allegory,objects seem to reenactChrist'spath
along the via dolorosa, suffering
all naturaldignityto be painfully stripped
away fromthem,anticipatingthe conferring of an infinitely
moreglorious
dignityfromabove. This loss of naturaldignityaccompaniesthe loss of a
propermeaningand functionand the assignationof an alien meaningand
function.Benjaminelaborates:"It willbe unmistakably apparent,especially
to anyone who is familiarwithallegoricaltextualexegesis,thatall of the
things. . . used to signifyderive,fromthe veryfactof theirpointingto
somethingelse, a powerwhichmakes themappear no longercommensur-
able withprofanethings,whichraisesthemonto a higherplane, and which
can, indeed, sanctifythem"(OGT, p. 175). One is putinmindofSt. Paul's
paraphraseof thespirituallifefortheChristian:"Nevertheless I live;yetnot
I, but Christlivethin me" (Gal. 2:20). JohnDonne conveysthisdictum
with more Baroque desperation:"Thereforethathe may raise the Lord
throwsdown." Appropriationofnaturalobjectshas been theBiblicalhall-
mark of God's action in history:the burningbush, the partingsea, the
gushingrockare all naturalobjectstrans-natured, markingthestagesalong
the way of sacred history.As objects theyare made into imagesforthe
collectivememory,emblemsof momentsat whichnaturewas interrupted
and somethingtrulyhistorichappened.
The term"history"pervades Benjamin's writingand was his constant
and finalconcern.As he develops it, it is a highlyparadoxicaland deeply
troublingconcept, forit is both the source of all sufferingand misunder-
standing,and the medium throughwhich significanceand, indeed, sal-
vationare attained.Allegoryalone amongliterary formscan see thisdouble,
self-opposed movementof historyat one and the same time, as in the
Baroque whenhistoryis seen figurally "as thePassionof theworld"(OGT,
p. 166).

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 Benjamin'sTheory
ofAllegory 117

Historysets itselfagainstnature.In partthisoppositionseems dialec-

ticaland Hegelian:insofaras naturebecomessignificant,
it becomeshis-
tory.16 But the process of becomingsignificant is a process of attrition,
wearingaway, destruction-itselfa naturalprocessofdecay. Nature,then,
is set againstitself:insofaras "naturehas alwaysbeen subjectto thepower
of death," nature"has alwaysbeen allegorical."Hence "significanceand
death bothcome to fruition in historicaldevelopment"(OGT, p. 166). The
term"come to fruition"(gezeitigt)does not implyan organicor dialectical
process of ripening,however.Naturebecomes significant onlythroughthe
intervention of death: "Death digsmostdeeplythejagged lineofdemarca-
tion between physicalnatureand significance"(OGT, p. 166). The single
emblem thatbest combinesthe notionsof fallennatureand the total his-
toricityof the individual,Benjaminclaims,is thedeath'shead thatso often
appears in Baroque emblems.A frequentBaroque deviceframing theskull
is to have it contemplated personage,thusaddingthe
by a melancholic
element of significanceas well. Such a device is mostfamiliar,to English-
speaking readers, in Hamlet's graveyardscene. Indeed Hamlet's melan-
cholia is preciselythe obsessive state of the Baroque in whichall objects
become radiantwitha significancenot theirown but reflectedoffthe face
of death. "In nature theysaw eternaltransience,and here alone did the
saturninevision of thisgenerationrecognizehistory"(OGT, p. 179).
The death's head expresses the achievementof historyat the total
expense of nature,a processwhoseveryimagedefeatsanynotionofdialec-
tical "progress." Another typicalBaroque image, the architectural ruin,
sign of a vanished culturalprominence,proliferatedas a settingin the
Baroque drama and painting."In the ruin," says Benjamin, "historyhas
physicallymergedintothesetting"(OGT, pp. 177f.).By itsdecaytheruin
becomes, in Benjamin's words,"the highlysignificant fragment, the rem-
nant" (OGT, p. 178). The word "remnant"extends Benjamin's impli-
cationsonce again to theJudaictheologyofhistory.The fragmentation of a
formerlywhole object characterizesthe ruin, and the logic of fragmen-
tationis visibleinJeremiah's
brokenvessel(Jer.19) andinEzekiel'svision
of dry bones (Ezek. 37): both thingsbecome signs of God's power to
destroyor renewhis people, allegoriesof powerthoughonlyby signifying
human and naturalimpotence.The commonpracticeof the Baroque, ac-
cordingto Benjamin, was to "pile up fragments ceaselessly,withoutany
expectationof a miracle"
strict idea of a goal . . . in the unremitting
(OGT, p. 178).
The miracle is preciselythe most inorganic,"mechanical" traitof a

16. DisciplesofAdomrno,
mostnotablyRolfTiedemann inStudien zurPhilosophieWalter
Benjamins(Frankfurt am Main, 1965),pp. 3-53,have tendedeitherto misrepresent his
thought accordingto theHegelian-Marxistdialecticor to faultit forlackingthisdialectic.
LiselotteWiesenthalin Zur Wissenschaftstheorie
WalterBenjamins(Frankfurt am Main,
1973),pp. 179-206,has attempted to correctan overbalanced Hegelianapproachby de-
velopingBenjamin'sreferencesto Leibnizandotherphilosophers intheWestern tradition.

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118 Cowan

poetic mode notorioussince Coleridgeforexemplifying "mechanicform."

In the unpredictability of its appearance,whichis to say itscompletelack
of "motivation"by precedingeventsand behavior,the miracle-ending of
Baroque drama perfectlysums up the non-dialectical,antinomicstructure
of allegory. Dialectic entailsa suppositionof methodicaladvance against
some problem,negatingonlyin orderto affirm on a broaderfoundation;in
dramaticworksit would parallel the perfectmotivatingof actionby char-
acter, setting,and dialogue, as one mightfindin classical tragedy.But
Benjamin emphasizes throughoutthe Trauerspielbook that Trauerspiel
and tragedyhave littlein commonand are preciselyopposed on a matter
just such as this:it is preciselythe "immotivation"of theworldthatcauses
the pervasive melancholia of the Trauerspiel,that causes the allegorical
"way of lookingat the world."
In a sense, then, the last event of the typicalTrauerspielmakes the
gesture of abdication that the deus ex machinamakes, an acknowledge-
ment that the play's agents cannot bringabout theirown rescue. This
blatantlyextrinsicrescue does correspond,however,to an internalevent
thathas the same disjunctivecharacter:"The allegoricalintention[would]
fall from emblem to emblem down into the dizziness of its bottomless
depths, were it not that . .. it had to so turnabout thatall its darkness,
vainglory,and godlessnessseem to be nothingbutself-delusion"(OGT. p.
232). Here one may notice a divergencein the parallel noted earlier
between conceptualizationin Erkenntnis and emblematization in allegory.
Whereas Erkenntniscomes underBenjamin's criticismbecause of its un-
awarenessof thelimitedness of itsinquiry,allegoryexplicitly
recognizesthat
the knowledgeit affordsis illusory.It manifests thisawarenesspreciselyby
the unconvincingness, the mechanicalness,and finallythe deadness,of its
devices. These "visions of the frenzyof destruction,in whichall earthly
thingscollapse intoa heap of ruins,... revealthelimitset upon allegorical
contemplation,ratherthanitsideal quality"(OGT, p. 232). The ennobling
of allegorical objects by contemplationcannot outbid theirirreversible
deadness. Instead of dialectical regeneration,the resultis irony- the
risussardonicus.
It is preciselythis momentthat constitutesthe triumphof allegory,
however-a triumphthat must always be severelyqualifiedby the "un-
naturalness"of itsleap intoa mode of greater,moreself-confessed fiction-
ality, as in the descent of the deus ex machina. Benjamin notes with
precisionthe semioticshiftthatcharacterizesthis"miracle":thedeaththat
all indicationsshowed to be the finalsignified,itselfbecomes a signifier.
The stakes are raised. "In the bleak confusionof Golgotha ... transitori-
ness is not signifiedor allegoricallyrepresented,so much as, in its own
significance,[it is] displayedas allegory.As the allegoryof resurrection"
(OGCT, p. 232). Death becomingthe allegoryof its opposite parallelsthe
points Benjamin makes about evil in the last analysisbeingonlyallegory,
expressing the logic of allegorical significationat its most extreme: it
"means preciselythe non-existenceof what it presents"(OGT, p. 233).

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 Benjamin'sTheory
ofAllegory 119

The obscurity,fragmentariness, and arbitrarinessof allegoryall signifythe

absence of a fulfillingevent; thisabsence, in turn,serves to invoke that
event witha greaterurgencyand a desperatefaith.
Desperate faithwould be the oxymoronicterm to denote the final
moment, the end point, in Baroque allegory.A fragmentfroma Lohen-
stein Trauerspielquoted byBenjaminexemplifies theabrupttransformation
of thisend-point:"So werdichTodten-Kopffein EnglischAntlitzseyn"-
"thus will I, a death's-head,become an angel's countenance" (OGT, p.
215). The continuousline of impoverishment in allegoricalactionis onlyin
the service of a finalreplenishment;thisfinalmoment,however,is con-
tinuallydeferredto a point beyond life, or beyond history,or beyond
The eschatologicalmoment,the motiveforce,
propositionalcertifiability.
definingallegory,existsin allegoryonlyunderthe conditionof death and
doubt, whose grammaticalmarksare the futuretense or the subjunctive
mood. In such a resolution,Benjamin warns,"paradox musthave the last
word," for it cannot be broughtabout by "a guaranteedeconomics of
salvation" (OGT, p. 216). Such an "economics" would implya necessary
chain of eventsand thuscompletelyundo the disjunctivelogicof allegory.
In the melancholyallegoryof the Baroque, causal chains (and signifying
chains) can only lead away fromlife,at firstglorifying the naturalobject
withthe radiance of intellectualitybut ultimatelyleadingto the end of the
mind's lifein death. Continuityof significationends in death. "And thisis
the essence of melancholyimmersion:thatitsultimateobjects, in whichit
believes it can most fullysecure for itselfthat which is vile, turn into
allegories,and thattheseallegoriesfillout and denythevoid in whichthey
are represented,just as ultimately,the intentiondoes not faithfully [treu]
restin the contemplationof bones, but unfaithfully [treulos]leaps forward
to the idea of resurrection"(OGT, p. 233). This unfaithfulleap constitutes
of allegory;in theallegoricaldramait is con-
the essentialdiscontinuity
comitantwitha breakingof the fictional"contract"of consistencyin the
level of realismby theauthor'ssuddenlyintruding onto
a higherfictionality
the scene.
Whatan examinationoftherhetorical structureofthissuddenleap reveals
is the pure absence of causalityor motivationbetweenthe beforeand the
afterstates. No dialecticexistsbetweenthem,ifdialecticimpliesa logical
relationshipavailable forexaminationbyreason. Instead theleap is one of
desperation,out of historyintoeschatology,out of statementintoparable,
and out of the indicativemood into the subjunctive.'7The rhetoricity of
allegory is thus somethingthat does not drop away once its object is
unveiled but ratherformsits innerstructure.Whateverunveilingof es-
chatologyallegorymayaccomplish,it does not effacethe negativity of the
discourseout of whichit leapt: thetraceof theleap remainswithit even in
its most mysticalmoments.

17.On therhetorical inallegory,

disjunctions see TimothyBahti'sremarks
in"History as
RhetoricalEnactment: WalterBenjamin'sTheses'On theConceptofHistory,'"Diacritics,
10 (Fall, 1979),p. 17.

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120 Cowan

Seen as part of the innerstructureof allegory,thesedisjunctionsthus

become not merelya stylistictraitof the Baroque, nor limitedeven to a
certaintypeof Christianity; theytake partin the "idea" of allegory.Thus
Benjamin's later remarkson Baudelaire's allegory,thoughtheyreveal a
new rhetoricaldimensionadded to allegoryin modernity, affirm an essen-
tial consonance of structurewiththe Baroque. The Marxistturnof his
thoughtin the yearsafterthe Trauerspielstudyemergesnotas a reorienta-
tionof his theorybutas an extensionof it ontoa newlevelof cultural
structurethatdid not fullyexistin the earlierperiod examined.
The new dimensionis broughtintoexistencebythecontinuation ofthat
process of culturaldecay thatgave birthto Baroque allegoryin the first
place. By Baudelaire's timethatdecay had reachedpoeticdiscourse:"The
allegorical outlook that had formeda style in the seventeenthcentury
could do so no longerin the nineteenth.. . . If thestyle-forming powerof
allegorywas slightin thenineteenthcentury,itwas no less itsseductionto
routinein the poetryof the seventeenththatbequeathed so manytraces.
This routinepacifiedto a certaindegree the destructivetendencyof alle-
gory,itsemphasison thefragmentary in theworkof art" (GS, I, 2, p. 690).
The very fragmentationof this fragmentary discourse, this loss of a
"routine" of diction,made allegorymore difficult to invoke.Baudelaire's
language was exactly suited to take fullestadvantage of this loss. His
amazing similesthatbroughttogether"lofty"and "low" wordsand images
thatwere normallyso rigidlyseparatedin theliterature ofhistimewerethe
linguisticmedium "in which an allegoryappears suddenlyand without
priorpreparation." It is thissuddenshockdimensionthatleads Benjamin
to say thatBaudelaire's allegoryhas "the confusingquality[das Beirrende]
thatdistinguishes itfromtheordinarykind"(CB, p. 100). WhereasBaroque
allegory had broughtout the "arid," dead, and esoteric-contemplative
aspect, Baudelaire's allegoryemphasizedan almostopposite quality:the
suddenness of discontinuity("Tout pour moi devient all6gorie"). This
qualityT.S. Eliot attemptedto capturein The WasteLand byparaphrasing
Baudelaire in the phrase "Unreal city,"and suddenlyseeingthecrowdon
London Bridge as denizensof thevestibuleof Dante's hell.The experience
of allegory as a sudden change of referentiality becomes its foremost
characteristic.When thereis no longera properlanguageor set of images
for allegory ("not a word of his vocabularyis predestinedforallegory,"
CB, p. 100), its achievementbecomes, to be sure, more difficult, neces-
sarilyfragmentary, but its impactbecomes farmore its
startling, import-
if less far-reachingand no longerreassuring-definitely moreconvincing.
Allegoryin Baudelaire's era had to go underground, to emergefromtime
to time in a sporadic, terroristiccampaignagainstthe reigningversionof
secular reality."Its techniqueis the techniqueof theputsch"(CB, p. 100).
Thus in "Central Park" Benjamin (writingperhapsto himselfonly)can

18. Walter Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism,
trans. Harry Zohn (London, 1973), p. 100 (hereaftercited as CB).

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 Benjamin's Theoryof Allegory 121

generalize:"Allegoryin the nineteenth centuryclearedaway the sur-

roundingworldto settlein theinnerworld"(GS, I, 2, p. 681). It is no
longerthedecayofphysis thatprimarily concerns it,a decayexemplified in
thecorpse."Baroqueallegory seesthecorpseonlyfrom outside.Baudelaire
sees it also frominside"(GS, I, 2, p. 684). The deathand decayofinner
lifeare emblematized not in thecorpsebut in thesouvenir."The relic
comesfromthecorpse;thesouvenir, fromexperience thathas diedout"
(GS, I, 2, p. 681).
Withthistransition fromouterto innerclearlyformulated, Benjamin
developsa thematics ofthesouvenir thatshowsallegory tobe a constantly
potentialvisioninthealienatedworldofcapitalist economy. "Thewrench-
ingof thingsfromtheirfamiliar contexts-asis normalforcommodities
whenbeingexhibited-isto Baudelairea verysignificant procedure. It is
connectedto thedestruction oforganiccontexts in allegoricalintention"
(GS, I, 2, p. 670). But thisquasi-allegoricality occurring intheexhibition
ofwareshasinfacttobe opposedbythegenuinegazeofallegory, inwhich
"thecommodity seeksto lookitselfintheface"andsee itself forwhatitis
(GS, I, 2, p. 671). Such a gaze impliesan exposingof thefactof what
Lukics calledreification, theturning ofhumanprocesses intodeadobjects
thatoccursin capitalism. FromBenjamin'sperspective theexposition of
capitalism performed byallegorywouldbe theinternalized versionofthe
visionof Baroque allegory,whichsaw history as a "petrifiedprimordial
landscape"(OGT, p. 166).
Thiscritical gaze is thusofteninescapably ironic:"Thecommodity ..
celebratesits humanization in the whore."The whoreis Baudelaire's
typically allegoricalfigure,"whohasinherited theentirelegacyofBaroque
allegory"(GS, I, 2, p. 676). She is "lifethatmeansdeath"(GS, I, 2, p.
667). Hence"theallegory ofBaudelaire bears-incontrast totheBaroque-
thetracesofinnerrage"(GS, I, 2, p. 671).
In commonwiththe Baroque, however,thisrage leads the poetic
personaofthecity-dweller down"emblembyemblem"intothedepthsof
despair,and only in certainmomentsis thatdespairoverturned by a
desperateprayerforhelpora suddenviewofthecontemporary seenfrom
the perspective of eternity. Even morethantheBaroque allegory,this
suddenturnabout does noterasethatdownward plungeor evolveoutofit
butsimplystandsincoexistence withiton a different plane."IfBaudelaire
holds fastto Catholicism, his experienceof the universeis nonetheless
exactlyattunedto thatexperienceNietzscheformedintothesentence:
God is dead" (GS, I, 2, p. 676).
Benjaminhintsthatin his view Baudelairewas the last allegorist
("Baudelairewas isolatedas an allegorist; his isolationwas in a certain
respectthatof an epigone,"GS, I, 2, p. 690). If one pays as close
attention as Benjaminpaidto thecultural history ofthebodyofimagery a
writeruses,itmaybe difficult to escapesuch a conclusion: Baudelaire was
veryprobablythe last poet in whomthe imagesof the Baroque still
functioned. For himtheyweredoublyallegorical becausetheiralienness

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122 Cowan

fromcontemporaryimagerywas just enoughto inducetheeffectofaliena-

tion of image fromcontext,to have not only"the distanceon the look of
death" (Dickinson) but also thedistanceof centuries.However(to use the
language of commodity-exhibition), thisofferwas good fora limitedtime
only. The Baroque sensibilitysoon became not merelystrangebut com-
pletely unmeaningto a European culturesaturatedwith the desire for
Erlebnis.
From the perspectiveof world literature,allegoryseems to have fled
Europe forculturesin whichan older religioustraditionwas stillin uneasy
coexistence with a moderndiscoursejust becomingdominant.For Dos-
toevsky the religionof the Old Believers and similarcults served this
purpose; forHawthorneand Melville Puritanismaffordeda body of out-
dated but luminousemblems.Faulknerplaces the Old Testamentreligion
of the black slaves and theirdescendantsin strategicallegoricalpositions.
However, must one categoricallydismiss the possibilityof allegoryin
Europe in the 20th century?It would seem that if new chaptersin the
historyof allegoryare to be written,the inquiryoughtto startwithtwo
German-languageJewishwriters:Kafka, of whom Benjamin once com-
mented thathis workwas like "the rumorabout the truethings(a sortof
theological whisperedintelligencedealing with mattersdiscreditedand
obsolete)"-and Benjamin himself.'9

19. Walter Benjamin, "Some Reflectionson Kafka," Illwninations,p. 144.

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