Walter Benjamin's "Denkbild": Emblematic Historiography of the Recent Past

Author(s): Karoline Kirst

Source: Monatshefte, Vol. 86, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 514-524
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
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WalterBenjamin'sDenkbild:
EmblematicHistoriographyof the RecentPast
KAROLINE KIRST

University of Alabama-Birmingham

Beginning in 1923 a new facet appears in the work of the German

literary critic and scholar Walter Benjamin. Shortly after concluding his
professorial dissertation Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels' Benjamin
begins to publish short narrative prose pieces, so-called Denkbilder, in
German newspapers. Benjamin is by no means the only writer within
his intellectual circle to take up aphoristic writing at this time-Siegfried
Kracauer and Ernst Bloch, to name but two, tried the short prose piece
as well.2 Benjamin's Denkbild significantly differs from his contemporaries' short prose in form, however. Missing from Benjamin's Denkbild
are the formal features of narrativization. One searches in vain for a
central subject, plot development or a clearly definable narrative voice
in his Denkbild. Benjamin's pieces generally have a three-part form consisting of a title, a narrated image, and a related thought. This form and
the term Denkbild relate these prose pieces directly to the Baroque emblematic technique.3 The Denkbild emerges in Benjamin's work during
the period when he studied German Baroque drama, between 1923 and

1925. Judgingfrom his letters duringthese years, it is safe to assume that

his narrative prose of this time was profoundly influenced by his submergence in Baroque allegorical material.4 In an effort to gain a deeper
understanding of Benjamin's unyielding prose form, I investigate his

Denkbildin direct structuralaffinityto the Baroqueemblem.5I will relate

these findings to Benjamin's notion of historiographicalwriting and,
briefly,to the fragmentPariserPassagen II (5.2: 1044-59).
The Baroque emblem combines visual and verbal material. It displays a tripartitestructureconsisting of the pictura (icon, device or impresa),containingone main pictorialaspect,the inscriptio(motto) above,
which describes or enigmaticallyshrouds the image and, below the pictura, the subscriptio(or epigram), the explanatory poem or prose text.
While disagreementexists among scholarsabout the degreeto which the
emblem is intended as enigmatic,6it is pointed out repeatedlythat the
Monatshefte, Vol. 86, No. 4, 1994
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a 1994by TheBoardof Regentsof TheUniversityof WisconsinSystem

514

Benjamin's Denkbild

515

emblem aims to reveal a hidden meaningand significance(ressignificans)

in the world. Jacob Cats explains that in emblem books one "allezeit
mehr liest / als da steht:und noch mehr denckt/ als man sieht."7Speaking
about an ideal emblem type, AlbrechtSchone arguesthat the three parts
of an emblem follow the two-fold intention of Darstellen(representation)
and Deuten (interpretation).8The Denkbild works similarly. Instead of
clarifyinga thoughtby means of an image in linear fashion, or vice versa,
the Denkbild presents an image as an integral albeit not immediately
recognizablepart of the thought. Neither is clear without the other, and
insight into their relation is the process of critically rethinking the apparent incongruence between them.9 This interdependence of parts is
characteristicof the Baroque emblem. As in the Baroque emblem, title,
narratedimage and interpretativethought interact in Benjamin's Denkbild, attemptingto provide "informationabout the hidden signaturesof
reality."10Like the Baroque emblem, the Denkbild is a heuristic trope.
The Baroqueemblematists presentedtheir images as suggestivesigns, as
traces of the hidden Divine meaning of the world. The objects in Benjamin's Denkbilderbecome signs for the hidden fabricatedhuman meaning of the world and human history. By means of emblems the Baroque
thinker was taught to inspect the world speculatively. Benjamin is no
longer concerned with the illumination of human ethical truths in the
naturalworld like Taurellus,for example." His Denkbildurgesthe reader
to turn backwardupon history, to recognize in himself "das Gewesene"
as philosophical material which has yet to be re-presented"vergegenwiirtigt."Human "ingenium" will be able to tear the veil of alienation
only forcibly. The emblematic form is intrinsically useful for the historiographic task. Its tension-filled structure facilitates revelation of
"Gleichzeitigkeit"in history.
The Denkbild is that "inconspicuous"literary form (4.1: 85) that
proves "jene riitselhafte Wahrheit ...,

daB Form und Inhalt ... eines

waren"(4.1: 284). The Denkbildis Benjamin'sattempt to find a narrative

form appropriate for the "Erfahrungdes modernen GroBstadtmenschen.l''2Accordingto Benjamin,the modern urbaniteis fatallyunaware
of the series of shocks which characterizehis life among the masses. In
the Denkbild, Benjamin painfully reveals this never before perceived
shock experience. He wants the readerto discover it as the paradigmof
his experience of reality. Thus, the reader will not find an immediate
meaning in the Denkbild. All the reader may come up with is the description of his own reflective process. The Denkbild does not contain
any one thought-product,or intentioned meaning, clothed in an image,
but intends to lead to carefulcontemplation of the world, "[i]n den diinnen Rebus, die bleiben, liegt Einsicht,die noch dem verworrenenGribler
greifbarist" (1.1: 354).

516

Kirst
Fromthe Verzeichnis
dergelesenenSchriften(7.1: 437-76)and the

notes of the Ursprungdes deutschen Trauerspielsit is clear that Benjamin's concept of the Baroque emblem was influenced by the emblem
books of Julius Wilhelm Zincgref,Diego de SaavedraFajardo,Giovanni
Piero Valeriano Bolzani, as well as by the emblem theories of Georg
Philipp Harsdrrffer,JacobBoehme, Franzvon Baader,and KarlGiehlow,
among other works.'3While these authorsdiscuss the emblem according

to theirvariouspurposes,theyagreein relatingit intimatelyto the hieroglyph, in seeing it essentially as an expanded "Bilderritsel."Their influ-

ence is evidencedin Benjamin'swords:"Manhat es beim Emblem...

mit einerVereinigung
vom Wortdes Lemmamit dem Bild der Icon zu
einemRitsel zu tun, dessenAuflosungdurchdas Epigrammermoglicht
wird."'4The emblem'sattractionfor Benjaminlies exactlyin its enigmatic claim, its riddle-character.
In the tension betweenimage and
thought,Benjamin'sDenkbildconveysthepolysemyof the respicta.Like
the Baroqueemblem,the Denkbildrequiresthe readerto follow three
stepsin orderto acquiremeaningfromthe text. Heinz Schlafferterms
these"experience,
reflexion,[and]returnto thecomprehended
experience
that,thus, only now has becomeconcrete.""'5
WhileBenjamindoes not sharethe BaroqueChristianconviction
that all creationis imbuedwith significanceby God, he does hold that
an understanding
of the worldmay be gainedonly by the prudentobserver.Themodernauthoris acutelyawarethatrealityis accessibleonly
throughtheoreticalprinciples,axioms,andhypotheseswhichneedto be
reevaluatedconstantly.Benjamin'sability"jedesBildzu nehmen,als sei
es das des zusammengelegten
Fichers,das erst in der EntfaltungAtem
holt" (4.1: 117) is groundedin his belief that realitypossesseshidden
significance.This significance,however,may be nevergraspedfully or
dependably.BenjamintellinglyquotesSiegfriedKracauerin a reviewof
DieAngestellten.
"DieWirklichkeit
ist eineKonstruktion.... [Sie]steckt
... einzig und allein in dem Mosaik, das aus den einzelnen Beobach-

ihresGehaltszusammengestiftet
wird"
tungenauf GrundderErkenntnis
(3.1:226). Benjamin'sDenkbildis intendedto illustratethatrealitymay
be constructedin multipleways.Benjamin'sexperimentation
with the
narrativeformand his writingson historysuggestthat he wouldshare
HilaryPutnam'sbeliefthat the conceptof truthis problematicbecause
"toomanycorrespondences
exist..,. betweenwordsor mentalsignsand
mind-independent
things."'6Benjamin'sendeavorsto set off the spring
of reflection,to throwthe immediateimageof the worldinto a jumble
so as to allowfor an experiencethatasksto be analyzed.
The emblematistsof the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturiescould
be moredirectin revealingthe truthsthey perceivedexemplifiedin nature.Thus,JoachimCamerarius
in theemblemWenn
presentsreciprocity

Benjamin's Denkbild

517

er lebt, werdeich leben "Die Mauern lassen den Efeu wachsen, der Efeu
erhiiltdie Mauern:ein gegenseitigerDienst. Hier stellt sich das Bild der
gegenseitigenFreundschaftdar."'7Here the title introduces the thought,
the image shows a ruin covered by ivy, the subscriptiodraws the conclusion that the image of ivy growing on walls "represents"interdependence in friendship. This emblematist does not leave any guesswork
to the reader.Benjamin, in turn, uses the aspect of a ruin to reflectupon
an idea more vaguely. The view through the castle-ruinreveals dependence of eternity upon its contrast to transience.
Schloss.Ruinen,derenTrimmergegenden Himmelragen,
Heidelberger
erscheinenbisweilendoppeltschon an klarenTagen,wenn der Blickin
ihrenFensternoderzu Haiupten
den voriberziehenden
Wolkenbegegnet.
Die Zerstorung
durch
das
das sie am
Schauspiel,
vergingliche
bekriftigt
Himmeleroffnet,die EwigkeitdieserTriimmer.(4.1: 123)
The Denkbild radiates into several directions at once. The ruin of the
castle serves Benjamin as an allegoryfor the lost past. As such it reveals
at once the permanent loss of the past and the thinker's identification
with this loss, for it gains its extra beauty from his perception that the
loss is permanent. At the same time, the Denkbild of the castle ruin
illustratesthe "multi-directionaltemporality"of history,'8as the full revolutionarypotential of the past is revealedonly in its correspondencewith
a fleeting present. The dialectical, allegoricalshift occurs when the viewer's idealizing perception of the ruin as an object of aesthetic contemplation is revealed to him as what it really is: the rubble of historical
hegemony. As its beauty is unveiled, the rubble takes on a new significance: the object of the thinker's melancholic gaze is redeemed. The
author moves from an aesthetic appreciation of the suggestive contrast
between human transience and natural permanenceto the political understandingthat the "winnersof history,"those who had the castle built,
have been overthrown and are permanentlydestroyed.
Becausethe emblematic structureis intimatelybound to the concept
of res significans, the emblematic author must believe in the possibility
and necessity of uncoveringa secret meaning in the world, be it religious,
as for the Baroque writer, or materialist, as for the modern artist. Such
a notion may be a cul-de-sac. In an essay discussing Bertolt Brecht's
Kriegsfibel as a book of Marxist emblems, Reinhold Grimm relates
Brecht'sprojectof revealing"the economic forces and class antagonisms
... behind that which is taken as self-evident"to the task of the Baroque
emblematist.'9Grimm's criticism of Brecht'sendeavor applies to an extent to Benjamin as well: "Geht er damit nicht ebenfalls von einem
Buchstabensinnund einem darin aufgehobenen'anderen'Sinn aus, den
er bei seiner Kritik am Christentumso sehr verabscheut?In der Tat."20

518

Kirst

The danger for the reader lies in the assumption that the riddle's discovered solution is a universal truth. While Benjamin's Denkbilderare
informedby the discourseof historicalmaterialism,illustrationsof"class
antagonisms"and the socio-political underpinningsof commodification
remain all too "illicitly 'poetic'" (5.2: 1349) to be as clearly discernible
here as in Brecht'swork.
In Baroque emblems, Benjamin observes, "liegt... die facies hippocratica der Geschichte als erstarrteUrlandschaftdem Betrachtervor
Augen" (1.1: 343). Similarly,Benjamin'sDenkbild is to leave the reader
with an insight into the tragically self-inflicted catastrophe of human
history. This catastrophe,according to Benjamin, stems from a lack of
understandingof the discontinuous relation of the present to the past.
Insight into this relation may be "revealed" to the reader briefly in a
Denkbild, as in the above example. Benjamin further defines this "revelation" as "profaneillumination."
Die offenbarten
Erlebnissesindnichtda sie eintretenOffenbarung
sondern
vielmehrdemErlebenden
erst,da mehverborgen.
SiewerdenOffenbarung
reresichihrerAnalogienbewuJ3t
Hierliegtein wichwerden,riickschauend.
tigerUnterschiedvon derreligi6senErfahrung.
(2.3: 1037,my emphasis)
The historian must recognize the reappearanceof the past in the
present,"[muB]sich ihrerAnalogienbewuBtwerden,riickschauend."The
events of the past gain significance through their remembrancein the
present and this remembrancealone can give meaning to the present.
History, in Benjamin's eyes, assumes the aspect of a kaleidoscope. He
perceives it as infinite, everchangingconstellations of past and present
moments. The attempt to write "history" down will fail if it does not
reflectthis kaleidoscopic,evanescent characterdirectly.21Such a history
will awaken the reader like an "alarm clock" (5.2: 1058). It loosens the
reader'scognitive and historicalbearings,and it awakensin him cognition
of the past. "Esgibt 'noch nicht bewul3tesWissen' vom Gewesenen"(5.2:
1058), Benjamin claims. The viewer already has a sense for what has
been buried in the past, allowing him to perceive the moments of revolution in the past as important building blocks for a new history. "Die
Geschichte ist Gegenstand einer Konstruktion,deren Ort nicht die homogene und leere Zeit sonderndie von Jetztzeiterfiilltebildet" (1.2: 701).
Thus, for instance, the calendarreveals itself as a document of historical
time. "Der Tag, mit dem ein Kalender einsetzt, fungiertals ein historischer Zeitraffer.... Die Kalenderzihlen die Zeit nicht wie Uhren" (1.2:
701-702). Calendarscite the past for the present. Revolutionary events
gain significanceas anniversaries.Here, for one fleetingmoment, the past
and the presenthave become one. Benjamin'srepresentationof the recent
past-the nineteenth-century-gains its redemptive quality from this his-

Benjamin's Denkbild

519

toricalperspective.Not inclined to prove a progressivedevelopment from

past to present,he sets out to capturein his Denkbildthe past as enduring
in the present.
von Chartres,
Esist auchderAnblickgro3ervergangner
Dinge-Kathedrale
(wennes niimlich
Tempelvon Pistum[Heidelberger
Schloss?]-inWahrheit
Nichtwirversetzenunsin sie,
gltickt)ein:sie in unsermRaumempfangen.
sie tretenin unserLeben.(5.1:273)
The Denkbildgains importanceas a historiographicnarrativeform
in Benjamin's work in connection with his work on the Parisian nineteenth-centuryarcades.22In the late 1920s, Benjamin'sinterestshifts from
literarystudies toward writing about Paris in the nineteenth century. He
intends to reveal in the Parisian arcades, street scenes, fashions, commodities, and expositions the hithertounrecognized"natural,""profane"
"order of the world" in the modern age (5.1: 275). Volume five of Benjamin's Gesammelte Schriften presents a number of expos6s and early
designs as well as the mass of notes, quotes, Denkbilder,photographic
and bibliographiccitations which he had collected for the arcadesproject.
Benjamin never succeeded in weaving this superabundantfund of materials into one finished work. Thus the reader of these twelve hundred
pages is struck by their shocking stop-and-go quality and constant selfreferentiality,but this experiencehad not been intended by their author.
Benjamin considered few of these pages presentable.This small number
of brilliantlypolished pieces of "micrologicalnarrative,"to adopt Adorno's term, are meticulously copied and retouched in the differentessays
and note folders. A detailed discussion of the historiographicalaspects
of the ArcadesMaterials would exceed the limits of my study. Instead,
I would like to focus brieflyupon the usageof the Denkbildin the fragment
Pariser Passagen II (5.2: 1044-59) for developing a modern historiographic narrative. Benjamin's editor sees in Pariser Passagen II an attempt "to write that essay, as which he planned the Passagenwerkin
1928/29" (5.1: 40).23 This text is of interest for my study for two reasons.
First, its time of origin places it still within the period of intense influence
of the Baroque material upon Benjamin's writing. Second, the structure
of Pariser Passagen 11-24 text fragments-relates this text directly to
Benjamin'scollection of Denkbilderof 1923-1926,entitled Einbahnstraf3e
(4.1: 83-148).
Pariser Passagen II reminds one of Benjamin's idea of publishing
an emblem book. The work on the arcadesmay have been conceived as
a modern version of the encyclopedic, morally and ethically instructive
emblem book of the late sixteenthcentury.Benjaminindicatesthe parallel
between the nineteenth-centuryarcades and the Baroque emblem. "Erhebung der Warein den Stand der Allegorie. Fetischcharakterder Ware

520

Kirst

und Allegorie"(5.1:274).24The arcadesrevealthemselvesas haphazard

assemblagesof fetishizedcommodities,awaitingpatientlytheirredemption from the evil of historicalforgetfulness.The commodity-comb,
buttons,prosthesis,revolver,prostitute-losesits magicpowerover the
viewerin Benjamin'sdetachedrepresentation
and,as its banalbareness
allows insightinto the unconsciousnessof the historicalsubject,it is
in die Ware"
raisedfor once to the state of signification."Einfithlung
in"-that is, identification
with-the
(5.2:637)becomeshere"Einf'ihlung
degradedcommodity,and its profaneredemptionis the allegoricalexperienceof the awakeningof the self, "dasErwachendes Nichsten,Naheliegendsten(des Ich)"(5.2: 1057).Eachof the 24 piecesof tense, oscillating,shimmeringproseis a starburstof insightsinto the dustyrummageand seedyclienteleof the agingarcades.Eachfollowsthe melancholic thinker'sunsystematiccontemplationsas he gazesat the recent
past. The texts are placedunder"the categoryof completeness"(5.1:
271), their subjectmatteris a collectionof observationsassembledaccording to the writer's whim. The synthesis of these "contradictory dream
images" (5.2: 1057) represents the newly awakening self-understanding
of the modern age, the seizure "[der] kaum verflossenen Urzeit" (5.2:
1045).
Es gibt wenigesin der Geschichteder Menschheit,wovon wir soviel wissen
wie von der Geschichteder Stadt Paris.... Paris ist der sozialen Ordnung
ein Gegenbildvon dem, was in der geographischender Vesuv ist. Ein drohendes gefahrlichesMassiv, ein immer titiger Juni der Revolution. Wie
aber die Abhange des Vesuvs dank der sie deckenden Lavaschichtenzu
paradiesischenFruchtgirtenwurden,so bliihenaus der Lavader Revolution
Kunst, das festliche Leben, die Mode wie nirgends sonst. (5.2: 1056, my
emphasis)
Contemplation of Benjamin's notes on fashion, popular celebrations, and
the micrological historical knowledge of the Parisian streets amassed in
the Biblioth6que Nationale underscores his concern for the actual lack
of historical understanding. The similarity turns out to be a deception;
Unlike Vesuvius, which may erupt again at any time and destroy all life

on its sides, Pariswill foreverteem with gay,festiveactivitywhile the

revolutionaryspiritof its peoplesleepson, tetheredin the fatalhold of
theirfashionablebows and ruffles.
Comparisonof PariserPassagenII with otherearlytexts fromthe
arcades project, like Paris, die Stadt im Spiegel (4.1: 356-59) of 1928,
Passagen (5.2: 1041-43) of 1927, or Der Saturnring oder Etwas vom Eisenbau (5.1: 1060-63) of 1928 reveals the intricacy of Benjamin's constructive effort. In Pariser Passagen II, Benjamin abandons the essay form
completely. This text is assembled from particles which display a mini-

Benjamin's Denkbild

521

mum of sustained narrativevoice. Its content, suggestedin the assigned

title, coalesces only reluctantly.Study of the 900 pages of Aufzeichnungen
und Materialien shows the elements of Pariser Passagen II to be crystallizations of earlierDenkbilder.It is no longer possible to detect in these
texts the tripartitestructureof the singularDenkbild, for each Denkbild
has been radically foreshortened,its critical insight hidden; it has been
placed into dense and very fragileconstellationwith others.Within some,
the narrative voice fluctuates between what Franz Stanzel terms inner
and outer perspective,causing an uncontrollablehistorical shifting.25PariserPassagenII representsBenjamin'seffortto force the historiographic
potential of the Denkbild by disjointing its structuralelements and reconstructingthem in new relations of similitude. In the attempt to create
a narrativethat will uncover the disjunctive nature of "historicaltime"
in a union of form and content, Benjamin exacerbatesthe emblematic
structureof the Denkbild. Titles are incorporatedinto the narrative,images are contrasted directly, the resultant thoughts have been secreted
away. In these texts, Benjamin reaches the limit of the historiographical
potential of the emblematic Denkbild. As historiographythey serve to
awakenthe reader'shistoricalconsciousness, they are intended to engage
his critical facility while resisting it. The Denkbild of the early 1920s
capturesthe readermuch like the Baroque emblem by means of a comparison of similarities in image, title, and thought;26the historical perspective within each individual piece may be discontinuous and disrupted, yet the reader should come away with an understandingof the
collapse of past and presentin that narratedinstance. The narrativeparts
of PariserPassagenII, however, are overlays of several of these moments
at once. While PariserPassagen II falls apart at the end, drowning in a
flood of notes, Benjamin's narrative structurein these texts points the
way toward the "polysemic simultaneity of connotation" exhibited in
postmodernism.27The self-reflectiveemblematic structure, where title,
image, and thought revolved around each other is opened up in Pariser
Passagen II, achieving such a high degree of multidimensional signification and "Gleichzeitigkeit,"that often the readeris left unawareof the
secret historiographicinsight. The effort for a modern historiographyof
discontinuous form and content fails for Benjamin. He abandons the
stringencyof construction of PariserPassagen II and returns to a more
linear essay form in subsequent re-workingsof the ArcadesMaterials.
'WalterBenjamin,GesammelteSchriften,ed. RolfTiedemannand HermannSchweppenhiuser, 7 vols. (Frankfurta.M.: Suhrkamp,1980-1991)1.1: 203-430. Benjamin'sworks
are cited parentheticallyby volume and page number.
2Heinz Schlaffer,"Denkbilder.Eine kleine Prosaformzwischen Dichtung und GePoetikundPolitik.Zur SituationderdeutschenLiteraturin Deutschland,
sellschaftstheorie,"
ed. WolfgangKuttenkeuler(Stuttgart:Kohlhammer,1973) 137-54.

522

Kirst

3Emblemand Denkbildare intimately relatedto the term Sinnbild,which was synonymous with allegoryand symbol in the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies.For a discussion of the etymologyof the word Denkbildsee EberhardWilhelm Schulz, "Zum Wort
'Denkbild'," Wortund Zeit (Neumiinster:Wachhotz, 1968) 218-52. Henri Stegemeierexplores the term Sinnbildin the essay "Sub Verbo'Sinnbild',"Emblem und Emblematikrezeption, ed. Sibylle Penkert(Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,1978) 23-29.
4In Marchof 1924 Benjaminwritesto GershomScholemof his "passionfor Baroque
emblematics"and his plan to publish a large edition of emblems after completing his
professorialdissertation. Walter Benjamin, Briefe, ed. Gershom Scholem and Theodor
Adorno, 2 vols. (Frankfurta.M.: Suhrkamp,1978) 1: 340. In Decemberof 1924 he reveals
his plan for a "plaquettefor friends"to Scholem (Briefe 1: 367). The resemblancebetween
Benjamin'sintended "plaquettefor friends"and the BaroqueStammbuch,a collection of
epigrams,and a close relativeof the Emblemata,is obvious. Fora discussionof the Stammbuch,see Ruth Angress,The Early GermanEpigram(Lexington:U of KentuckyP, 1978).
5Thedegreeto which Benjamin'swritingassumed the characteristicsof its subject
matteris exposed by LorenzJager,"Die esoterischeForm von Benjamin's'Ursprungdes
deutschenTrauerspiels',"EuropiischeBarock-Rezeption,
ed. KlausGarber,2 vols., 1 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,1991): 143-53. He exposes the ancient theory of melancholy as a
pathologyof the humors, the astrologicalSaturntheory,and numerologyas centralto the
structureof Ursprungdes deutschenTrauerspiels.It is reasonableto assumethat Benjamin's
subsequentwritingsbenefitdirectlyfrom his intense investigationof these theories.
6"Die Emblematik...

wurde...

in den Arbeiten von Giehlow und Volkmann als

Derivatder spithumanistischenHieroglyphenstudienaufgefaBt.Sie warhier nicht viel mehr

als ein kunstvollesBilderritsel,ein Rebus.In der Funktionsbestimmungvon Inscriptiound
Picturaals Riitsel, das durch die Subscriptiogelist wird, wirkt dies in dem sonst hervorragendenArtikel von William S. Heckscherund Karl-AugustWirth im Reallexikon zur
deutschenKunstgeschichtenach und eine neuere Arbeit iiber das BilderriitselschlieBtsich
hier an, obwohl Schine zu Recht diese Definition zurickgewiesen hatte." Dieter Sulzer,
"Poetik synthetisierenderKiinste und Interpretationder Emblematik,"Geist und Zeichen.
Festschriftfur ArthurHenkel zum 60. Geburtstag,ed. HerbertAnton, BerhardGajek, and
Peter Pfaff (Heidelberg:Winter, 1977) 405. The works mentioned are: Karl Giehlow, Die
Hieroglyphenkundedes Humanismus in der Allegorieder Renaissance,besondersder EhrenpforteKaiserMaximilians I, Ein Versuch,(Leipzig:1915) and LudwigVolkmann,BilderschriftenderRenaissance.HieroglyphikundEmblematikin ihrenBeziehungenundFortwirkungen,(Leipzig:1923).The scholarsWilliam Heckscherand Karl-AugustWirth,"Emblem, Emblembuch,"Reallexikonzur deutschenKunstgeschichte(Stuttgart:Metzler, 19371987) 5, col. 93., emphasizethe relationbetweenan emblem'sartisticqualityand its initial
resistanceto understanding:"Die Funktiondes Epigrammesim Emblem ist es, das durch
Lemma und Icon gestellte Riitsel aufzulosen oder wenigstensseine Auflosungzu erleichtern.... InhaltlichmuBtedas EpigrammHinweise auf die L6sungdes Ritsels geben, doch
in kunstvollerVerschleierung.Sobald man diese recht erkannte, war die Aufl6sung des
Ritselproblemsmoglichund die dabei gewonneneAussagegewannallgemeingiiltigenCharakter"(my emphasis). Rosemary Freeman,English Emblem Books (London: Chatto &
Windus, 1948), writes:"What was primarilyemphasizedin the emblem fashion by those
who defended it was its 'wit.' ... It is the wit, the apparentlack of any relation between
two ideas and the subsequentestablishmentof an intellectuallyconvincing link between
them, that pleases; it does not matter how forced and arbitrarythe link may seem to
common-senseor to feeling"(3).
7JacobCats, "Vorrededes Auctoris iiber die Sinn-Bilder,"Sinnreiche Werckeund
Gedichte/Aus dem Niederlindischenabersetzt,1. Teil(Hamburg:1710),quotedin Albrecht
Sch6ne, Emblematikund Drama im Zeitalterdes Barock(Miinchen:Beck, 1964) 58.
8"Fiirdiesen Idealtypusentspriche der potentiellen Faktizitat der Res picta eine
ideelle Prioritiitder Picturagegeniber der Subscriptioin dem Sinne, daB die Bedeutung
des Emblems,die Lebensweisheit,Verhaltensregel,Morallehre,die es enthiilt, nicht willkirlich erfunden,sondern-sei sie auch vorgegeben-als eine der Res significansinnewohnende aufgefundenund entdecktwird." AlbrechtSch6ne and ArthurHenkel, ed., Emblemata. Handbuchzur Sinnbildkunstdes XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderts,2nd ed., (Stuttgart:
Metzler, 1976) xv.

Benjamin's Denkbild

523

9JosefFiirnkas,Surrealismusals Erkenntnis.WalterBenjamin- WeimarerEinbahnund

straJ3e PariserPassagen(Stuttgart:Metzler,1988),goes so faras to say:"Die Denkbilder
der EinbahnstraJlewollen als Fremdbestimmungerfahrene,maschinenartigeFunktionszusammenhiangevon ihren 'verborgenenNieten und Fugen'aus demontieren,um die herausgelostenBruchstiickeunter EinschluBdes Zufalls zu Vexierbildernzu rekomponieren,
die wiederumihre Entriitselungin einer geistesgegenwiirtigen
wie reflexionsmiichtigenLektiire provozierenbzw. sollizitieren"(251).
'oSchrne,Emblematik58.
L"DieemblematischeBedeutsamkeitder Natur ist dieser nicht immanent, sondern
es bedarfdes Menschen
dessen Aufgabedarinbesteht, die Ahnlichkeitenzwischender
Natur und seinen eigenen ethischen Gesetzen aufzuspiiren."Ingrid Hopel, Emblem und
Sinnbild. VomKunstbuchzum Erbauungsbuch(Frankfurta.M.: Athenium, 1987) 142.
12Benjamin,
Briefe 1: 760.
'3Benjamincites specifically:Julius Wilhelm Zincgref,EmblematumEthico-politicorum, Editio Secunda(Frankfurt:1624);D. SaavedraFajardo,Abriseines christlich-politischen Printzens(K61n:1674);G.P. ValerianoBolzani, Hieroglyphicorumex sacris Aegytiorumliteris(Florence:1556);GeorgPhilipp Harsdorffer,PoetischerTrichter,ZweiterTeil
(Niirnberg:1655);JakobBohme, De signaturarerum(Amsterdam:1682);Franzv. Baader,
SaimmtlicheWerke(Leipzig: 1851);Karl Giehlow, Die Hieroglyphenkunde.
'4WalterBenjamin, Schriften, ed. Theodor Adorno and Gretel Adorno, 2 vols.,
(Frankfurta.M.: Suhrkamp,1955) 1: 182.
'Schlaffer 139.
'6HilaryPutnam,Reason, Truthand History,3rded., (Cambridge,Mass.:Cambridge
UP, 1986) 73 (my emphasis).
'7Schoneand Henkel, Emblematacol. 279.
'8AlexanderGelley, "Thematicsand HistoricalConstructionin Benjamin's'Arcades
Project',"StrumentiCritici 60.4, No. 2 (May 1989):239.
9"[Brecht]schuf und bezeugtedamit einen neuen, einen materialistischen'mundus
symbolicus,'wo ebenfalls,wie in der Emblematik,'dasVereinzeltebezogen,die Wirklichkeit
sinnvoll, der Lauf der Welt begreifbar'erscheint und das Gedeutete zum 'Regulativdes
menschlichenVerhaltens,'ja, zum 'Appell' wird." Reinhold Grimm, "MarxistischeEmblematik,"Emblem und Emblematikrezeption(note 3) 528.
20Ibid.
21Thediscovery of the connection between Benjamin'snarrativeand the Baroque
emblematictraditionconvinces one that existent illustrationsin Benjamin'sworks are of
vital importance for their understanding.Thus the illustrationscollected in the arcades
materialsmay serve this study as emblematicdata. Illustration6 is entitled "Le triomphe
du Kaleidoscopeou le lombeaudu jeu chinois"(5.1: illustration6). Wesee a Frenchwoman
who holds a kaleidoscopein one hand and kaleidoscope-shapesin the other,while standing
on top of a Chinese man who lies on the floor with a mosaic puzzle. It may be understood
as an emblem for historiography.The mosaic puzzle of the Baroqueemblem, difficultbut
solvable by means of systematicthought,has been replacedby the kaleidoscope,an everchangingconstellationof possible interpretations.
22I agree with Irving Wohlfahrt'scriticism that the assigned publication-titleDas
Passagen-Werk(5.1 and 2) gives this body of materiala characterof completenesswhich
was neversuggestedby Benjamin.He termsit theArcadesProject,see "Re-fusingTheology,"
New German Critique39 (Fall 1986): 5-6. I believe that the term ArcadesMaterialsmay
diffuseeven more the sense of finalitywhich Wohlfahrtsuspects in Benjamin'seditors.
23Inhis introductionto volume 5, Rolf Tiedemann gives us an impression of the
care with which Benjaminwrote these texts upon paperof unusuallyhigh quality(5.1: 40).
Benjamin'sobvious concernfor this manuscriptdid not preventhis editor, however,from
arrangingthe individual texts for publicationaccordingto his own digression.
24IngridHopel (note 11) traces the development of a didactic quality in sixteenthcenturyemblem-bookstowardthe seventeenth-centuryProtestantErbauungsbuch.
25FranzStanzel, Theoriedes Erzaihlens,3rd ed. (Gottingen:Vandenhoeck,1985).
26Baltasar
Gracian,Agudezay Artede ingenio,reprint,(BuenosAires:Cia. GralFabril
Financiera,Sa, 1942),DiscursoXI, writesof the degreeto which such a comparisonshould

524

Kirst

involvedifficult-evendissimilar-similarities
in orderforthecontemplation
(Ponderacion
to be mostpleasing.
misteriosa)
27Fredric
Or,TheCultural
Jameson,Postmodernism,
(DurLogicof LateCapitalism
ham,NC:DukeUP, 1993)85.

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